Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 28 August 2018

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 28 August 2018

 


 

 


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

 


 

 


 

 

*  South Africa's rand edges down as traders book profits

*  South Africa connection charges could trigger job cuts: Telkom CEO

*  South Africa scraps nuclear power expansion plans

*  South Africa's Vodacom launches 5G internet service in Lesotho

*  South Sudan resumes pumping 20,000 bpd from oil field suspended since
2013 - Sudan

*  Nigerian economy loses momentum in Q2 as oil sector contracts

*  South Sudan resumes pumping 20,000 bpd from oilfield suspended since 2013
- Sudan

*   Toyota to invest $500m in Uber in driverless car deal

*  Nissan produces first electric cars targeting Chinese market

*  Trump hails 'really good' trade deal with Mexico

*  Australian worker overpaid by A$500,000

*  Theresa May pledges Africa investment boost after Brexit

*  How Coca-Cola's World Cup sales were boosted by shelf tech

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

South Africa's rand edges down as traders book profits

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s rand edged lower in early trade on
Tuesday, giving back the previous session’s gains as traders booked profits
with an eye on offshore events.

 

At 0645 GMT the rand was 0.21 percent weaker at 14.1825 per dollar, having
rallied to 14.1100 during New York trade after comments by the U.S. Federal
Reserve suggesting a slower pace of monetary tightening lifted demand for
risk currencies.

 

With no significant data due locally until Thursday and trade volumes still
relatively light traders were looking to shave profits off minor rallies
with momentum in either direction unclear.

 

Having tumbled to 2-year lows just shy of 16.00 mark earlier this month, as
the massive selloff in Turkish lira spread to other emerging markets, the
rand has seen increased intraday volatility and susceptibility to local and
international newsflow.

 

Bonds were also a touch weaker, with the yield on the benchmark government
paper due in 2026 adding 1.5 basis points to 8.885 percent.

 

Stocks were set to open flat at 0700 GMT, with the JSE securities exchange’s
Top-40 futures index up 0.1 percent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


                                      

South Africa connection charges could trigger job cuts: Telkom CEO

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s plan to slash the fees mobile firms
charge each other to terminate calls on their networks proposed by the
regulator could hurt revenue and lead to job cuts, the fixed line and mobile
operator Telkom said on Monday.

 

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) on Aug. 16
published draft rules on mobile termination rates (MTRs) and fixed line
termination rates, the prices telecoms operators charge for connecting calls
made from other networks, in a move that could hit profits for operators.

 

The regulator in 2014 implemented a three-year “glide path”, the timetable
for bringing down the rates gradually for telecoms companies, including
Telkom, Vodacom and MTN, saying they were too high and hindered competition.

 

The new proposal by ICASA will see charges for terminating a call on mobile
and fixed lines slide to 9 cents per minute from 12 cents for mobile
operators and 3 cents per minute from 8 cents for fixed-lines over a
three-year period.

 

The move will also reduce MTR asymmetry, where smaller mobile players such
as Telkom currently charge higher fees to spur competition in a market
controlled by Vodacom and MTN.

 

Telkom Group Chief Executive Sipho Maseko said his firm will be paid at
lower rates by Vodacom and MTN, while it pays higher rates to the bigger
players.

 

Maseko said Telkom would be forced to review its investment decisions and
which regions of the country it participates in.

 

“The proposed fixed termination rates require cost reductions that are not
feasible within a three-year time frame without significant job losses,”
Maseko told reporters.

 

“As termination rates trend down, it puts a lot of pressure on your ability
to provide the service and recover the cost in a sustainable way ... how can
we be able to operate profitably.”

 

Operators will be allowed to send in their written comments to the regulator
by Sept. 7. The rules are set to take effect at the start of October.

 

He said one of his proposals will be to have Vodacom and MTN pay higher
rates to connect callers from their networks to subscribers on Telkom and
smaller mobile provider Cell C.

 

 

Africa’s most industrialised economy has in the past said it aims to double
its mobile broadband coverage to 80 percent of the population by 2019.

 

 

 

South Africa scraps nuclear power expansion plans

PRETORIA (Reuters) - South Africa has cancelled plans to add 9,600 megawatts
(MW) of nuclear power by 2030 and will instead aim to add more capacity in
natural gas, wind and other energy sources, the energy minister announced on
Monday.

 

Africa’s only nuclear power has an installed capacity of 1,860 MW but plans
under the government of former President Jacob Zuma to have six times that
output by 2030 hit hurdles over cost and other issues.

