Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 16 April 2018

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 16 April 2018

 


 

 


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*  Zimbabwe to sell shares in state-owned firms as part of reforms

*  Nigeria's NNPC engineering unit says 2017 pretax profit down 34 pct

*  KPMG South Africa reviewing work done by its partners

*  Algerian PM says economy to improve in 2018 as energy exports recover

*  IMF resumes lending to Chad following Glencore debt deal

*  KPMG South Africa says two partners resign after facing disciplinary
charges

*  IMF urges Tunisia to raise energy prices, retirement age

*  Development bank EBRD eyes Africa for next wave of expansion

*  Tanzania's NMB ready to participate in banking sector consolidation

*  Sorrell set to make £20m from WPP shares

*  Can the Commonwealth be good for post-Brexit Britain?

*  Google loses 'right to be forgotten' case

*  US banks report gains but shares sink

*  Jaguar Land Rover to shed 1,000 contract staff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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Zimbabwe to sell shares in state-owned firms as part of reforms

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe is lookibng to sell shares in 35 state-owned
firms, including telecoms and mining entities in the latest step to revive
the economy under new political leadership, Finance Minister Patrick
Chinamasa said on Friday.

 

President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who came to power in November after a de facto
military coup forced Robert Mugabe to resign, has made reviving the economy
his top priority.

 

Chinamasa told reporters that Mnangagwa’s cabinet had on Tuesday decided the
government would partially sell some shares in a range of state-owned
companies, known locally as parastatals.

 

This would be done through engaging strategic partners and floating shares
on the local stock exchange.

 

Targeted firms include mobile carriers NetOne and Telecel, fixed line
operator TelOne and savings bank POSB, all owned by the state. Shares in 17
government-run mines would also be sold.

 

Like most parastatals, the mines, which mainly produce gold, have struggled
over the years due to lack of capital and mismanagement, forcing some to
close.

 

 

Chinamasa said the parastatal reform was “designed to enhance peformance,
improve services delivery and to bring more order, discipline and
rationality to the sector as a whole.”

 

Government ministries would present privatisation plans to cabinet for each
entity within 100 days, Chinamasa said.

 

Some state regulators will become government departments while others will
merge to save costs and minimise bureaucracy.

 

The Special Economic Zones Authority will merge with three others, inlcuding
the Zimbabwe Investment Authority to provide a one-stop shop for investors,
Chinamasa said.

 

“It is the right thing to do but the government should go a step further and
say ‘we are moving out altogether’ out of these companies. When government
is a shareholder they are seen by investors as a source of difficulty rather
than assistance,” John Robertson, a Harare-based economic analyst, said.

 

 

 

 

 

 


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Nigeria's NNPC engineering unit says 2017 pretax profit down 34 pct

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria’s state oil company NNPC’s engineering subsidiary
on Friday reported a 34 percent fall in 2017 profit before tax to 3.26
billion naira ($10.4 million) compared with the previous year.

 

Foreign exchange gains of 56 percent before tax in 2016 fell to 4.8 percent
in 2017, NNPC spokesman Ndu Ughamadu said in an emailed statement.

 

($1 = 314.75 naira)

 

 

 

KPMG South Africa reviewing work done by its partners

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - KPMG South Africa is reviewing work done by its
partners in the wake of the resignation of two partners who faced
disciplinary charges, its chief executive said on Sunday, another setback
for the firm whose work is under scrutiny by authorities.

 

CEO Nhlamulo Dlomu said the resignation of partners Sipho Malaba and Dumi
Tshuma on Friday after facing disciplinary charges over failure to disclose
financial interests in VBS Mutual Bank, is a reminder of how much more needs
to be done to “reaffirm the public’s trust in KPMG”.

 

She said the charges stemmed from the partners giving misleading information
on loans they had from VBS.

 

Small lender VBS was in March placed under curatorship by the South African
Reserve Bank because of liquidity issues.

 

“We will look at the last two years. We’re looking at at least 200 files and
looking at big, medium size and smaller clients,” Dlomu told reporters.

