Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 24 April 2018

Tue Apr 24 11:27:50 CAT 2018

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 24 April 2018

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*  Zimbabwe committed to clearing debt obligations -Moyo

*  Zimbabwe to drop local listing requirement from mining bill: foreign minister

*  South Africa's rand recovers as traders see dip as chance to buy cheap

*  Congo Republic says it has met criteria for an IMF deal

*  Shares in cobalt miner Katanga slump on legal threat in DRC

*  Gold edges up, but safe-haven demand starts to fade

*  Angola satellite inoperative, Russia to build another one

*  Ivory Coast minister views local processing as crucial to sector

*  Egypt aims for $10 bln foreign investment in oil, gas in 2018/19

*  Rwandan brewer Bralirwa profit lifted by lower financing costs

*  Google owner Alphabet sees profits soar

*  UK borrowing lowest since March 2007

*  Apple's Shazam deal faces European probe

*  Finland's basic income trial falls flat

*  Could the royal baby boost the economy?

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Zimbabwe committed to clearing debt obligations -Moyo

LONDON (Reuters) - Zimbabwe is committed to clearing its debt obligations with the World Bank, African Development Bank and other financial institutions, Foreign Minister Sibusiso Moyo said on Monday.

The country needs to clear about $1.8 billion in arrears with the World Bank and the African Development Bank before it can tap other sources of development financing.

“We are committed to engaging with these key institutions as partners for growth in Zimbabwe, committed to clearing the outstanding debt with the World Bank and the African Development Bank, among others,” said Moyo, speaking in London at a Chatham House event. “We believe that we are going to be able to meet all of our obligations.”

In 2016, Zimbabwe paid off 15 years’ worth of arrears to the International Monetary Fund.

Moyo added that Zimbabwe was in the process of re-establishing its membership of the Commonwealth, to which it believed it would belong again in due course.

Zimbabwe left the organisation of 53 mostly former British colonies in 2003 after then-President Robert Mugabe, who had ruled Zimbabwe from its independence in 1980, was criticised over disputed elections and land seizures from white farmers.

Britain said on Friday it would strongly support Zimbabwe’s re-entry to the Commonwealth after Mugabe was toppled in a military coup.

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Zimbabwe to drop local listing requirement from mining bill: foreign minister

LONDON (Reuters) - Zimbabwe will drop a requirement that mining companies must list on the local stock exchange from a new mining act, foreign minister Sibusiso Moyo said on Monday.

Industry lobby group, the Chamber of Mines, had expressed concerns about the proposal for mining firms to list locally, warning that the exchange might not be deep and liquid enough for companies to raise capital.

“Previously there was an indication that the new mining act would have a requirement to list on the local exchange,” Moyo said, speaking in London at a Chatham House event.

“But we can assure you that this qualification will be taken out.”

The original proposal was part of efforts under the country’s new president Emmerson Mnangagwa to boost investment and local ownership of Zimbabwe’s vast mineral resources.

South Africa's rand recovers as traders see dip as chance to buy cheap

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s rand on Tuesday recovered some of its losses from a rout in the previous session as traders bought the dip and the dollar rally marched on, causing the currency to break through key levels.

At 0630 GMT the rand was 0.45 percent firmer at 12.2950 per dollar compared to an overnight low of 12.3900, its weakest level in the three months.

The greenback was at a three-month high against a basket of currencies early on Tuesday, boosted by the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield climbing toward the psychologically key 3 percent level.

Some investors who were long the rand saw stop losses triggered between 12.30 and 12.34, although a number of analysts view 12.50 as the rand’s fair value mark while technical indicators were already signalling oversold levels.

“I would suggest that we still have room for further weakness but will not be filling my boots with dollars just yet given the proximity of the resistance level at 12.40,” said chief currency trader at Standard Bank Warrick Butler in a note.

“Instead I will buy the dip to 12.25 or alternatively hope I get a few in on a break above 12.40,” Butler added.

Bonds remained weak, with the yield on the benchmark paper due in 2026 up 2 basis points to 8.175 percent.

The stock market was set to open firmer at 0700 GMT, with the Top40 futures index up only 0.37 percent.

