Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 13 March 2018

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 13 March 2018

 


 

 


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*  Zimbabwe gives mines, farmers six months to clear electricity bills

*  South African court blocks Eskom signing of $4.7 bln of renewable energy
deals

*  Spotify enters South African market

*  Ghana cocoa output likely be only around 700,000 T this season -Cocobod

*  With revamped T-kash, Telkom Kenya aims to challenge Safaricom's
dominance

*  South Africa's rand edges firmer ahead of manufacturing data

*  Gold slips as U.S. jobs data boosts risk appetite

*  Algeria's Sonatrach to invest $250 million to boost output at Tinhert gas
field

*  N Korea: UN draft report claims Singapore firms illegally sent luxury
goods

*  China's parliament unveils major ministry shake-up plan

*  UK exports to a group of emerging nations could be $10bn more

*  Apple acquires digital magazine platform Texture

*  Trump blocks Broadcom's bid for Qualcomm on security grounds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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Zimbabwe gives mines, farmers six months to clear electricity bills

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe’s state-owned electricity distributor has given
businesses, including mines and large-scale farms, six months to clear their
bills or risk being cut off and face litigation, the company said on Monday.

 

The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDS) is
owed more than $1 billion by electricity users, including domestic
households, farmers, industries and mining companies.

 

ZETDC said in a public notice that businesses had six months to clear their
bills because it required the money to pay for electricity imports to
supplement local generation.

 

Zimbabwe, which has had stable electricity supplies for more than a year,
currently produces 938 megawatts and imports up to 450 megawatts from South
Africa and Mozambique.

 

Isaac Kwesu, the chief executive of the Chamber of Mines, said although some
members had accrued huge bills over the years, they had made plans to clear
the arrears with ZETDC.

 

“I know members will make all efforts to honour their dues because there is
no one who can afford to have a mine closed,” Kwesu said, but declined to
name members with arrears.

 

Zimbabwe this month expects to commission two new generating units at the
country’s biggest hydro power plant, Kariba, which will add 300 megawatts of
capacity.

 

 

 

 


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South African court blocks Eskom signing of $4.7 bln of renewable energy
deals

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A South African court has blocked state power
utility Eskom from signing $4.7 billion of renewable energy deals, court
documents showed on Tuesday, throwing the fate of the long-delayed projects
into doubt.

 

Eskom, whose coal-fired power stations supply the bulk of South Africa’s
electricity needs, was due to sign 27 contracts with private sector
producers on Tuesday following last week’s announcement by energy minister
Jeff Radebe.

 

But the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, the country’s
biggest union, launched an urgent court bid late on Monday arguing the deals
would lead to reduced demand for coal-based power, and thus job losses in
the coal-producing province of Mpumalanga.

 

NUMSA, whose court challenge was backed by a civil society group called
Transform SA, also argued that renewable electricity costs were higher than
coal and so would hit the economy.

 

“The consequences of all these factors will have dire consequences for the
working class and the poor,” NUMSA said in a statement.

 

Energy ministry spokesmen did not respond to calls for comment.

 

Radebe said last week delays in signing the projects over the years
had“clearly affected” investor confidence. Cash-strapped Eskom has been
bedeviled by governance concerns and high turnover among top executives.

 

If approved, the projects - mostly solar and wind - should add 2,305 MW of
green power to the national grid in Africa’s most industrialised economy and
create over 61,000 jobs, the government has said.

 

 

 

Spotify enters South African market

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Global music streaming provider Spotify is set to
launch its services in South Africa on Tuesday, marking its entry into
Africa, where there is a rapid uptake of smartphones and improving
telecommunications infrastructure.

 

The Swedish company, launched in 2008 and available in more than 60
countries, is the biggest music streaming company in the world and counts
services from Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google Play as
its main rivals.

 

The South Africa launch comes as Spotify prepares for a direct listing for
its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, which will let investors and
employees sell shares without the company raising new capital or hiring Wall
Street banks to underwrite the issue.

 

Further details about the South Africa service, pricing and content will be
announced on Tuesday, the company said.

 

An increase in connectivity across South Africa, helped by higher investment
in infrastructure, as well as a growing uptake in credit cards and bank
accounts has drawn global video and music streaming providers.

 

Its music streaming market is dominated by players such as Apple Music,
Google Play, France’s Deezer and Simfy Africa, with only a few local
operators such as mobile phone operator’s MTN and Cell C with MTN Music+ and
Black.