 

“In essence what we’re doing is we’re opening ourselves up to proper and
detailed scrutiny.”

 

KPMG sacked its South African leadership in September last year after it
found work done for companies owned by the Gupta family, a trio of
businessmen with close ties to former President Jacob Zuma, “fell
considerably short” of its standards. The Guptas have consistently denied
wrong-doing.

 

The latest review will be in addition to other internal and external reviews
that have been carried out since last September to date.

 

“The purpose of this new program is to assess the commitment to quality and
professionalism of our engagement teams,” KPMG said in a statement.

 

The company also said it has started an expanded process of integrity and
background checks of all partners and their spouses, which will be
coordinated by KPMG International.

 

Additional non-executives on the board will be appointed to ensure
independent scrutiny, it said.

 

South Africa’s companies registry office said in January it was pursuing
criminal complaints against KPMG, as well as SAP and McKinsey, on suspicion
that business they conducted with the Guptas broke the companies act.

 

A number of companies have since dropped KPMG as their auditor. Dlomu said
clients who have dropped the firm are less than 10 percent of KPMG’s client
book.

 

 

 

Algerian PM says economy to improve in 2018 as energy exports recover

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria’s economy will improve this year, Prime Minister
Ahmed Ouyahia said on Saturday, as revenue from the OPEC member’s oil and
natural gas exports picks up after falling by half since 2014.

 

“2017 has been a difficult year, but 2018 will be much better,” Ouyahia told
reporters, adding that unemployment had risen to 11.7 percent last year.

 

Oil and natural gas exports increased 25 percent to $7.1 billion in the
first two months of 2018, up from $5.67 billion in the same period a year
earlier, according to official data.

 

Algeria is a major gas supplier to Europe and relies heavily on revenue from
energy exports. They account for 95 percent of its total exports and 60
percent of the state budget.

 

To cut down spending, the North African country wants to reform, with the
help of the World Bank, its subsidy system offering cheap petrol, power and
housing to citizens.

 

“Our subsidy policy is to be corrected, but underprivileged sections will
not be victims of this revision,” Ouyahia said.

 

“The middle class will be protected and the state will not give up on
low-income citizens,” he said, adding that the reforms would not be
implemented this year.

 

He also said agricultural production would improve due to better rains.

 

Ouyahia also confirmed he will not run in next year’s presidential election
as speculation grows that veteran President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 81, will
seek a fifth term.

 

Bouteflika, in office sine 1999, has largely disappeared from public view
since suffering a stroke in 2013.

 

“We can only be proud if the president decides to run,” said Ouyahia, who
leads the pro-government National Rally for Democracy (RND) party.

 

In a possible sign that authorities are paving the way for a fifth term,
Ouyahia said a campaign would be launched to showcase the president’s
achievements.

 

“It is important ... to show where the $1,000 billion (in energy revenues)
were spent during four terms,” Ouyahia said.

 

Bouteflika can also count on the support of the ruling party FLN, and
thousands of former fighters who have accepted a partial amnesty offer to
lay down arms ending a civil war with Islamists in the 1990s.

 

 

 

IMF resumes lending to Chad following Glencore debt deal

DAKAR (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund said it was resuming loan
disbursements to Chad after the Central African oil producer reached an
agreement in principal to restructure its more than $1 billion debt to
Glencore and four banks.

 

Glencore and the banks lent Chad’s state oil firm about $1.45 billion in
2014 to be repaid with crude oil cargoes but global oil prices crashed
shortly thereafter.

 

The debt has eaten up nearly all of Chad’s oil profits — its main source of
revenue — prompting tense negotiations that began last year about
restructuring.

 

The agreement struck in February extends the maturity of the debt and
provides a two-year grace period on principal payments.

 

The IMF approved about $300 million in credit to Chad at the end of June and
initially released $48.8 million. But a decision on the next disbursement
was delayed as the government’s talks with its creditors dragged on.

