Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 01 August 2018

Wed Aug 1 10:13:03 CAT 2018

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 01 August 2018

 <http://www.nedbank.co.zw/> 

*  Exposure to debt-stricken cocoa exporter rocks Ivory Coast banks

*  ArcelorMittal South Africa swings to H1 profit

*  South Africa's rand, bonds weaken as ANC pushes ahead on land
expropriation

*  EXCLUSIVE: South Africa faces power cuts as Eskom units down: internal
report

*  Farming, tourism to boost Kenya 2018 growth to 6.2 pct-C.Bank head

*  Kenya's inflation rises to 4.35 pct year-on-year in July

*  UK judge lifts asset freeze order against Quantum Global in Angolan SWF
case

*  Why is Samsung's Galaxy S9 flagship struggling?

*  Facebook bans pages aimed at US election interference

*  Thomas Cook bookings hit by heatwave

*  Jaguar hit by trade war as China sales slow

*  US mulls 25% tariff on $200bn of Chinese goods, say reports

*  London's Mayor says Brexit hit to City less than feared

*  French drug maker Sanofi 'stockpiling for Brexit'

*  Apple boosted by selling more expensive iPhones

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

Exposure to debt-stricken cocoa exporter rocks Ivory Coast banks

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Heavy debt exposure to Ivory Coast’s largest domestic
cocoa exporter, which was ordered into liquidation this month, risks
destabilising the West African nation’s banking sector, bank officials said
on Tuesday.

The three officials from different lenders, who asked not to be named, told
Reuters that SAF-Cacao owed Ivorian banks between 150 billion and 155
billion CFA francs ($268 million to $277 million).

The Ivorian banking association has written to Prime Minister Amadou Gon
Coulibaly to ask for assistance, the officials said.

“We clearly indicated the systemic risks for the Ivorian banking sector if
nothing is done to help us,” one of the officials said. “We must act now.
Not in six months or a year. It’s urgent.”

The company is thought to have around 50,000 tonnes of cocoa beans that
technically belong to the banks in its warehouses, but those stocks are
believed to be of very poor quality.

($1 = 559.2000 CFA francs)

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

ArcelorMittal South Africa swings to H1 profit

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - ArcelorMittal’s South Africa unit swung back to a
modest profit in the first half of the financial year, boosted by higher
steel prices and upbeat sale volumes, the firm said on Wednesday.

Diluted headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the six months ended 30 June,
2018, is 5 cents per share compared with a loss of 148 cents per share a
year ago. This was in line with the company’s expectations for the first
half of 2018.

HEPS is the main profit measure in South Africa that strips out certain
once-off items.

The company, majority-owned by ArcelorMittal , said profits improved despite
a constrained South African economy and a relatively strong average
rand/U.S. dollar exchange rate in the first half of the year.

“The turnaround is on the back of a favourable international steel pricing
environment together with higher steel sales volumes,” the company said in a
statement.

ArcelorMittal’s South African unit said it was investigating further
initiatives to address the group’s sustainability including the sale of its
50 percent stake in trading and shipping company MIHBV.

ArcelorMittal’s unit said in May said it would sell its stake in MIHBV for
$220 million, which would be used to strengthen its balance sheet, fund
working capital and for investments in the operating businesses.
[nL5N1SZ3RE]

The steelmaker, which has long complained about cheap imports eating into
its business, said it had seen steel imports decrease during the period
despite 392,000 tonnes of primary carbon steel imports into South Africa in
the first half of the year.

South Africa said last year it would impose emergency “safeguard” tariffs on
imports of certain flat hot-rolled steel products.

The tariff is to stay in place for three years and fall from 12 percent in
the first year to 10 percent in the second year and 8 percent in the third.
[nL8N1IA4XD]

South Africa's rand, bonds weaken as ANC pushes ahead on land expropriation

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s rand fell and government bonds
weakened early on Wednesday after President Cyril Ramaphosa said the ruling
party will press ahead with plans to amend the constitution to allow for the
expropriation of land without compensation.