Congo Republic says it has met criteria for an IMF deal

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Congo Republic said on Friday it fulfilled the criteria for a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and had reached an agreement on a three-year programme aimed at turning around its debt-crippled economy.

The announcement appeared to contradict an earlier statement by the IMF, which said a programme would only be proposed to the Fund’s board once Congo was in compliance with IMF policies. IMF officials were not immediately available to react to the Congolese statement.

Like other Central African oil producing countries, Congo has been hit by low crude prices. While several neighbours, including Chad and Gabon, have secured bailouts from the IMF, talks with Congo have dragged on since last year.

The delay is largely due to the IMF’s call for the government to restructure its debt, which stood at $9.14 billion, or around 110 percent of GDP, by the end of July - a level the Fund says is unsustainable.

“Republic of Congo welcomes the agreement concluded with the International Monetary Fund to support its reform programme,” the government said in a statement. “This agreement is supported by other multilateral creditors, including the World Bank and African Development Bank.”

It said the programme, which still required IMF board approval, aimed to restore sustainable and inclusive economic growth and support a “stable microeconomic environment compatible with the viability of the public debt”.

The statement did not give the expected size of the IMF package, but it said that conclusion of the programme would unlock an additional 135 million euros ($166 million) from France.

“Republic of Congo congratulates itself for having met all of the criteria to be eligible for financing of its economic and financial programme by the IMF and its international partners,” it said.

At the end of its most recent visit to Congo, the IMF said on Thursday that the two parties it had come to “broad understandings on policies that could be supported by the IMF under a financial arrangement”.

However, the mission did not say it had reached a staff-level agreement - the provisional deal between the IMF and the government that could then be submitted the Fund’s executive board.

Instead, it said it expected Congo to continue implementing its strategy to restore debt sustainability and would propose a programme to the board “once compliance with all relevant IMF policies has been established.”

Congolese authorities are in talks with creditors, including trading houses Trafigura and Glencore from whom it borrowing $2 billion.

The bulk of its external debt, however, is owed to Chinese entities.

($1 = 0.8129 euros)

Shares in cobalt miner Katanga slump on legal threat in DRC

(Reuters) - Shares in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) copper and cobalt miner Katanga Mining Ltd lost nearly a third of their value Monday after it said the central African country’s state-owned mining company had taken steps to dissolve one of its units.

Katanga said late on Sunday that Gécamines had begun legal proceedings against Kamoto Copper Company, which is 25 percent owned by the state-owned miner and 75 percent by Katanga, due to an ongoing capital shortfall at Kamoto. A court hearing is scheduled for May 8 in the DRC.

Katanga, which is 86-percent owned by global miner Glencore Plc, is ramping up production in the DRC that could see it become the world’s biggest producer of cobalt, one of the hottest commodities of the past year.

The DRC produces nearly two-thirds of the world’s cobalt, a byproduct of its copper mines that is a critical ingredient in batteries for electric vehicles, a market that is expected to expand rapidly over the next decade.

The DRC has adopted a tougher approach to in-country miners as it seeks a bigger share of profits as commodity prices rise. DRC President Joseph Kabila in March signed into law a new mining code that raises royalties and taxes on miners.

“Gécamines appears to be seeking a meaningful capital injection into KCC (Kamoto Copper Company) which would lower the entity’s debt burden and unlock value for the state-owned miner,” Macquarie analysts said in a note to clients.

Katanga’s shares listed in Toronto fell as much as 30 percent to C$1.25 even as Katanga said it was assessing options to fix the capital shortfall and ensure Kamoto keeps operating, including converting debt to equity or forgiving a portion of Kamoto’s debt.

By early afternoon the shares were off their lows at C$1.30, down 27 percent. Glencore’s shares were flat.

Gold edges up, but safe-haven demand starts to fade

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Gold prices edged up on Tuesday, but stayed near two-week lows as a stronger dollar, rising U.S. Treasury yields and receding geopolitical worries crimped safe-haven demand for the metal.

After falling for three previous sessions, spot gold edged up 0.2 percent to $1,327.20 per ounce by 0632 GMT. That was not far from a low of $1,321.81 touched on Monday, its weakest since April 6. U.S. gold futures rose 0.4 percent to $1,329.20 per ounce.