 

In a statement late on Friday, the IMF said it would immediately disburse
about $51 million. Mitsuhiro Furusawa, the Fund’s deputy managing director,
said the February deal “is expected to yield the necessary financing for the
program and firmly restore external debt stability”.

 

The IMF also said it expects Chad’s economy to grow by 3.5 percent this
year, after it contracted by 3.1 percent last year, assuming the terms of
the agreement are implemented.

 

 

KPMG South Africa says two partners resign after facing disciplinary charges

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - KPMG South Africa said on Saturday two of its
partners have resigned after facing disciplinary charges over failure to
disclose financial interests in connection to VBS Mutual Bank, which was
placed under curatorship.

 

The company said in a statement partners Sipho Malaba and Dumi Tshuma
tendered their resignations on Friday, which have been accepted.

 

KPMG said the disciplinary charges against Malaba and Tshuma were “connected
to VBS bank and include, but are not limited to, failure by the partners to
comply with the firm’s policies and procedures regarding the disclosure of
relevant financial interests.”

 

The South African Reserve Bank in March placed small lender VBS under
curatorship because of liquidity issues.

 

KPMG said when VBS went into curatorship, information arose in relation to
the partners that prompted the firm to launch an independent investigation.
The investigation was ongoing and further action would be taken as
appropriate, it said.

 

 

“This has been a very disappointing episode for KPMG. There can be no
tolerance, however, of any conduct that compromises our reputation and we
have moved decisively to deal with the situation,” KPMG South Africa chief
executive Nhlamulo Dlomu said.

 

KPMG did not provide further details. It is one of several international
companies facing questions about its work for the Gupta brothers, who have
been accused of using their links with former President Jacob Zuma to secure
lucrative tenders.

 

The Guptas and Zuma have denied any wrongdoing, and the accusations are part
of judicial inquiry into “state capture”.

 

A number of companies have said they would drop KPMG as their auditor.

 

 

 

IMF urges Tunisia to raise energy prices, retirement age

TUNIS (Reuters) - The IMF urged Tunisia on Friday to raise energy prices and
the retirement age to help curb the budget deficit and said any further
public wage hikes would be difficult to sustain given weak growth.

 

The North African country is in the throes of an economic crisis and under
pressure from foreign donors to cut a bloated public service and budget
shortfall.

 

Prime Minister Youssef Chahed said this week Tunisia needed consensus on
reforms but could not wait indefinitely and curbs to social benefits,
subsidies and public enterprises would be launched without further delay.

 

The powerful UGTT union pledged protests against the cuts.

 

Last month, the International Monetary Fund approved payment of a $257
million tranche from its loan programme for Tunisia but urged it to pick up
the pace of economic reform.

 

“It is necessary to reduce unfair energy subsidies through increases in
domestic energy prices,” the IMF said in statement on Friday at the end of a
team visit to Tunisia.

 

  Fuel prices were raised on Saturday for the second time in three months to
help rein in the deficit.

 

Fuel subsidies will also rise from the 1.5 billion dinars ($617.56 million)
level originally expected this year to 3 billion dinars in step with the
rise in world oil prices, Minister of Reforms Taoufik Rajhi said.

 

The IMF said the public sector wage bill was very large and any further pay
increases would be very difficult to sustain unless economic growth
surprises on the upside.

 

“Raising the retirement age and additional parametric reforms on pensions
are crucial to contain the deficits in the social security system,” the IMF
statement added.

 

Tunisian officials told Reuters earlier this week that the government had
sent a bill to parliament to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 years of
age.

 

The government has forecast the budget deficit to fall to 4.9 percent of GDP
in 2018 from about 6 percent in 2017.

 

($1 = 2.4289 Tunisian dinars)

 

 

 

Development bank EBRD eyes Africa for next wave of expansion

LONDON (Reuters) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is
eyeing a new wave of expansion into sub-Saharan Africa and new parts of the
Middle East in the coming years that could raise its lending by as much as a
third, its president told Reuters.

 

Set up in 1991 to invest in the ex-communist economies of eastern Europe and
owned mainly by big Western governments, the EBRD has been rapidly expanding
over the last decade to operate in more than 30 countries from Morocco to
Mongolia.