EXCLUSIVE: South Africa faces power cuts as Eskom units down: internal
report

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Fifteen units are down at nine South African power
stations, taking over 6,000 megawatts or 13 percent of Eskom’s output off
the national grid, an internal document seen by Reuters showed on Tuesday.

Eskom provides more than 90 percent of the power for Africa’s most
industrialised economy, but the state-owned utility has been hit by labour
unrest over wage talks as it tries to reverse a decade of financial decline
by cutting costs.

Earlier, it warned there was a high risk of electricity cuts on Tuesday
because of “unplanned outages”. Power cuts during the ongoing winter are
likely to cause hardship for millions.

The document, sent on Tuesday to senior staff of the struggling utility,
shows that four units are down at the Arnot station, contradicting an
earlier claim by Eskom that only one of the six coal-fired units there was
not functioning.

Reasons cited for the outages at the 15 units in total include an ongoing
wildcat strike and low coal levels which union sources say are related to
the industrial unrest along the coal belt east of Johannesburg.

Eleven of the units went down on Monday and Tuesday, underscoring the impact
of the protests.

The other four went down months ago or last year for reasons unrelated to
the protests.

Only two of the 15 units, both at Arnot, are expected to come back on line
on Tuesday, according to the document. Nine are expected to start generating
power again this week.

Non-striking employees at the Arnot station on Tuesday were prevented from
showing up to work by striking colleagues, according to Eskom and union
sources.

The threat of protests and outages had appeared to recede after Eskom
offered to raise salaries by around 7 percent annually over the next three
years, but trade unions want bonuses to be paid before they agree a wage
deal.

Eskom was forced to implement controlled electricity outages in mid-June
after workers protested over wages.

Previously, Eskom implemented such measures, known locally as “load
shedding”, in 2015, denting economic output.

Last week Eskom said it was considering cutting staff and selling assets
after swinging to a $171 million loss which underlined the gravity of its
financial position.

South Africa’s new president, Cyril Ramaphosa, replaced Eskom’s entire board
and top executives in January, in a bid to revive a crucial state
enterprise.

Farming, tourism to boost Kenya 2018 growth to 6.2 pct-C.Bank head

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya’s economy is likely to expand by 6.2 percent this
year, the central bank’s governor said on Tuesday, offering a rosier outlook
than the Finance Ministry which expects growth of 5.8 percent.

The East African economy expanded by 5.7 percent in the first quarter as
farming, which accounts for close to a third of output, recovered from a
drought in the same period a year earlier. The economy expanded by 4.9
percent in 2017.

Patrick Njoroge, the governor, told a news conference the forecast was based
on the economy’s performance in the first quarter, a stronger agriculture
sector and a jump in tourists’ forward bookings.

“We have a very favourable outlook for the economy,” he said, adding however
there were risks including an international trade war and a cap on
commercial lending rates at home.

Njoroge said the economy would grow much faster if the cap, at 4 percentage
points above the central bank rate, which stands at 9.0 percent, was
repealed.

Henry Rotich, the finance minister, moved to repeal the cap in his June
budget to parliament but some influential lawmakers have vowed not to
support the repeal. The budget must still be debated and passed by lawmakers
before it becomes law.

Njoroge also said the dispute over trade tariffs between the United States
and countries like China posed a significant risk to the growth outlook.

“The trade wars have started but they are still in round one... we hope that
the war will cease quickly because there won’t be any winners in trade wars,
everybody loses,” he said.

The central bank expected the current account deficit to shrink to 5.4
percent of gross domestic product at the end of this year from 5.8 percent
in June, Njoroge said.

He attributed the forecast to a strong performance in farm exports like tea
and cut flowers, amid falling imports.

The country’s imports shot up last year due to the drought which forced
increased amounts of food imports.

This year, good rainfall has driven up production volumes of key export
crops including tea.

Cash sent from Kenyans living abroad, known as remittances, was also rising,
boosting the outlook for the current account deficit, Njoroge said,
attributing the increase to new products by local banks targeting Kenyans in
the diaspora.