 

There are now “no plans to increase nuclear until 2030,” Energy Minister
Jeff Radebe said while releasing the government’s new Integrated Resource
Plan (IRP).

 

The plan also showed that electricity demand on the grid has been declining.

 

Russian state-owned firm Rosatom was seen as a frontrunner to build the
additional nuclear capacity.

 

Several meetings between Zuma and Russian President Vladimir Putin led to
speculation that Rosatom had secured the deal before the launch of the
public tender. South Africa’s government and Rosatom denied this claim.

 

But soon after taking over from Zuma in February, President Cyril Ramaphosa
put the nuclear expansion on the back burner saying the plan was too
expensive.

 

In July, Ramaphosa said Putin had raised the subject of a nuclear deal at a
private meeting with him at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg but that he had
told him that Pretoria could not sign such a deal for now.

 

Radebe on Monday instead outlined expansion plans targeting other energy
sources.

 

He said the plan calls for additional capacity of 8,100 MW from wind and
8,100 MW from gas, 5,670 MW from photovoltaic panels, 2,500 MW from hydro
and 1,000 MW from coal by 2030.

 

Public comment on the plan is invited for 60 days before final cabinet
approval, he said.

 

 

South Africa's Vodacom launches 5G internet service in Lesotho

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s Vodacom launched what it said was
Africa’s first commercial 5G internet service in Lesotho on Saturday, but
said it would only be able to provide a similar service in its home market
once spectrum was made available.

 

Vodacom, South Africa’s biggest mobile operator by market value, said the
rollout of the 5G, or fifth generation, standards-based service would
provide subscribers in the land-locked mountain kingdom with “fibre-like”
internet speeds.

 

The company said its operation in Lesotho, a country of around two million
people, had been assigned spectrum in the 3.5GHz band, enabling the launch
of a commercial 5G service.

 

“What we’ve accomplished in Lesotho is an example of what can be achieved in
Africa, should the requisite spectrum also be made available,” Vodacom Group
Chief Executive Officer Shameel Joosub said in a statement.

 

Vodacom, majority owned by Britain’s Vodafone, added that until the 3.5GHz
spectrum, considered optimal for 5G network deployments, becomes available
to Vodacom South Africa, the service would not be available to its customers
in Africa’s most industrialised economy.

 

In March, South Africa’s telecommunications ministry said the much-delayed
allocation of radio frequency spectrum would happen in the first quarter of
2019.

 

The delays, mainly due to wrangling between government departments, have
seen South Africa lag behind much less industrialised and prosperous
economies on the continent in mobile technology.

 

5G networks, which are still at an early stage, will offer data speeds up to
50 or 100 times faster than current 4G networks and serve as critical
infrastructure for a range of industries.

 

 

 

South Sudan resumes pumping 20,000 bpd from oil field suspended since 2013 -
Sudan

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - South Sudan has resumed pumping 20,000 bpd of crude
from Toma South oil field, where production had been suspended since 2013,
the Sudanese oil minister Azhari Abdulqader said on Sunday.

 

Abdulqader told a news conference in Khartoum production at five previously
suspended oil fields was expected to reach 80,000 bpd after maintenance work
is completed by year-end.

 

South Sudan’s oil output currently stands at 130,000 bpd and is expected to
reach 210,000 bpd by year-end, he added.

 

South Sudan’s oil is shipped to international markets via a pipeline through
Sudan.

 

 

 

Nigerian economy loses momentum in Q2 as oil sector contracts

ABUJA/LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria’s economic growth dipped to 1.50 percent
year on year between April and June, the statistics office said on Monday,
extending a slowdown into a second quarter as the oil sector contracted.

 

Largely dependent on its rich crude reserves, Nigeria’s economy began
climbing out of its first recession in 25 years in 2016 as President
Muhammadu Buhari’s government implemented the early stages of a turnaround
plan.

 

But the pace of recovery has been relatively slow, and since the beginning
of this year has again started to dip.

 

The oil sector shrank 3.95 percent in the second quarter, the National
Bureau of Statistics said. Oil production dipped to 1.84 million barrels per
day (mpbd) from 2 mpbd in the first quarter.

 

“For the first time since the exit from recession, growth was driven by the
non-oil sector which grew by 2.05 percent ,” the bureau said.

 

That was the strongest growth in non-oil GDP since the final quarter of
2015.

