BTI British American Tobacco PLC

International stocks trading in New York closed mostly higher on Thursday.

Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LYG, LLOY.LN) was among the companies with ADRs that traded actively.

The BNY Mellon index of American depositary receipts rose 1.3% to 115.23. The European index increased 1.8% to 115.18, the Asian index edged up 0.4% to 121.74, the Latin American index rose 0.4% to 144.55 and the emerging-markets index eased 0.2% to 203.63.

Lloyds Banking Group plans to pay a special dividend to investors despite posting a sharp decline in 2015 earnings. The U.K. bank's ADRs rose 14% to $4.02.

Spanish energy company Abengoa SA (ABGB, ABG.MC), which put its U.S. business into chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday, is asking bondholders for an extension on the repayment of 500 million euros ($551.5 million) of bonds maturing next month. ADRs fell 5% to 70 cents.

Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (BUD, ABI.BT) said its fourth-quarter net profit was pressured by falling emerging-market currencies but that it remains on track to take over rival SABMiller PLC this year. ADRs fell 1.9% to $113.43.

British American Tobacco PLC (BTI, BATS.LN) played down rumors it could be interested in buying rival Imperial Brands PLC as the maker of Lucky Strike and Dunhill cigarettes reported strong profit growth for the year. ADRs rose 1.4% to $109.22.

The U.K.'s communications regulator said BT Group PLC (BT, BT.A.LN) must open more of its network to rivals, but stopped short of forcing the incumbent telecommunications firm to spin off its lucrative infrastructure arm. ADRs of BT Group--a former state-run monopoly known as British Telecom--rose 3.7% to $33.86.

The chairman of the India business of Diageo PLC (DEO, DGE.LN), Vijay Mallya, has agreed to resign in exchange for $75 million, an honorary title, and a noncompete arrangement. The deal between one of India's best-known businessmen and the world's largest spirits maker closes the book on a protracted and highly publicized conflict that emerged last year. ADRs rose 1.1% to $104.92.

Brazilian police raided the offices of Gerdau SA (GGB, GGBR3.BR, GGBR4.BR), the country's biggest steelmaker, as part of an investigation into suspected tax fraud of roughly $380 million. A Gerdau spokeswoman confirmed that the company's offices were the target of a federal police operation on Thursday morning and said the company is cooperating with the investigation. ADRs fell 3.8% to 92 cents.

Vale SA (VALE, VALE3.BR, VALE5.BR, VALE5.FR) posted a sharply wider fourth-quarter loss as the Brazilian mining giant was hit by a big asset write-down and lower revenue amid declines in iron-ore prices. The world's largest iron-ore producer also said it is open to selling core assets in order to reduce high debt levels amid the commodity downturn. ADRs fell 4.4% to $2.80.

Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 25, 2016 17:51 ET (22:51 GMT)

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