“These products have actually been very effective,” he said.

Kenya's inflation rises to 4.35 pct year-on-year in July

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya’s inflation rose slightly to 4.35 percent
year-on-year in July from 4.28 percent a month earlier, the statistics
office said on Tuesday.

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement inflation was
-0.89 percent on a month on month basis.

UK judge lifts asset freeze order against Quantum Global in Angolan SWF case

LONDON (Reuters) - The $3 billion global asset freeze order obtained by
Angola’s sovereign wealth fund against its Swiss asset manager Quantum
Global has been lifted in a ruling by London’s High Court.

The judge granted a new temporary injunction until Aug. 10 for a reduced
amount of $560 million, however, to allow time for an application by the
fund for leave to appeal directly to the Court of Appeal.

The sovereign wealth fund, known by its Portuguese acronym FSDEA and worth
$5 billion, has been battling in several jurisdictions to sever ties with
Quantum Global following a change of government in Angola.

Quantum Global has denied any wrongdoing.

A UK court imposed the original $3 billion freezing order in April after
lawyers for FSDEA said the money under Quantum’s management was at risk of
“dissipation” as a result of an alleged fraudulent conspiracy.

But in a ruling on Monday, according to court transcripts seen by Reuters,
Judge Popplewell said the freezing order should be discharged “in its
entirety” and no fresh freezing order granted.

The judge said there were “breaches of the duty of disclosure” in the
original application for the freezing order, which were “substantial” and
“culpable”.

“Given the size of the freezing order sought and the allegations of
dishonesty being made, it was incumbent on the claimants and their legal
advisers to make the fullest enquiry into the central elements of their case
if they were to proceed without notice,” Judge Popplewell said.

“Proper disclosure would have put a very different complexion on the
application.”

In court documents seen by Reuters, lawyers representing FSDEA said the
claimants considered that all the arrangements between themselves and
Quantum Global were entered into dishonestly by FSDEA’s former head Jose
Filomeno dos Santos and Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais, head of Quantum
Global.

Dos Santos and Bastos are long-term business associates. New Angolan
President Joao Lourenco removed dos Santos from his position as head of
FSDEA in January.

Dos Santos’s legal team said in a statement after Monday’s ruling that he
could not comment on any live legal proceedings save that he would
vigorously contest any allegations made against him, adding: “We will
continue to take all the necessary steps to maintain our client’s legal
position and to safeguard his reputation.”

Quantum Global has denied wrongdoing, saying the money it has under
management is properly accounted for, and that the fund has violated its
long-term contractual obligations.

In court, lawyers for the company argued that Quantum had won the investment
management mandate after a rigorous selection process, that the fees were in
line with industry standards, and any conflicts of interest declared.

Bastos welcomed the ruling in a statement issued on Tuesday, adding: “The
freezing order has heavily impacted our investment projects in Angola and
Africa, and caused serious hardship for our employees in Angola, Mauritius
and Switzerland, as many of them have not been paid for months.”

He said he remained open to a negotiated resolution to the dispute. Quantum
Global is also challenging similar freezing orders issued by a court in
Mauritius.

Why is Samsung's Galaxy S9 flagship struggling?

It wasn't what Samsung or its investors were hoping for.

The company's electronics division has just posted a drop in its latest net
profit - and it says "lower-than-expected sales" of its flagship Galaxy S9
smartphone were to blame.

The handset launched in February to a mixed reception.

Critics praised some of its new camera tricks, including the way it made it
relatively easy to capture key moments in "super-slow-motion" video.

But they also cast doubt over whether the company had given consumers enough
reasons to upgrade.

What is Samsung saying?

Despite speculation that the S9's sales have been the series's weakest since
the S3, the company has not disclosed exact numbers.

The closest it came was to confirm the division responsible had suffered a
20% revenue drop.

But executives did tackle the matter head on during a conference call in
which they referred to a "stagnant high-end market".

"As smartphones become more high-spec and product differentiation is
becoming less clear, the global handset replacement cycles are getting
longer," said one representative.