“Today in Asia, gold is higher following some choppy trading this morning ... and we are seeing some buying out of China,” MKS PAMP Group trader Tim Brown said.

Spot gold may bounce to $1,334 per ounce before falling again, as suggested by a rising channel and a retracement analysis, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao. [TECH/C]

“Gold is going up and down with views on risk-aversion ... less risk-aversion is pushing it down. We feel that there could be more downward pressure on gold in the near-term,” said John Sharma, an economist with National Australia Bank.

“(A strong) dollar makes gold expensive for non-U.S. buyers and rising yields increase the opportunity cost of holding gold, which is another factor lessening gold’s appeal.”

The dollar rose to more than three-month highs against a basket of currencies as the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield climbed towards the psychologically key 3 percent level. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield hit its highest in over four years on Monday. [USD/] [US/]

Gold prices also came under downward pressure from an improvement in the geopolitical environment, with the U.S. Treasury Secretary cautiously optimistic on his negotiations with China, North Korea freezing its nuclear testing, and Washington extending its deadline for sanctions against Russia’s Rusal, said OCBC analyst Barnabas Gan.

Palladium plunged 5 percent on Monday after the United States gave American customers of Russia’s biggest aluminium producer, Rusal, more time to comply with sanctions.

Rusal owns a 28-percent stake in Norilsk Nickel, the world’s biggest palladium producer.

Spot palladium was up 0.7 percent on Tuesday at $985.35 an ounce. Platinum was 0.1-percent higher at $918 an ounce.

Silver rose over 1 percent to $16.71 an ounce, having fallen over 3 percent in the previous session.

Angola satellite inoperative, Russia to build another one

LUANDA (Reuters) - Russia’s space agency said on Monday that Angola’s first national telecoms satellite, AngoSat-1, was inoperative and Russia would build another one for launch in 2020.

Launched in December from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the satellite has been plagued by problems including the loss of communications and is now regarded as a write-off, Russian and Angolan officials told a news conference on Monday.

“We are going to start the AngoSat-2 construction,” Igor Frolov, a representative for Energia, a unit of Russia’s space agency, said.

The written-off satellite was insured and Russia will pay the rest of the undisclosed costs for the second satellite.

Ivory Coast minister views local processing as crucial to sector

BERLIN (Reuters) - Boosting cocoa processing in Ivory Coast is central to improving the sustainability of the country’s cocoa sector, the top grower’s trade minister Souleymane Diarrassouba said.

Increasing the volume of cocoa that is processed locally was a necessary step to help protect producing countries from volatility on the global market, Diarrassouba told a cocoa conference in Berlin on Monday.

A large global surplus of cocoa in the 2016/17 season (October/September) sparked a fall in New York futures in April last year to a more than nine-year low.

This prompted the Ivory Coast’s Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC) to cut the price it paid farmers for their cocoa to 700 CFA francs ($1.28) per kilogram from 1,100 CFA francs.

“Our government wants to establish a resilient and sustainable cocoa economy that can withstand price volatility and that generates a living income for the farmers, who are the weakest link of the chain,” Diarrassouba said.

Global chocolate makers have been buying more cocoa through schemes aimed at stamping out poverty, but benefits for farmers have been tempered by falling premiums under the biggest and most popular of these programmes.

Ivory Coast has set a goal of increasing local processing of its cocoa from 30 percent to 50 percent by 2020, Diarrassouba told attendees.

The International Cocoa Organization has forecast that Ivory Coast cocoa grindings in the 2017/18 season (October/September) will rise by 23,000 tonnes to 600,000 tonnes.

The inter-governmental body put the Ivory Coast’s crop for the current season at 2 million tonnes, or about 43 percent of global production.

The government has also made efforts to improve the investment climate in Ivory Coast in a bid to attract the foreign investment it needs to boost processing, he added.

($1 = 547.6600 CFA francs)

Egypt aims for $10 bln foreign investment in oil, gas in 2018/19

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt aims for foreign investment in the oil and gas sector to reach about $10 billion in the 2018/19 fiscal year that begins in July, Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla said on Sunday.

Molla said he expected foreign investments to total the same amount for the current fiscal year, marking a 25 percent increase from the previous year.