 

But with capital still abundant, the bank is looking to advance further
south and plans to get the ball rolling when its shareholders gather in
Jordan next month for their annual meeting.

 

Suma Chakrabarti, who has led the EBRD for six years, said there would no
decision made at the upcoming meeting on the expansion but said he aimed to
kick off the discussion.

 

“The debate is starting with our shareholders: ‘Would you like us,
gradually, incrementally to go to a few more places maybe in sub-Saharan
Africa in particular?’” Chakrabarti said in an interview.

 

New countries of operation would have to be democracies or at least
committed to becoming a democracy, and they must also aim for the kind of
market-based economies that the development bank has always focused its
efforts on.

 

“I would be surprised if we didn’t get some positive noises because there
are quite a lot of countries who have very strong commercial links into the
neighbouring countries of the Maghreb and Sahel,” Chakrabarti said,
referring to the area from the top of Africa to the bottom of the Sahara
desert.

 

If shareholders give the nod next month, it would take around a year of
analysis on what would be required financially, he added. If that all works
out, the final green light could then be given at its 2020 annual meeting.

 

The move would represent the latest evolution from the EBRD’s post-Soviet
era roots and come as Cold War-style tensions between the EBRD’s main
Western shareholders and Russia — for a long time the bank’s largest market
— are rising.

 

Having already stopped new investments in Russia in 2014, Chakrabarti said
there was no talk of any further punitive measures following the recent
ratcheting up of U.S. sanctions.

 

The bank has no exposure to any of the entities targeted by the latest
sanctions, he added.

 

The plan to move deeper into Africa meanwhile could dovetail with going into
more countries in the north of the continent such as Algeria, or in the
Middle East such as Iraq or Libya.

 

The overall expansion could see its annual lending jump by almost a third
from around 9.5 billion euros ($11.7 billion) at the moment.

 

 

“On a rough calculation, our finance people reckon we could probably get up
to 10 billion euros in our existing region over the next couple of years.”

 

“Then they calculate that given our capital base... we could probably get to
something like 12.5 to 13 billion euros of lending a year so that is another
2.5 to 3 billion euros of fire power.”

 

TRANSITION GAPS

Another motivation for expansion was also to reduce concentration risks, he
said. The bulk of EBRD investment currently goes into five countries, led by
Turkey, Egypt and Ukraine, all of which have economic and political
challenges.

 

The EBRD wants to make more policy impact in the countries where it operates
but at the moment even in its traditional heartlands like Hungary and Poland
attitudes are shifting away from its principles.

 

“If we were to look at a range of out countries and not just the big ones
like Turkey, Egypt, Hungary and Poland, I think there are undoubtedly issues
over applying democratic principles,” Chakrabarti said.

 

In Turkey for instance, EBRD lending volumes dropped last year, not
necessarily due to a deliberate decision but because the private sector
investors the bank teams up with are becoming warier.

 

It was implementing as few state company projects as possible in Egypt where
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was re-elected this month with 97 percent of
votes after the main opposition candidates pulled out citing intimidation.
[nL5N1RF1VF]

 

Lending in Hungary, where right-wing populist Viktor Orban just won a third
term on a wave of anti-EU sentiment [nL8N1RL02N], remains minimal, while in
Poland investments also dropped significantly last year. [nL8N1RO6CX]

 

“I can convey the concerns that shareholders feel, that is part of my job.
To do these things in private.”

 

“But you cannot expect an institution like the EBRD on its own to solve this
issue. It is bigger than us.”

 

($1 = 0.8114 euros)

 

 

 

Tanzania's NMB ready to participate in banking sector consolidation

NAIROBI (Reuters) - National Microfinance Bank (NMB), Tanzania’s biggest
bank by market capitalisation, is ready to participate in a needed
consolidation of Tanzania’s fragmented banking sector, its chief executive
said on Thursday.

 

Tanzania’s banking sector, hit by bad loans and low lending, would be
healthier if smaller banks were taken over by larger ones, Ineke Bussemaker
told Reuters.