"Also, the higher price points of premium products appear to be driving
market resistance."

In other words, Samsung believes the S9 failed to distinguish itself from
other high-end handsets at the same time as being too expensive for many
consumers' pockets.

Why has the S9 struggled to stand out?

With a few exceptions, most smartphones look pretty similar these days: a
flat panel of glass fixed to a curved metal rear, with the bezels kept to a
minimum.

In particular, the physical differences between the S8 and S9's exteriors
were pretty minor, with reviewers left to obsess over a slight shift in the
position of the fingerprint sensor.

The other big hardware change was the S9's introduction of a dual aperture
lens. But that may have proved a difficult sell to anyone beyond the
photography geeks who probably already owned a dedicated camera.

"It's an exceptional phone but I don't think there was enough
differentiation," said Roberta Cozza, from the tech consultancy Gartner.

"Differentiation today comes from creating compelling experiences and I
don't think Samsung has done enough in that area yet.

"[Its artificial intelligence assistant] Bixby, for example, hasn't been the
success it had been hoping for."

Samsung is far from the only handset-maker to have made its most radical
changes on a two-year basis, with more limited tweaks to the in-between
models.

But another expert suggested that this strategy had become problematic.

"What's changed in the last 18 months is that the rate of commoditisation
has become much faster, in terms of the speed with which specifications and
design characteristics can be copied from one brand to the next," said Ben
Stanton, a tech analyst at Canalys.

"When the Galaxy S8 launched in 2017, it was a pioneering product and
nothing looked like it.

"But now there is a flood of devices that are very similar and sometimes
better priced."

What threat do Chinese rivals pose?

China once presented Samsung with a huge opportunity. These days, it poses a
threat.

The South Korean company used to be the bestselling smartphone brand in
China's giant smartphone market.

Now, it has been relegated to the "others section" of market share charts
and it is domestic companies that dominate.

What's more, those same Chinese companies are making great strides abroad.
Had it not been for the US's resistance to letting Chinese phones into its
own market, the S9's sales could have been a lot worse.

"Xiaomi, in particular, is doing a very good job of bringing the
specifications associated with premium phones like Samsung's down to much
cheaper price points," said Mr Stanton.

"And it's doing that within about six to nine months of a brand new
innovation coming to market.

"On the flipside, we're seeing Huawei going beyond the technologies that
Samsung offers.

"It has AI embedded in its chipsets, triple cameras on the back of its P20
Pro - it's really raising the bar."

Of course, it's not just the Chinese brands that are on the rise.

Google's Pixel phones - which offer unique features of their own - have also
won plaudits.

Last year, the search giant took on 2,000 engineers from Taiwan's HTC. We
should soon see the benefits of their efforts when the third-generation
Pixel range launches.

Is Samsung too focused on Apple?

As innovative as its Android rivals are, Samsung has always been able to
outspend them on marketing.

But some are questioning whether it is doing so wisely.

In particular, its recent efforts to throw shade at Apple in the US have
drawn criticism.

It began in May by suggesting iPhone speeds lagged in comparison with its
own phones.

Then more recently, it mocked the iPhone X's lack of a headphone socket and
SD card slot, and made fun of its front-screen notch.

"Such unprovoked aggressive behaviour is never typical of the winning side;
it's most often exhibited by the losing team, which, realising that the
final seconds of the match are ticking away, starts playing in a rough and
desperate... way," said the news site Phone Arena in a recent editorial.

To be fair, Apple wasn't beyond making fun of the competition in its
I'm-a-Mac/I'm-a-PC ads from yesteryear. But the difference was that it was
the underdog at the time.

"Samsung should probably leave this strategy behind and focus more on the
features that make its own products unique," said Ms Cozza.

What's Samsung doing to address the problem?

In the short-term, Samsung said it had brought forward the launch of its
Galaxy Note 9, which will make its debut on 9 August in New York.

In addition, it said it intended to add new features to its lower-end
handsets to increase their appeal.