 

Leading the expansion were the transportation, construction and electricity
sectors, while agriculture growth dipped to 1.3 percent from 3 percent.

 

 

Buhari’s record on managing the economy is likely to be closely scrutinised
if he goes ahead with plans to seek a second term in office next year.

 

 

 

South Sudan resumes pumping 20,000 bpd from oilfield suspended since 2013 -
Sudan

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - South Sudan has resumed pumping 20,000 barrels per day
(bpd) of crude from the Toma South oilfield, where production had been
suspended since 2013, the Sudanese oil minister Azhari Abdulqader said.

 

Production at five of the previously suspended oilfields was expected to
reach 80,000 bpd after maintenance work is completed by the end of the year,
Abdulqader told a news conference in Khartoum.

 

South Sudan’s oil output currently stands at 130,000 bpd and is expected to
reach 210,000 bpd by year-end, he added.

 

South Sudan seceded from Sudan in 2011 when output peaked at 350,000 bpd but
two years later plunged into civil war. At the time fighting started,
production was at about 245,000 barrels per day.

 

The conflict has killed tens of thousands, displaced an estimated quarter of
South Sudan’s population of 12 million and ruined its economy that heavily
relies on crude oil production.

 

South Sudan’s oil is shipped to international markets via a pipeline through
Sudan.

 

The area in which Toma South oilfields lie saw the most intense fighting
between rebels and government troops, damaging oil production facilities.

 

During a visit on Saturday to Toma South, some 20 miles to the border with
Sudan, Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, South Sudan’s Oil Minister, said the resumption
of production in blocks 1, 2 and 4, will bring an additional output of
45,000 barrels per day.

 

He said the operator of the fields, Greater Nile Petroleum Operation
Company, and staff from his ministry were working to ensure full production.

 

“They will be here in Toma South working seven days a week, 24 hours a day
to make sure that the production is not interrupted and also to make sure
the central processing facility is operational,” Gatkuoth said.

 

The return to production and pumping is part of a cease fire and
power-sharing agreement that was reached earlier this month when President
Salva Kiir, rebel leader Riek Machar and other rebel groups signed a peace
deal meant to end the civil war.

 

“I can tell everyone, the production can be more if peace is there and if we
are determined to nourished it,” Abdulqader said.

 

 

Toyota to invest $500m in Uber in driverless car deal

Japanese carmaker Toyota is to invest $500m (£387m) in Uber and expand a
partnership to jointly develop self-driving cars.

 

The firm said this would involve the "mass-production" of autonomous
vehicles that would be deployed on Uber's ride sharing network.

 

It is being viewed as a way for both firms to catch up with rivals in the
competitive driverless car market.

 

The deal also values Uber at some $72bn, despite its mounting losses.

 

That is up 15% since its last investment in May but matches a previous
valuation in February.

 

According to a press release issued by the firms, self-driving technology
from each company will be integrated into purpose-built Toyota vehicles.

 

Uber halts self-driving tests after death

Uber settles with Waymo on self-driving

The fleet will be based on Toyota's Sienna Minivan model with pilot trials
beginning in 2021.

 

Shigeki Tomoyama, executive vice president of Toyota Motor Corporation,
said: "This agreement and investment marks an important milestone in our
transformation to a mobility company as we help provide a path for safe and
secure expansion of mobility services like ride-sharing."

 

Both Toyota and Uber are seen as lagging behind in developing self-driving
cars, as firms such as Waymo, owned by Alphabet, steam ahead.

 

Uber has also scaled back its self-driving trials after a fatal crash in
Tempe, Arizona, in March, when a self-driving Uber SUV killed a pedestrian.

 

Since then, the ride-hailing giant has removed its autonomous cars from the
road and closed its Arizona operations.

 

Uber's troubled self-driving car efforts are in need of external help, and
this deal with Toyota might provide that expertise. It's of course a
terrific opportunity for Toyota, too.

 

It was reported earlier this month that Uber was sinking around $1m-$2m into
its autonomy work every single day. The results of that effort have not been
something to be proud of - one fatal crash, one very expensive lawsuit, and
not a lot of self-driving compared to the leader in this sector, Waymo.

 

Sharing the burden, and R&D cost, will delight Uber's investors as it aims
for its initial public offering next year.

 

Meanwhile, shares in Toyota spiked at reports of the deal. Not surprising.
Many analysts think personal car ownership will drop dramatically when the
self-driving, ride-sharing future is fully upon us - with major companies
instead purchasing enormous fleets of vehicles. Toyota, then, may have just
secured its biggest ever customer.