 

The East African nation has about 40 licensed banks, but the sector is
dominated by a handful of big lenders.

 

“If there is a coordinated effort to do a consolidation in the banking
sector, of course NMB will play a role,” Bussemaker said in a phone
interview from Dar es Salaam.

 

Netherlands-based Rabobank Group is NMB’s biggest shareholder with a 34.9
percent stake, while the Tanzanian government owns 31.9 percent.

 

A spike in non-performing loans over the past two years has hit local bank
profits and choked off new lending to the private sector.

 

“There are a number of small banks that are struggling with a relatively
small capital base. I can foresee some consolidation in the sector,”
Bussemaker said.

 

Bad debts as a proportion of total bank loans rose to nearly 12 percent in
December, central bank data showed.

 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged the government to tackle bad
loans to reduce financial sector vulnerabilities and revive credit growth.

 

 

Five Tanzanian banks had their licences revoked in January due to
under-capitalisation.

 

Tanzanian President John Magufuli said last month his government will not
bail out struggling banks and that it was better to have a few viable banks
than dozens of struggling ones.

 

NMB posted a 37 percent decline in profits after tax in 2017. Bussemaker
attributed this almost entirely to a much larger provision for loan losses,
of 131 billion shillings compared with 31 billion the previous year.

 

She said the government’s decision to fire almost 10,000 civil servants in
2017, some of whom had “unsecured personal facilities with NMB” and a
declining economic environment contributed to the rise in bad loans.

 

Magufuli took office in 2015 pledging to reform an economy hobbled by red
tape and corruption and boost infrastructure.

 

The president, nicknamed “the Bulldozer”, is criticised by investors for
what they see as arbitrary new policies and regulations that have slowed
foreign direct investment.

 

The IMF says that although the government’s official data shows strong
macroeconomic performance, other data “suggests much weaker economic
activity”. The government said this month that Tanzania’s economy grew by
around 7.1 percent last year.

 

($1 = 2,261.0000 Tanzanian shillings)

 

 

 

Sorrell set to make £20m from WPP shares

Sir Martin Sorrell could make almost £20m from WPP shares over the next five
years despite stepping down as chief executive of the world's biggest
advertising group on Saturday.

 

Although Sir Martin gets no payoff or pension under his contract terms, he
is entitled to share bonus awards.

 

The maximum number of shares Sir Martin may be awarded if WPP meets certain
targets is 1.65 million.

 

They are worth about £19m. WPP's shares opened down about 4%.

 

Sir Martin and his family own about 2% of the company - a stake worth about
£300m.

 

After peaking at almost £19 in February 2017, WPP shares have since fallen
sharply and closed on Friday at £11.88, valuing it at £15bn.

 

The ad king who shaped an industry

Simon Jack: What now for WPP?

Some analysts believe WPP, which comprises about 400 separate businesses,
including Ogilvy & Mather, Kantar Group, Hogarth Worldwide and Young &
Rubicam, could be broken up.

 

Alex deGroote, at Cenkos Securities, said divisions such as Kantar, a market
research business, could be sold and be worth as much as £3.5bn.

 

Marc Mendoza, founder of 360 Degree Media, told BBC Radio 4's Today
programme a sell-off was inevitable.

 

"When you're that strong a personality leader within that field and you
command such loyalty - a little bit of fear with it as well - you're
impossible to replace with one individual, so the parts must be sold off now
to create value for shareholders."

 

In March WPP reported its weakest annual results since the financial crisis,
with Sir Martin describing 2017 as "not a pretty year" for the company even
though pre-tax profits were just over £2bn.

 

Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported that the 73-year-old is free to
start a rival company because he never had a non-compete agreement,
according to WPP insiders.

 

Sir Martin departed following claims of personal misconduct. WPP had also
hired a law firm to investigate claims of financial impropriety against him,
but the company said that probe had concluded.

 

Brian Wieser, a senior analyst at Pivotal, told Today that it is unlikely
that we will find out exactly why Sir Martin was being investigated.