"We will also strengthen price competitiveness," added the chief of the
company's mobile business, KyeongTae Lee - which sounds like a hint of lower
prices.

Longer term, Samsung said the introduction of bendy smartphones should
"bring new energy" to its line-up.

"We have been engaged in research and development of the foldable
smartphones for several years," an unidentified executive revealed during
its conference call.

"We're in the process of stabilising the performance as well as durability
by working together with a parts company."

The comment backs up an earlier report by the Wall Street Journal, which
said Samsung planned to release a phone in 2019 whose screen would fold like
a wallet.

In the meantime, there's the launch of the S10 to come later this year,
which may be the first to feature a new "unbreakable" screen announced by
Samsung Display last week.

And it's worth remembering that whatever the S9's struggles, Samsung is
thought to remain the world's bestselling phone-maker by a wide margin.--BBC

Facebook bans pages aimed at US election interference

Facebook says it has removed 32 accounts and pages believed to have been set
up to influence the mid-term US elections in November.

It said it was in the "very early" stages of the investigation and did not
yet know who was behind the pages.

It said the creators had gone to greater lengths to hide their identities
than a Russia-based campaign to disrupt the 2016 presidential vote.

It described attempts to erase election interference as an "arms race."

What did Facebook discover?

The social network said in a blog that it had identified 17 suspect profiles
on Facebook and seven Instagram accounts.

It said that there were more than 9,500 Facebook posts created by the
accounts and one piece of content on Instagram.

In total more than 290,000 accounts followed at least one of the pages
involved, it added.

Facebook said the suspect accounts had also run about 150 ads on Facebook
and Instagram, costing a total of $11,000 (£8,300).

The most popular fake accounts were:

Aztlan Warriors

Black Elevation

Mindful Being

Resisters

Why can't Facebook be sure who is responsible?

The "bad actors" went to far greater lengths to cover their tracks than the
Russian-based Internet Research Agency (IRA) had in the past, Facebook said.

This included using virtual private networks (VPNs) to hide their location,
and using third parties to run ads on their behalf.

Furthermore, the social network said it had not found evidence of Russian IP
(internet protocol) addresses.

But it did find one link between the IRA and the new accounts. One of
disabled IRA accounts shared a Facebook event hosted by the Resisters page.
The page also briefly listed an IRA account as one of its administrators.

It added that it "may never be able to identify the source" for the fake
accounts.

"The set of actors we see now might be the IRA with improved capabilities,
or it could be a separate group," explained Facebook's chief security
officer Alex Stamos.

"This is one of the fundamental limitations of attribution: offensive
organisations improve their techniques once they have been uncovered, and it
is wishful thinking to believe that we will always be able to identify
persistent actors with high confidence."

Fake news 'crowding out' real news, MPs say

Facebook halts InfoWars founder's posts

Facebook is in 'arms race' with Russia

What is the company doing about it?

Facebook has removed the suspect accounts, but says other legitimate page
administrators unwittingly interacted with them.

For example, after the Resisters account created a Facebook event for a
protest on 10 to 12 August called "No Unite the Right 2", five other page
owners offered to co-host the demonstration and posted details about
transportation and locations.

Facebook said it had contacted the admins involved and would alert the 2,600
users who had expressed interest in the event.

The firm said it would also continue efforts to detect further misuses of
its platform and work more closely with law enforcement and other tech firms
to understand the threats faced.

How have US politicians reacted?

Democratic congressman Adam Schiff said: "Today's announcement from Facebook
demonstrates what we've long feared: that malicious foreign actors bearing
the hallmarks of previously-identified Russian influence campaigns continue
to abuse and weaponise social media platforms to influence the US
electorate."

Democratic Senator Mark Warner, who is vice-chairman of the Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence, also pointed his finger at Moscow.

"Today's disclosure is further evidence that the Kremlin continues to
exploit platforms like Facebook to sow division and spread disinformation,
and I am glad that Facebook is taking some steps to pinpoint and address
this activity," he said.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham added that he intended to pursue
retaliatory measures by introducing a sanctions bill against Russia on
Thursday "that has everything but the kitchen sink in it".