 

The deal extends an existing relationship with Toyota, and furthers Uber's
strategy of developing autonomous driving technology through partnerships.

 

The US firm has also teamed up with Daimler, which hopes to own and operate
its own self-driving cars on Uber's network.

 

On Monday, Uber said it planned to focus more on its electric scooter and
bike business in future, and less on cars - despite the fact it could hurt
profits.

 

Revenue from its taxi business is rising but the cost of expansion into new
areas such as bike sharing and food delivery has meant losses have grown
rapidly.--bbc

 

 

Nissan produces first electric cars targeting Chinese market

Japan's Nissan has begun producing its first electric car aimed at China,
according to media reports.

 

Working with a Chinese partner, Nissan is making a battery powered version
of the popular Sylphy.

 

It is part of a growing push by automakers to manufacture greener vehicles
for the world's biggest auto market.

 

It also comes as a US-China trade war is casting doubt over US business, a
key market for Japanese carmakers.

 

Nissan has started producing the Sylphy Zero Emission along with China's
Dongfeng Motor group.

 

China opens car market after US tensions

How electric vehicles are moving into the fast lane

It plans a lower-priced electric model for next year and wants
battery-powered vehicles to make up about a third of its sales in by 2022,
according to the reports.

 

"We're confident that the Sylphy Zero Emission rolling off the production
line today will become a main player in the EV market," said Nissan CEO
Hiroto Saikawa.

 

"We're going to roll out a range of EVs that will appeal to customers within
all market segments."

 

China is the largest market for electric vehicles and new rules to cut
pollution are expected to boost sales.

 

Global automakers including Ford and General Motors are all working to
develop electric cars in China.--BBC

 

 

Trump hails 'really good' trade deal with Mexico

The US and Mexico have agreed to revamp Nafta, the North American Free Trade
Agreement, in what Donald Trump called a "really good deal" for both
countries.

 

The US President, who has frequently criticised the existing deal, made the
announcement on Monday.

 

Canada - the other member of Nafta - is yet to agree to the new terms and
will hold more discussions on Tuesday.

 

Mr Trump had threatened to pull out of the deal, triggering a year of talks.

 

He demanded a renegotiation of the 1994 trade agreement, which he blames for
a decline in US manufacturing jobs, especially in the car industry.

 

What is a trade war and should I worry?

What is the Nafta trade deal?

Is Trump right about trade?

US shares rose and the Mexican peso strengthened on news of the preliminary
deal on Monday.

 

What has Trump said?

Mr Trump said the US and Mexico had agreed on terms that would make for a
deal that was "much more fair".

 

Negotiators have been rewriting the Nafta treaty over the past year, but in
the past five weeks, Canada has not been part of the discussions.

 

"We will see whether or not we decide to put up Canada or just do a separate
deal with Canada," Mr Trump said.

 

He also threatened Canada with tariffs on cars and said he wanted to get rid
of the name Nafta, which he said has "bad connotations".

 

Where does Canada stand?

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has had a "constructive conversation"
with Mr Trump since the deal with Mexico was announced, his office said.

 

Canadian foreign minister Chrystia Freeland is expected to travel to
Washington DC for talks on Tuesday.

 

Why now?

Negotiators want to agree a deal before the newly elected Mexican president,
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, takes office in December. He has been reluctant
to continue Enrique Pena Nieto's police of opening up of Mexico's energy
sector, which could complicate negotiations.

 

In order to meet that deadline, the Trump administration must present
Congress with a deal at least 90 days in advance - meaning the deadline is
this Friday.

 

However, Mr Obrador said on Monday that the two-way agreement with the US
was just the first step in a new treaty.

 

"We're very interested in it remaining a three-country deal," he said. "The
free-trade agreement should remain as it was originally conceived."

 

Will Canada join?

A spokesman for Ms Freeland said the country was "encouraged" by the
progress made by the US and Mexico but did not comment on the specific
terms.

 

The US and Canada have been at loggerheads on a range of trade matters,
including Canadian protections for its dairy industry and US tariffs on
steel and aluminium.

 

"We will only sign a new Nafta that is good for Canada... Canada's signature
is required," said spokesman Adam Austen.

 

A senior US trade official said: "There are still issues with Canada but I
think they could be resolved very quickly."