 

"A lot of people will want to know what it was, just because a lot of people
do know Sir Martin, but at a pragmatic business level, it's more about who's
going to succeed him, what's the shape of the company," he said.

 

Mr Wieser said that the advertising industry as a whole had been hit hard by
"package-based marketers" seeking to "cut costs aggressively".

 

He said: "WPP's been hit harder than most - they had some unusually large
account losses. AT&T was one, Volkswagen was another. But there is nothing
that far away from the overall industry average that was affecting WPP at
the time."--BBC

 

 

 

Can the Commonwealth be good for post-Brexit Britain?

China understands the value of the Commonwealth. Between 2006 and 2016, the
country's total trade with the historic organisation of 53 nations grew by
8.4 times and is now valued at nearly £200bn. That's an awful lot of power
plants, motorways, food, steel and solar panels.

 

This week leaders of the Commonwealth, which accounts for a third of the
world's population (and 40% of people under the age of 30), gather in London
for the annual Heads of Government summit.

 

Alongside protecting the oceans and international development support, trade
and investment will be high on the agenda.

 

Prime Minister Theresa May is scheduled to speak at the opening business
forum on Monday, and will make much of the commercial opportunities
available to the Commonwealth club.

 

Read more from Kamal here

 

With Britain officially scheduled to leave the European Union next year, one
question has regularly cropped up in the Brexit debate.

 

If the UK needs to play a greater role on the world stage, isn't the
Commonwealth a ready-made springboard - a grouping of countries with broadly
the same legal structures and democratic outlooks that are ideal partners
for a post-EU Britain?

 

Shouldn't the UK be seeking out some of the success China has so clearly
had? The simple answer is yes.

 

Trade with "the Commonwealth" - and particularly its substantial African and
Asian members such as Nigeria and India - has often fallen short of
expectations, given the historic ties between Britain and the rest of the
organisation.

 

But whatever successes may be ahead, it is important to keep the potential
in perspective. After all, Commonwealth nations take just 9% of UK exports
of goods and services, while the EU takes 43%.

 

The organisation is also not a formal trading alliance with the same powers
as or global heft of the EU.

 

Critics of those that argue the Commonwealth may be able to replace any lost
trade with the EU point out that being a member of both is not mutually
incompatible.

 

Indeed, many Commonwealth countries such as India backed the UK remaining in
the EU, seeing it as good for Indian businesses that use Britain as a base
for European operations.

 

According to a recent report by the Bruegel think tank, trade between
countries such as India and the 27 nations of the remaining EU has tripled
since 2000. At the same time, UK-India trade has stayed "largely static",
revealing that the "Commonwealth effect" is often over-played.

 

'Incredibly important'

The Commonwealth leadership itself is also careful to keep its distance from
the Brexit debate.

 

I asked the Secretary General, Baroness Patricia Scotland, whether leaving
the EU might be good for UK-Commonwealth trade as Britain would be freer to
sign new free trade deals with members.

 

Indeed, Canada, the second most valuable Commonwealth member to the UK in
terms of trade (Australia is first), has already signalled that any new free
trade deal with Britain could have more impact than the Canada-EU agreement.

 

"I think Britain is an incredibly important member of the Commonwealth," she
said. "And whether Britain decided to say within or without the EU, that
relationship with the Commonwealth was always going to be there.

 

"Now there's a strong argument to say that no longer being part of the EU
could give the UK - if it chose - greater liberality in the way in which it
did deals. But you'll know that there are many advantages and disadvantages
[of Brexit]."

 

Baroness Scotland added: "The good thing is, whether the UK was within the
EU or without the EU, the Commonwealth [trade] advantage would and is still
there, and I'm delighted that the spotlight now is on the advantage."

 

The Commonwealth secretariat claims that intra-Commonwealth trade could
increase to $1trn (£700bn) by 2020 - well above the $560bn recorded in 2016.

 

New trade finance facilities to be agreed at this week's summit in London
and new free trade agreements between a selection of Commonwealth nations
(such as the African Continental Free Trade Area) should help.