"It'll be the sanctions bill from hell. And any other country that is trying
to interfere with our election should suffer the same fate."

Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr, a Republican, said that
the operation's apparent goal had been to "sow discord, distrust, and
division in an attempt to undermine public faith in our institutions and our
political system".

"Russians want a weak America," he added.

This may look like another disastrous headline for Facebook, but it isn't.

Earlier in the year it promised to improve its so-far shambolic efforts at
removing misinformation. It promised to hire more people, enlist outside
help and work on new automated detection methods.

Today it was able to share a tangible, politician-friendly example of how
those efforts came together, to quash a misinformation campaign before it
apparently caused much harm.

But the future is troubling and predictable. This latest campaign was more
sophisticated than anything that came before it - the use of third parties
to buy advertising in the US is a difficult problem for Facebook to tackle
without snarling up its ads operation.

And to state the obvious, while Facebook was able to detect this specific
operation, none of us really know how big this problem is.

What happened with the 2016 elections?

Shortly after the vote, Facebook's chief Mark Zuckerberg derided suggestions
that fake news posted to the platform had influenced the presidential
election, saying it was a "pretty crazy idea".

But he has since apologised for being so dismissive.

In September 2017, Facebook acknowledged that Russians had indeed used fake
identities to try to influence the US electorate before and after the
election, and had posted comments, ads and details about street protests to
achieve this.

US intelligence agencies have also concluded that Russian state operators
used fake social media accounts in an attempt to interfere with the
campaign.

President Putin has, however, denied that Russia meddled.--BBC

Thomas Cook bookings hit by heatwave

This summer's heatwave has hit profits at tour operator Thomas Cook, with
more people staying at home rather than booking last-minute holidays.

While the company has reported an 11% rise in summer bookings, these have
slowed down in recent weeks to leave its figures in line with last year's.

As a result, the company expects its annual earnings to be at the lower end
of market expectations.

Thomas Cook usually makes all of its annual profits during the summer.

Chief executive Peter Fankhauser said that the overall rise in booked summer
holidays had helped to offset the slowdown.

"Customers across our European markets have delayed decisions about their
summer holidays as they enjoy the record temperatures at home," he said.

Thomas Cook axes trips to SeaWorld over animal welfare concerns

Club 18-30 party may be over as millennials' tastes change

Thomas Cook resumes flights to Tunisia

However, analysts remain optimistic about the company's long-term future,
with financial services company Jefferies saying: "This year's abnormal
weather does not affect our longer-term investment thesis, which remains
unchanged."

Thomas Cook's share price rose by more than 3% on Tuesday morning.

Bookings made in the UK are up by 1% but prices have risen by 7%, mainly
because of hotel price inflation in Spain.

Mr Peter Fankhauser added: "It's clear that we remain in a competitive
environment, particularly in the UK where the growth in popularity of
higher-margin destinations like Turkey and Egypt has not fully offset the
continued pressure on margins to Spanish holidays."--BBC

Jaguar hit by trade war as China sales slow

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has reported a loss for the first time in three
years after sales slowed in China.

The UK's biggest car firm, which is owned by India's Tata Motors, blamed the
setback on "multiple challenges".

This included the impact of what it said was a "temporary issue" from a
change in Chinese import duties.

China plans to cut import tariffs for cars and parts for most vehicles to
15% from 25% from 1 July. As a result many consumers delayed purchases, JLR
said.

The tariff change is part of the country's efforts to try to reduce tensions
with the US over trade.

US carmakers hit by tariffs disputes

Harley warns of trade war tariff damage

US faces backlash if car tariffs go ahead

The firm isn't the only car company affected by the changes to trade
policies. Just days ago three US car firms warned that their performance had
been affected by changes to tariffs.

Ford and General Motors lowered profit forecasts for 2018, citing higher
steel and aluminium prices caused by new US tariffs.

Fiat Chrysler, which owns Jeep and Maserati, also slashed its 2018 revenue
outlook after sales in China slumped as buyers postponed purchases in
anticipation of lower car tariffs.