The 25 percent gain comes as a result of foreign companies investing in major gas projects in the Mediterranean, he said.

Egypt aims to increase its gas production from newly discovered fields, which include the mammoth Zohr asset discovered by Italy’s Eni in 2015.

Once a gas exporter, Egypt hopes to halt imports by 2019.

Rwandan brewer Bralirwa profit lifted by lower financing costs

KIGALI (Reuters) - Rwandan brewer Bralirwa said on Monday its pretax profit rose to 7.709 billion francs ($9 million) in 2017, from 2.67 billion francs a year earlier, helped by lower financing costs that cushioned a slight revenue drop.

Bralirwa is Rwanda’s oldest brewery and has rights to produce beer brands such as Amstel. It also produces branded soft drinks such as Coca-Cola.

It said its sales volumes fell by 12 percent to 1.5 billion francs in 2017, hurt by the impact of price rises of both soft drinks and beer and strong competition.

“We used to be in (a) monopoly situation in 10 years ago and now we are facing strong competition from local production coming from Skol but also from imports … from Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya,” Victor Madiela managing director, said.

Bralirwa said its earnings per share rose to 3.75 francs from 1.36 francs in 2016.

($1 = 845.9700 Rwandan francs)

Google owner Alphabet sees profits soar

Profits at Google-owner Alphabet jumped almost 73% in the first three months of the year, as revenues from internet advertising soared.

The strong results came despite fears that rising costs and regulation could undermine the search giant's performance.

First-quarter net income rose to $9.4bn (£6.7bn) from $5.4bn a year earlier, beating analyst expectations.

Revenue jumped 26% to $31.1bn from $24.8bn.

During the quarter, the search giant enjoyed a $3bn boost from a change to accounting rules, as well as a $1.1bn uplift from currency exchange movements.

However, it attributed much of the growth to higher pricing for online ads on its Google search engine, YouTube video service and partner apps and websites.

Ivan Feinseth, an analyst at Tigress Financial Partners, said: "The strong economy has companies spending more on advertising and we have an ongoing migration from traditional types of media advertising to greater online and social media-based advertising."

Mounting pressure

Alphabet's profit margins have fallen in recent quarters as it reinvests in areas of its business such as cloud computing and hardware.

And the firm admitted capital spending almost tripled to $7.7bn during the first quarter.

Its shares have also fluctuated in 2018 amid mounting pressure from regulators to change its business practices.

Investors are particularly worried about the European Union's new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), due to come in on 25 May, which will give the public more control over their data and ramp up fines for data breaches.

Some analysts believe it could prompt some users to reject receiving personalised ads online, hitting Google's sales.

However, in a conference call with reporters, Google boss Sundar Pichai played down the concerns.

"GDPR is a fairly new public topic, but for us it is not new - we started working on it 18 months ago.

"We are working very closely with our publishers and our partners… It is a big effort, we are very committed to it and to getting it right."

Alphabet shares jumped almost 1% in after-hours trading before slipping back.--BBC

UK borrowing lowest since March 2007

Government borrowing fell by £3.5bn to £42.6bn for the past year - the lowest in 11 years, official figures show.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) figure is below the independent Office for Budget Responsibility's estimate for borrowing of £45.2bn.

It means the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, has beaten his target for cutting the UK deficit.

However, public debt as a percentage of gross domestic product is now almost twice that before the financial crisis.

For the past financial year, it crept up to 86.3% of GDP, up from 85.3% in the last financial year. In cash terms it stands at £1.798 trillion,

The figures are the first provisional estimates of the last financial year.

The ONS stressed they would be revised as more data became available.

The borrowing figure does not include the amount spent on supporting the state-owned banks.

Mr Hammond has kept the broad aim of the previous chancellor, George Osborne, of reducing the gap between spending and borrowing, although he has eased off on the pace of cut backs.

These latest figures see borrowing at 2.1% of gross domestic product, down from 10% in 2010.

March's deficit was £1.3bn, well below a forecast for a gap of £3.25bn.--BBC

Apple's Shazam deal faces European probe

European regulators will launch an in-depth investigation of Apple's planned $400m purchase of Shazam, the music recognition app developed in the UK.

