Oct 24 (Reuters) - Westlife Foodworld, the operator of McDonald's restaurants in west and south India, reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday, hit by sustained weak demand as cost-conscious customers cut back on spending. The restaurant operator's consolidated profit after tax stood at 3.6 million rupees ($42,832.16) for the second quarter ended Sept. 30, down from 223.7 million rupees...

(Reuters) - Drugs like Wegovy may trim your waistline but not medical costs, according to an analysis of U.S. health insurance claims shared with Reuters. The full-year cost of care for U.S. patients with obesity two years after starting on Novo Nordisk's Wegovy or similar GLP-1 drugs was $18,507, on average. That represents a 46% jump over the average annual...

(Reuters) -Chemical company Dow said on Thursday it has begun a review of some of its European assets even as its third-quarter profit beat estimates on higher demand in the U.S. and Canada for industrial items such as polyethylene used in packaging. Dow said the review was necessitated by a lack of demand recovery and competitive regulatory policies. Its shares...

Oct 24 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 0930 GMT on Thursday: ** Keurig Dr Pepper ( KDP ) has struck a deal to acquire energy-drink maker Ghost for more than $1 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. ** Czech defence and industrial firm Czechoslovak Group (CSG) said...