Sales boost?

Jaguar Land Rover said the reduction in Chinese trade duties would help
boost future sales in China.

The group said fears over the UK's departure from the European Union and the
backlash against diesel vehicles in the UK and Europe had also hit sales.

For the three months to June, Jaguar Land Rover made a £264m pre-tax loss,
compared to a £595m profit last time round. Total sales fell 6.7%
year-on-year to £5.2bn.

Tata Motors' chief financial officer PB Balaji said China's performance was
its biggest concern.

"We need to ensure China gets back to the growth rate that it was before the
announcement of duty cuts," he said.

In terms of Brexit, he said the company was "gearing up for any eventuality
that may be there".--BBC

US mulls 25% tariff on $200bn of Chinese goods, say reports

The US is considering 25% tariffs on $200bn (£152bn) of Chinese goods, much
higher than the 10% it previously indicated it might impose, reports say.

The plan could be announced as early as Wednesday but a higher tariff was
not finalised, sources told US media.

It would risk further escalating tensions between the US and China which are
already mired in a trade war.

The US in July published a list of $200bn worth of additional products to be
taxed as early as September.

The list named more than 6,000 items including food products, minerals and
consumer goods such as handbags.

Six ways China could retaliate in a trade war

How a US-China trade war could hurt us all

US-China trade row: What has happened so far?

The US opened fire in a trade war with 25% tariffs on $34bn of Chinese
goods, and China retaliated in kind.

US threats have escalated since, with US President Donald Trump saying he is
ready to slap tariffs on all $500bn of Chinese imports.

The US accuses China of intellectual copyright theft and wants to bring down
its lofty trade deficit with the world's second largest economy.

But the trade dispute is also seen as part of a broader tug of war between
the two powerhouses for influence on the world stage.

On Monday US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a plan to spend $113m
in Asia, a move that was widely seen as an attempt to counter China's
growing influence in the region.

Bloomberg, which was the first to report the news of the higher tariffs,
also said US and Chinese officials were having private conversations as they
sought to resume negotiations.

The US is also expected to soon announce tariffs on the remaining $16bn of
the $50bn of Chinese goods the US originally planned to tax.

A public hearing on the second round of tariffs took place last week and the
USTR has a 31 July deadline for post-hearing comments.--BBC

London's Mayor says Brexit hit to City less than feared

The UK financial services sector will not be hit by Brexit as badly as
feared, London's Lord Mayor has said.

Charles Bowman told website Politico between 5,000 and 13,000 jobs could go
by the UK's departure on 30 March 2019.

The figure, which assumes the UK will secure a transition deal, is based on
public Brexit job announcements by City firms and internal staff analysis.

In 2016, the consultancy Oliver Wyman predicted that the UK could see
between 65,000 and 75,000 job losses.

That figure was based on the event of no deal being agreed between the EU
and the UK - and on financial institutions shedding staff for months after
the point that the UK formally leaves the UK.

The Bank of England was thought to have used the 75,000 figure as a
"reasonable scenario", particularly if there is no specific UK-EU financial
services deal.

The sacrifice at heart of May’s Brexit deal

Reality Check: Why services matter in any Brexit deal

Mr Bowman's new assumption is based on a 21-month transition period will be
agreed, which would give the government and business until December 2020 to
make Brexit arrangements.

He told Politico that the City feels increasingly confident that "barring
dotting of i's and crossing of t's," the transition period is a done deal.

Stephen Jones, the chief executive of lobbying group UK Finance, did not
reject the new estimate for March 2019 but said the long term impact would
depend on the eventual deal.

He told the BBC that "divorces can be messy or can be reasonable where both
parties think of the children".

Mr Bowman's forecast comes just over a week after foreign secretary Jeremy
Hunt warned of a "very real risk of a Brexit no deal by accident".

Mr Hunt has warned that such an outcome would harm the EU because of its
reliance on financial services provided by UK firms.--BBC

French drug maker Sanofi 'stockpiling for Brexit'

French company Sanofi has been stockpiling drugs in preparation for a hard
Brexit, the Wall Street Journal reported.