 

In a televised telephone call with Mr Trump, Mr Pena Nieto stressed the
importance of an agreement that includes Canada.

 

However, Mexican foreign minister Luis Videgaray said his country was
prepared to strike a bilateral US-Mexico deal.

 

What's in the agreement?

Nafta covers more than $1tn (£780bn) in annual trade.

 

The update is to include provisions to govern intellectual property, digital
trade and investor disputes, among other issues.

 

In the preliminary agreement announced on Monday, the US and Mexico agreed
that 75% of a product must be made in the two countries to receive tax-free
treatment - higher than in the existing deal.

 

 

On cars, the two sides also settled on rules that will require 40% to 45% of
each vehicle to be made by workers earning at least $16 an hour to
discourage firms from moving production to lower-wage Mexico.

 

The pact would last for 16 years, the US said, and be reviewed every six
years - but will not carry the threat of automatic expiration.

 

Politicians in all three countries have the final say over trade agreements.

 

In the US, Republicans, who typically support free trade, have pressed the
White House to strike a deal, arguing that the relatively open borders have
benefited American farmers and other groups.

 

'It would be a disaster for Texas'

Where does Trump's 'America First' leave Canada?

Senator John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, called the development a
"positive step", adding: "Now we need to ensure the final agreement brings
Canada into the fold and has bipartisan support."

 

The US Chamber of Commerce also said it was critical that the agreement
continued to include Canada.--BBC

 

 

 

Australian worker overpaid by A$500,000

A worker in Australia has been paid more than 100 times their normal salary
because of a decimal point in the wrong place.

 

The worker was meant to get a salary of A$4,921.76 but instead found
A$492,176 ($360,700; £280,250) in their account.

 

The mistake was reported by the territory's auditor-general who put it down
to human error.

 

But the worker, based in a remote area of the Northern Territory, resisted
temptation and returned the money.

 

The auditor-general noted that the repayment was made four weeks later, but
would have been made sooner if the worker had not been based in a remote
area and had to travel to a bank.

 

The report blamed two human errors - the incorrect data entry in the first
place and then the failure to deal with a system-generated alert.

 

It was one of 743 overpayments made by the Northern Territory's government
departments between July 2017 and January 2018, said the report.

 

Of that, $767,000 has still not been returned by the end of January.

 

The Department of Corporate and Information Services said overpayments
represented about 0.2% of the 1.2m payroll transactions it made in the NT
each year.

 

It said it had put in place several system enhancements to prevent such
large overpayments from happening again.--BBC

 

 

 

Theresa May pledges Africa investment boost after Brexit

Theresa May has announced plans to boost Britain's investment in Africa
after Brexit, during her first trip to the continent as prime minister.

 

In a speech in Cape Town, she pledged £4bn in support for African economies,
to create jobs for young people.

 

She also pledged a "fundamental shift" in aid spending to focus on long-term
economic and security challenges rather than short-term poverty reduction.

 

She will also visit Nigeria and Kenya during the three-day trade mission.

 

On her way to South Africa, the prime minister also played down warnings
from the chancellor about the economic damage a no-deal Brexit could cause.

 

Talking to journalists on board RAF Voyager on Tuesday morning, Mrs May
reiterated that she believed a no-deal Brexit was still better than a bad
deal - adding no-deal "wouldn't be the end of the world".

 

Last week Chancellor Philip Hammond warned in a letter that a no-deal Brexit
could damage the economy.

 

Mrs May's trip - which will see her meet the presidents of all three
countries - aims to deepen economic and trade ties with growing African
economies ahead of Britain leaving the EU in 2019.

 

May's mission to woo Africa after Brexit

WW1 shipwreck bell returns to South Africa

No-deal Brexit 'risks break-up of UK'

Arriving in South Africa on Tuesday morning, Mrs May said she she wanted the
UK to overtake the US to become the G7's biggest investor in Africa by 2022.

 

Promising an extra £4bn in state investment - which she expects to be
matched by the private sector - she said while the UK could not match the
"economic might" of some foreign investors - such as China or the US - it
offered a unique "high quality and breadth" of investment.

 

She defended the UK's aid spending in Africa, a target of criticism from
some Tory MPs, saying it had "worked" to give millions of children and women
an education and immunise millions against deadly diseases.

 

But she said she was "unashamed" that it had to work in the UK's own
interest and pledged a new approach in future, focusing on helping British
private sector companies invest in fast-growing countries like Cote D'Ivoire
and Senegal while supporting countries, such as Chad, Mail and Niger, in
"the frontline of instability".