 

And the more free trade there is within the Commonwealth - which is
instinctively non-protectionist - the more the UK can gain.

 

Britain is the leading source of "greenfield investment" funding within the
organisation, for example. "I think that's really exciting when you think
about what a troubled and troubling time we live in," Baroness Scotland said
about intra-Commonwealth trade growth.

 

"And the fact that all these countries speak the same language, have the
same political opportunities in terms of democracy and institutions and
share the same common law, it's a real platform to go forward. And I don't
think the world has needed the Commonwealth more than it needs it now."

 

That is possibly especially true for post-Brexit Britain.--BBC

 

 

 

Google loses 'right to be forgotten' case

A businessman fighting for the "right to be forgotten" has won a UK High
Court action against Google.

 

The man, who has not been named due to reporting restrictions surrounding
the case, wanted search results about a past crime he had committed removed
from the search engine.

 

The judge, Mr Justice Mark Warby, ruled in his favour on Friday.

 

But he rejected a separate claim made by another businessman who had
committed a more serious crime.

 

The businessman who won his case was convicted 10 years ago of conspiring to
intercept communications. He spent six months in jail.

 

The other businessman, who lost his case, was convicted more than 10 years
ago of conspiring to account falsely. He spent four years in jail.

 

Both had ordered Google to remove search results about their convictions,
including links to news articles, stating that they were no longer relevant.

 

They took Google to court when it refused to remove the search results.

 

Google said it would accept the rulings.

 

"We work hard to comply with the right to be forgotten, but we take great
care not to remove search results that are in the public interest," it said
in a statement.

 

"We are pleased that the Court recognised our efforts in this area, and we
will respect the judgements they have made in this case."

 

'Legal precedent'

The right to be forgotten is a legal precedent set by the Court of Justice
of the European Union in 2014, following a case brought by Spaniard Mario
Costeja Gonzalez who had asked Google to remove information about his
financial history.

 

Google says it has removed 800,000 pages from its results following
so-called "right to be forgotten" requests. However, search engines can
decline to remove pages if they judge them to remain in the public interest.

 

Explaining the decisions made on Friday, the judge said one of the men had
continued to "mislead the public" while the other had "shown remorse".

 

The Open Rights Group, which campaigns for internet freedoms, said the
rulings set a "legal precedent".

 

"The right to be forgotten is meant to apply to information that is no
longer relevant but disproportionately impacts a person," said Jim Killock,
executive director.

 

"The Court will have to balance the public's right to access the historical
record, the precise impacts on the person, and the public interest."--BBC

 

 

 

US banks report gains but shares sink

Profits at JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo rose in the first
three months of the year, but their shares slumped on Friday despite the
gains.

 

JP Morgan's profits soared 35% year-on-year, with more modest increases
reported at Citigroup and Wells Fargo.

 

Analysts said the share decline was a sign investors had already factored in
some of the rise.

 

They were expecting more active stock markets and a lower tax rate to boost
results.

 

Shares in all three banks sank more than 2% in early trading, providing a
sour start to earnings season, when companies report quarterly performance
to investors.

 

JP Morgan

JP Morgan reported profits of $8.7bn (£6.11bn) in the period from $6.4bn
last year, despite a decline in investment banking.

 

Revenue increased 10% to $28.5bn, as a strong economy boosted activity at
its consumer banking unit and the return of market fluctuations boosted
trading, leading its equities unit to a record quarter.

 

Citigroup

Citigroup's profits rose 13%, reaching $4.6bn in the quarter from $4.1bn
last year.

 

Revenues in the quarter were $18.4bn, a 3% increase from the same period in
2017.

 

The firm said volatility boosted its equity trading unit, helping to offset
a fall in bond trading. As with JP Morgan, investment banking took a hit.

 

Wells Fargo reported preliminary profits of $5.9bn in the quarter, rising 5%
from the same period last year.

 

The results were overshadowed by the firm's ongoing problems with watchdogs.