The European Commission said an initial probe found Apple may encourage Shazam users to switch to its own music streaming service following a takeover.

Apple Music has about half as many paid subscribers as Spotify, the world's biggest streaming platform.

Apple said in December that it intended to buy Shazam.

The deal would be the iPhone maker's biggest acquisition since it bought Beats, the headphone maker and music streaming service, for $3bn in 2014. That takeover saw Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine join Apple Music as a senior executive.

Music streaming services are 'too similar': Iovine

Streaming fuels music industry boom

Shazam lets users identify song titles and artists with their smartphone. The app already presents users with links to Apple's iTunes download store to buy songs.

Links to the iPhone maker's music download service generates revenues for Shazam, along with advertising.

The app can also be used to find out more information about television programmes.

The Commission now has 90 working days to decide whether to approve the deal.

Although it does not consider Shazam to be a "key entry point" for music streaming services, the Commission will consider whether Apple Music's competitors would be harmed if Apple discontinued referrals from the Shazam app to them after a takeover.

Spotify subscribers, for instance, can have songs identified on Shazam automatically added to a playlist in the streaming app.

The most Shazamed song - which has been identified more than 23 million times - is Wake Me Up by Avicii, the Swedish DJ and producer who died in Oman on Friday while on holiday.

Shazam was founded in 2002 and is led by executive chairman Andrew Fisher and Rich Riley, who joined in 2013 as chief executive.--BBC

Finland's basic income trial falls flat

The Finnish government has decided not to expand a limited trial in paying people a basic income, which has drawn much international interest.

Currently 2,000 unemployed Finns are receiving a flat monthly payment of €560 (£490; $685) as basic income.

"The eagerness of the government is evaporating. They rejected extra funding [for it]," said Olli Kangas, one of the experiment's designers.

Some see basic income as a way to get unemployed people into temporary jobs.

The argument is that, if paid universally, basic income would provide a guaranteed safety net. That would help to address insecurities associated with the "gig" economy, where workers do not have staff contracts.

Supporters say basic income would boost mobility in the labour market as people would still have an income between jobs.

Finland's two-year pilot scheme started in January 2017, making it the first European country to test an unconditional basic income. The 2,000 participants - all unemployed - were chosen randomly.

But it will not be extended after this year, as the government is now examining other schemes for reforming the Finnish social security system.

"I'm a little disappointed that the government decided not to expand it," said Prof Kangas, a researcher at the Social Insurance Institution (Kela), a Finnish government agency.

Speaking to the BBC from Turku, he said the government had turned down Kela's request for €40-70m extra to fund basic income for a group of employed Finns, instead of limiting the experiment to 2,000 unemployed people.

Another Kela researcher, Miska Simanainen, said "reforming the social security system is on the political agenda, but the politicians are also discussing many other models of social security, rather than just basic income".

When Finland launched the experiment its unemployment rate was 9.2% - higher than among its Nordic neighbours.

That, and the complexity of the Finnish social benefits system, fuelled the calls for ambitious social security reforms, including the basic income pilot.

The pilot's full results will not be released until late 2019.

OECD finds drawbacks

In February this year the influential OECD think tank said a universal credit system, like that being introduced in the UK, would work better than a basic income in Finland. Universal credit replaces several benefit payments with a single monthly sum.

The study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said income tax would have to increase by nearly 30% to fund a basic income. It also argued that basic income would increase income inequality and raise Finland's poverty rate from 11.4% to 14.1%.

In contrast, the OECD said, universal credit would cut the poverty rate to 9.7%, as well as reduce complexity in the benefits system.

Another reform option being considered by Finnish politicians is a negative income tax, Prof Kangas said.

Do welfare states boost economic growth, or stunt it?

Under that scheme, people whose income fell below a certain threshold would be exempt from income tax and would actually receive payments from the tax office.

The challenge is to find a cost-effective system that incentivises people to work, but that does not add to income inequality, Tuulia Hakola-Uusitalo of the Finnish Finance Ministry told the BBC.

What do others say about basic income?

Some powerful billionaire entrepreneurs are keen on the idea of universal basic income, recognising that job insecurity is inescapable in an age of increasing automation.

Among them are Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Virgin Group boss Richard Branson.