 

The UK's overseas aid budget totalled £13.9bn in 2017, an increase of £555m
in 2016.

 

UK direct investment in Africa was £42.7bn in 2016, compared to £44.3bn from
the US, £38bn from France and £31bn from China, according to data from the
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

 

Mrs May said national self-interest and global co-operation were not in
conflict and the UK could play a key role in harnessing the "innovation and
creativity" of young people in Africa, 60% of whose population is under the
age of 25%.

 

"The challenges facing Africa are not Africa's alone," she said. "It is the
world's interest to see these jobs created."

 

BBC political correspondent Ben Wright said like other European leaders the
PM saw "huge economic potential to tap" in Africa and was keen to support
economic stability in the region in order to "stem the flow of migration".

 

The UK's historical relationship with many African countries still counts
for something, but, as Prime Minister Theresa May will find on her trip to
the continent, the UK now vies for attention with larger economies offering
greater riches.

 

The continent's leaders need to decide who to prioritise: an ambitious but
friendly China, the huge European Union bloc, the potential riches of the
United States, or the historically-linked United Kingdom.

 

The prime minister's trip comes a week before the huge Forum on China-Africa
Cooperation in Beijing. Dozens of African heads of state are expected there
and China may offer new trade and finance deals.

 

Mrs May's trip seems rather low key in comparison.

 

Tunji Andrews, an economist based in Nigeria's commercial hub Lagos, says
the UK has lost its once dominant place in Africa's largest economy.

 

"While Britain remains a viable trade partner, it just doesn't hold the same
value to Africa as China and to a lesser extent, the US."

 

Security issues will also feature on the PM's agenda and she is expected to
discuss the threat of Boko Haram in Nigeria, and the role of British troops
based in Kenya who are helping countries fight al-Shabab militants in
Somalia.

 

Mrs May's visit to Nairobi will mark the first by a UK prime minister to
Kenya since Margaret Thatcher in 1988.

 

It is also the first to Sub-Saharan Africa by a British leader since David
Cameron in 2013 for Mr Mandela's memorial service.

 

During her time in South Africa, Mrs May also presented a World War One
relic - linked to one of the worst maritime disasters in English waters - to
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

 

The SS Mendi sank off the Isle of Wight in 1917 killing more than 600 South
Africans en route to the Western Front to support British troops.

 

The ship's bell was given to BBC reporter Steve Humphrey in 2017 in a
plastic bag at Swanage Pier, Dorset, after an anonymous phone call - and
will now be handed back by Mrs May.

 

Tuesday - Mrs May will fly into Cape Town where she will meet young people,
before delivering a keynote speech on trade and how UK private sector
investment can be brought into Africa.

 

After a bilateral meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, she
is expected to visit Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned.

 

Wednesday - Mrs May intends to meet Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in
the capital Abuja before meeting victims of modern slavery in Lagos.

 

Thursday - In Kenya, Mrs May will meet president Uhuru Kenyatta before
visiting British troops and a business school. A state dinner hosted by Mr
Kenyatta will conclude the trip.--BBC

 

 

 

How Coca-Cola's World Cup sales were boosted by shelf tech

Have you ever wondered why the products you see on supermarket shelves
occupy the positions they do, and how retailers manage their stock levels?
This is the science of shelf management and technology is playing an
increasingly important part in it.

 

Following this year's Fifa World Cup in Russia, Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling
Company (CCH), a major bottling partner for the global drinks brand,
reported a 6.4% jump in revenues for the first half of 2018.

 

The football competition, warm weather and new product launches helped boost
sales, the company said, but new technology also helped, in the form of
sophisticated image recognition and data analytics.

 

CCH implemented a new system operated by tech firm Trax which digitised the
previously manual stock-taking process.

 

When you have 200,000 retail customers across a geographically vast country
like Russia, relying on pen and paper stock records that then had to be
inputted into a computer was hardly ideal. It led to delays in replenishing
empty shelves, which is not good for business.

 

Running out of stock costs retailers more than $634bn (£494bn) a year in
lost sales, according to a report by retail analysts IHL Group.

 

And with the summer's World Cup attracting 4.5 million visitors, "it was
highly important for us to get the right stocks in place," says Aleksandr
Makarov, project manager for CCH Russia.