It has built a 14 week supply of drugs, an increase of four weeks, which
excludes medicines that are in constant shortage.

The stock for vaccines, of which Sanofi is a large producer, has also been
increased.

Jobs could be cut, the report said.

The company, which employs 1,600 in the UK was not immediately available for
comment.

Sanofi is one of the continent's largest producers of insulin.

One of the areas of concern is the need to send batches of medicine back to
the continent for quality control, which could become difficult if there is
a hard Brexit.

The Wall Street Journal said the preparations began a year ago and the firm
began stock piling around six months later.

Last month, AstraZeneca said it was increasing drug stockpiles by about 20%
in preparation for a no-deal Brexit.

The European Medicines Agency has said it has "serious concerns" about the
work getting done for drugs that are solely manufactured in the UK.--BBC

Apple boosted by selling more expensive iPhones

Apple sold fewer iPhones than expected in its most recent quarter but higher
selling prices meant the tech giant still beat Wall Street forecasts.

The firm said it sold 41.3 million iPhones in the three months to the end of
June, up just 1% from last year.

But the average iPhone selling price hit $724, well above the expected $694.

The firm said its $999 iPhone X - launched last year - remained its most
popular iPhone model in the quarter and had driven the higher sales price.

Strong revenue growth of 31% from Apple's services business, which includes
the App store, Apple Music and Apple Pay, also boosted its performance.

The services business is on track for more than $14bn in revenue in 2020,
chief executive Tim Cook said.

"We couldn't be happier with how things are going," he said.

Is Samsung's Galaxy S9 flagship a flop?

State firm hosts Apple's data in China

Apple to close iPhone security loophole

Overall the tech giant's revenue jumped 17% year-on-year to a quarterly
record of $53.3bn (£40.6bn), with every region except Japan reporting double
digit growth.

Profits rose to $11.5bn, up 32% compared to the same period in 2017.

Shares in the Californian tech giant jumped more than 3% in after hours
trading in New York.

The gains brought Apple, already the world's most valuable company, one step
closer to a market value of $1 trillion.

"The lesson Apple's management has learned from the iPhone X, is when you
sell a smartphone for more than $1,000 you can sell fewer units and still
reap the financial benefits," said analyst Thomas Forte from DA Davidson &
Co.

The strong demand for the firm's most expensive phones marked a contrast
with the world's largest smartphone seller Samsung, which disappointed
investors by warning of lower than expected sales of its high-end Galaxy S9
.

But Apple faces increasing competition in the global smart phone market,
which saw growth slip 0.3% last year, according to research firm
International Data Corp.

Chinese tech company Huawei, which reported 15% revenue growth in the first
half of this year, overtook Apple to become the world's second-biggest
smartphone seller in the quarter, according to market research firms Canalys
and IDC.

That left Apple in third place after Samsung and Huawei.

Tariff impact

Executives said they are confident about Apple's position. The firm forecast
revenue in the range of $60bn to $62bn in the July to September period,
indicating a fifth consecutive quarter of double digit growth.

Chief executive Tim Cook also downplayed concerns about how trade tensions
between the US and China might affect Apple's business.

He said the firm had not been affected directly by the tariffs in place so
far. It is still reviewing the implications of threatened tariffs on a
proposed $200bn in Chinese goods, he added.

"Our view on tariffs is that they show up as a tax on the consumer and wind
up resulting in lower economic growth and sometimes can bring about
significant risk of unintended consequences," he said.

However, he said he was optimistic that "this will get sorted out".--BBC

INVESTORS DIARY 2018

Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

NicozDiamond

shares delist from the ZSE

06/07/2018

Zimbabwe

Heroes’ Day

Zimbabwe

13/08/2018

Zimbabwe

Defence Forces Day

Zimbabwe

14/08/2018

The Harare Agricultural Show

The Harare Agricultural Show

The Harare Agricultural Show

August 27- September 1

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

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
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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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