US venture capitalist Sam Altman, who runs start-up funder Y Combinator, is organising a basic income experiment.

Y Combinator will select 3,000 individuals in two US states and randomly assign 1,000 of them to receive $1,000 per month for three to five years. Their use of the unconditional payments will be closely monitored, and their spending compared with those who do not get the basic income.

In 2016, Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to introduce a guaranteed basic income for all.

Supporters of the proposal had suggested a monthly income of 2,500 Swiss francs (£1,834; $2,558) for adults and also 625 Swiss francs for each child.—BBC

Could the royal baby boost the economy?

Spring is here, the sun is shining and a royal baby has arrived making some of us (see photos) feel a bit happier.

It seems overdue. Consumer confidence has been dented in recent years as wages have failed to keep pace with inflation - leading to what economists call a squeeze on real incomes.

Lower spending has seen several well known retailers forced to close shops, or even close down altogether.

Could the arrival of a baby encourage a loosening of the purse strings?

Will people spend more?

Views are mixed. But one firm is so confident it will that it's willing to put a number on it.

Independent brand valuation and strategy consultancy Brand Finance estimates the boy will add £50m to the UK economy before he reaches his first birthday.

Chief executive David Haigh says: "The birth of the new prince is also a tremendous marketing opportunity for British producers and retailers of baby products who can reference the royal baby in their promotional campaigns."

It's something upmarket baby and maternity products retailer JoJo Maman Bebe has observed to its benefit.

Laura Tenison, the company's managing director, says: "The Royal Family and any news about them are a massive boost.

"During HRH's pregnancy with Princess Charlotte she wore our (already named) Cream Princess coat - it sold out instantly. This pregnancy she wore it again."

Following the births of Prince George and Princess Charlotte, Mothercare said it saw an increase in sales of its Heritage new-born clothing collection.

The collection features more traditional prints based on red, white and shades of blue. A spokesperson for the chain says the collection has continued to be a best-seller.

But while a royal baby may be good for sales of individual clothing items, Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec, there's not a lot in it for the broader UK economy.

"Historically, a new royal baby tends not to have a material effect on the economy. And a major boost seems even more unlikely this time, bearing in mind how many households are strapped for cash," he says.

Brand Finance has quite a list of items: souvenirs, memorabilia, commemorative coins, food and drink, and also by encouraging increased sales in child-related products such as pushchairs and infant clothing - as recorded by JoJo Maman Bebe.

Mr Shaw admits that the new baby, plus the forthcoming wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, will help keep the Royal Family in the spotlight and help boost their popularity.

"This flurry of royal activity should continue to encourage tourism into the UK.

"So flights into the country, restaurant spending and accommodation, whether by professional suppliers or by the local AirBnB brigade, could all get a boost," he adds.

Haven't royal births lost their novelty?

The latest birth is the third child for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and is only fifth in line to the throne. On top of this, it's less than a month until Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tie the knot.

Brand Finance's David Haigh said this will inevitably overshadow the royal baby's commercial impact.

Its £50m economic estimate for the latest birth is significantly smaller than the £75m and £100m respectively that it estimated for the impact of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's first two children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

"The third royal birth is - understandably - attracting less attention than the first two, and is additionally somewhat overshadowed by the upcoming wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle," he says.

Ms Tenison says rather optimistically that it never fades: "This [the royal Family] is the first topic of conversation in America, where we are currently opening JoJo stores.

"The effect lasts… in a discreet way it will always be there."

Mr Haigh's consultancy has also assessed the Royal Family as the gift that keeps on giving.

He says the UK economy can expect an overall uplift - mainly from the from the Royal Wedding - of more than £1bn in 2018, but, he says, the Monarchy provides an economic contribution every year.

Brand Finance estimated 2017's boost at close to £1.8bn.--BBC

INVESTORS DIARY 2018

Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

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

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DISCLAIMER: This report has been prepared by Bulls ‘n Bears, a division of Faith Capital (Pvt) Ltd for general information purposes only and does not 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 the securities of more established companies. Neither Faith Capital nor any other member of Bulls ‘n Bears nor any other person, accepts any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this report or its contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith. Recipients of this report shall be solely responsible for making their own independent 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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