 

Implementing the Trax system resulted in a 63% reduction in "out-of-stock"
occurrences and audit times that fell from 20 minutes to two minutes, says
Mr Makarov.

 

"We achieved 99.5% product availability in stores three hours before the
games started."

 

So how exactly did CCH achieve this?

 

Using shelf-mounted cameras and augmented reality on smartphones and
tablets, Trax's image recognition system monitors all the products on open
shelves and in coolers, understanding how they differ in size, shape and
colour.

 

A "panoramic stitching engine" pieces together the in-store images to
recreate the full shelf, while analytic software recognises each product.
The supermarket is instantly alerted if brands are out of place or missing
from the shelves.

 

But, as Trax chief executive Joel Bar-El explains, "many products look the
same but are in different sizes, like fizzy drinks, for example. So we've
created an extra layer, understanding the physical layout of the store and
looking at the price to help us work out the likely size of the product."

 

The firm is identifying 250 million products a month and providing real-time
data to 170 retailers and brand manufacturers around the world, says Mr
Bar-El.

 

As bricks-and-mortar retailers face the growing challenge of online, a
number of tech companies are springing up offering digital stock management
and data analytics services to retailers - Planorama, TransVoyant and
MetaMind to name but a few.

 

Shelf science

Supermarkets devise planograms - organisational charts - of where their tens
of thousands of brands should go on shelves or in fridges and freezers. This
helps store workers put things in the right place, because when it comes to
grocery retailing, position matters.

 

Broadly speaking, premium products go on the top shelves, cheaper items on
the bottom shelves, leaving the middle shelves for the best-selling
mid-range products.

 

According to consumer organisation Which?, it's this "sandwich effect" that
makes the profitable mid-shelf items seem more appealing. Clever packaging
can subtly suggest that cheaper brands, placed near premium brands, are just
as good.

 

Brands pay handsomely for the right to occupy the best shelf positions, so
they want to make sure retailers are doing what they promised to do.
Sometimes they don't, whether through human error or poor planning. So
real-time monitoring helps address this.

 

And they also want to make sure there's enough of their product in stock so
there isn't a yawning gap on the shelf for very long.

 

"Retailers are out of stock about 8% to 12% of the time at the moment," says
Mr Bar-El, "but systems like ours can reduce that to 3% or 4%.

 

"We alert them immediately. It normally takes three to four hours to
replenish shelves today, but we've reduced that to 20 minutes in many
cases," he claims.

 

Toby Pickard, head of insight for innovation and futures at retail analysts
IGD, says using technology to ensure real-time stock management is becoming
crucial for companies.

 

"As retailers increasingly match each other on price and range, excellent
in-store service and product availability will become more important in
terms of enabling retailers to stand out from the crowd and drive footfall
to their stores," he says.

 

But, as Patrick O'Brien, UK retail research director at GlobalData, points
out, "this is not exactly rocket science".

 

"Existing technology and shop floor staff should be able to maintain shelf
stock, so it comes down to whether or not these providers can actually prove
a return on investment," he says.

 

Data analytics is also revealing what's actually happening. And some of the
findings are surprising.

 

For example, one pet food maker assumed that having its product positioned
next to its main competitor wouldn't be good for sales. But it was. Why?

 

"We are not bothered by explaining why, we're just following the data," says
Mr Bar-El. "It could be about colour, brain psychology, but we don't know.
Our conclusions are evidence-based."

 

Online grocery shopping is growing quickly, with IGD forecasting 48% sales
growth in the UK by 2022, 286% growth in China, and 129% growth in the US
over the same period.

 

Won't this be a threat to in-store tech providers?

 

"There is no question that online grocery will continue to grow and will
undoubtedly become a main focus of both retailers and brands," says Mr
Bar-El.

 

"But this increase in online sales is far from being the end of
bricks-and-mortar stores. Online presents us with a far greater
understanding of customer behaviour... the amount of data and insight that
can be generated will help improve customer experiences, sales and overall
understanding of every aspect of the business."

 

He envisages a hybrid world - a blend of online and physical, as evidenced
by Amazon's bricks-and-mortar Amazon Go stores and Alibaba's "new retail"
concept, which aims to combine the convenience of online ordering and home
delivery with the fun of in-store shopping and eating.

 

"The future of retail is all about data, and the companies of the future are
the ones who are learning to use it across all platforms - both digital and
physical," he concludes.

 

So the next time you casually pluck that fizzy drink from the supermarket
shelf, consider the science behind your decision.--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
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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
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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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