 

Wells said US regulators have proposed to resolve investigations of vehicle
insurance and might force it to restate its results.

 

"At this time, we are unable to predict final resolution ... and cannot
reasonably estimate our related loss contingency," the bank said.

 

The firm has been under a cloud since revelations that the bank created more
than two million fake accounts to meet sales goals and ignored or punished
whistleblowers.

 

Then last year, the bank said it had wrongly charged customers for car
insurance, among other problems.

 

In February, the US Federal Reserve, which regulates banks, said it would
restrict the firm's growth until it improved its risk management oversight.

 

Revenue slipped from $22.3bn in the first quarter of 2017 to $21.9bn this
period, hurt in part by "customer-friendly" changes the bank made to card
and overdraft fees.-BBC

 

 

 

 

Jaguar Land Rover to shed 1,000 contract staff

Jaguar Land Rover says it will not be renewing the contracts of 1,000
temporary workers at two factories.

 

The UK's biggest carmaker, owned by India's Tata Motors, blamed "continuing
headwinds" affecting the car industry.

 

It said it was continuing to recruit large numbers of engineers and
apprentices and it remained committed to its UK plants.

 

Earlier this year, it said it would cut production amid uncertainty over
Brexit and changes to taxes on diesel cars.

 

Those cuts were made at its Halewood plant in Merseyside. These jobs will go
at the Solihull.

 

JLR was expected to announce the cuts on Monday, with Brexit and confusion
over diesel cars again being cited as the chief reasons for the changes.

 

JLR employs 40,000 people in the UK, 10,000 at Solihull.

 

Professor of industry, David Bailey, from Aston University, said: "With the
big turn against diesel engines, Jaguar Land Rover is particularly exposed
as more than 90% of its UK sales are diesels.

 

"JLR has just revealed its full-electric i-Pace model and have indicated
offering all-electric or hybrid variants of all their models by around 2021,
but they have been far too slow compared with Tesla and BMW."

 

He said the problems caused by Brexit were also unlikely to be solved in a
timely manner: "It's hard to say how long this production uncertainty will
continue around Brexit negotiations, because it's still unclear what the
trading relationship will be between the UK and EU with regards to tariffs."

 

Analysis: Simon Jack, business editor

JLR was very exposed to the demise of diesel. Recent figures from the trade
body showed sales of diesels fell a whopping 37% in March compared with the
previous year.

 

Unhappily for JLR, 90% of its vehicles are powered by diesel engines and
there are critical industry voices that say they have been slower than their
rivals to embrace hybrids and electric.

 

JLR Plants in China and Slovakia are increasing production, but company
insiders were keen to stress that it would continue to invest in its UK
plants and recently launched a drive to recruit another 5,000 engineers.

 

Jaguar sales are down 26% so far this year, compared with last year, while
demand for Land Rovers in the UK is down 20%.

 

Last year, global sales hit a record, but the company acknowledged that the
UK market was "tough".

 

Diesel registrations overall in the UK industry have plunged, down a third
compared with January to March 2017--BBC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 


 

INVESTORS DIARY 2018

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


Zimbabwe

Independence Day

Zimbabwe

18/04/2018

 


 

Workers’ Day

 

01/05/2018

 


 

Africa Day

 

25/05/2018

 


Zimbabwe

Heroes’ Day

Zimbabwe

13/08/2018

 


Zimbabwe

Defence Forces Day

Zimbabwe

14/08/2018

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

 


DISCLAIMER: This report has been prepared by Bulls ‘n Bears, a division of
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constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or
subscribe for any securities. The information contained in this report has
been compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but no representation or
warranty is made or guarantee given as to its accuracy or completeness. All
opinions expressed and recommendations made are subject to change without
notice. Securities or financial instruments mentioned herein may not be
suitable for all investors. Securities of emerging and mid-size growth
companies typically involve a higher degree of risk and more volatility than
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investigation into the business, financial condition and future prospects of
any companies referred to in this report. Other  Indices quoted herein are
for guideline purposes only and sourced from third parties.

 


 

 


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