 

Internet and entertainment firm Naspers also recently launched music
streaming platform Joox, from China’s Tencent, in which it holds a 33
percent stake.

 

In its filing to list its shares, Spotify said its operating loss widened to
378 million euros ($465.32 million) in 2017 from 349 million euros.

 

($1 = 0.8123 euros)

 

 

 

Ghana cocoa output likely be only around 700,000 T this season -Cocobod

ACCRA (Reuters) - Ghana may only produce around 700,000 tonnes of cocoa this
season, well short of its initial forecast of 850,000 tonnes, due to poor
rains during the main crop harvest, the head of the Cocobod marketing board
told Reuters on Monday.

 

The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) forecast a global cocoa surplus
of 105,000 tonnes of beans for the 2017/18 season. But concerns about the
harvest in neighbouring Ivory Coast, the world’s top producer, has sent
global prices soaring in recent weeks.

 

Cocobod CEO Joseph Boahen Aidoo said in an interview with Reuters that
output by No. 2 grower Ghana was also falling short.

 

The country had registered purchases of around 650,000 tonnes by March 2.

 

“We have bought the bulk of our cocoa for the season,” Aidoo said.“We’re
hoping to get something from the light crop - about 50,000 or a little
above. That takes us to around 700,000 or a little above 700,000 tonnes.”

 

The ICCO estimates that Ghana produced around 950,000 tonnes of beans last
season, though much of that is believed to have consisted of smuggled
Ivorian beans.

 

Despite a significantly higher farmer price in Ghana than in Ivory Coast
this season, Aidoo said smuggling had been minimal.

 

Ghana maintained its producer price at 7,600 cedis ($1,717) per tonne at the
start of the season in October despite a drop in world prices.

 

The high price has led to a 2 billion cedi deficit at Cocobod, and in
January the government proposed cutting the price, pegging it to 70 percent
of world market prices.

 

However that plan is subject to approval by President Nana Akufo-Addo.

 

“Personally, I see it as a very tall order and a tough call for the
President because it hinges on sustainability of the industry,” Aidoo said.

 

Cocobod is issuing cocoa bills to fund the deficit via the central bank,
which it already owes about 5.5 billion cedis. Aidoo said the sector
regulator was negotiating to have that debt restructured.

 

Meanwhile, he said Cocobod planned to seek around $1.3 billion in September
via its annual syndicated loan to cover purchases of an estimated 900,000
tonnes of cocoa next season.

 

However, Aidoo said it had put on hold plans to borrow around $500 million
from China Eximbank, because it had received encouraging feedback from the
African Development Bank (AfDB) for a loan that would cover much of the same
expenditures.

 

Along with Ivory Coast, Ghana is seeking $1.2 billion from the AfDB to
finance projects aimed at boosting processing capacity and creating storage
facilities capable of housing buffer stocks.

 

“Our request has received a very positive response and we are confident of
having the loan,” Aidoo said.

 

Ghana and Ivory Coast, which together account for 60-70 percent of global
supply, opened negotiations amid last season’s cocoa slump, aiming to
increase cooperation in order to have more influence over world prices.

 

Those talks are due to resume in Accra this week, and Aidoo said harmonising
farmer prices between the two growers would be at the top of the agenda.

 

($= 4.4250 Ghanaian cedis)

 

 

 

With revamped T-kash, Telkom Kenya aims to challenge Safaricom's dominance

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Telkom Kenya relaunched a mobile financial services
platform on Monday that it hopes can challenge Safaricom’s dominance of
Kenya’s lucrative mobile money market.

 

It said it has spent 1 billion Kenyan shillings ($9.9 million) redesigning
and rebranding the platform, T-kash, which enables customers to transfer
money and pay bills via mobile phone. The company shut down its original
mobile money platform, which drew a limited number of subscribers, last
June.

 

It has now signed up 20,000 new mobile money agents to provide the service,
which it hopes will help accelerate its subscriber growth, Telkom Chief
Executive Officer Aldo Mareuse told reporters in Nairobi.

 

Telkom, which is 60 percent-owned by London-based Helios Towers, is Kenya’s
third biggest telecommunications company by users.

 

However, it faces an uphill battle in competing for subscribers with
Safaricom’s pioneering mobile money platform M-Pesa, which is offered by
148,000 agents in Kenya, according to the country’s Communications
Authority.

 

M-Pesa has 27.8 million users in a country of 45 million people and has been
replicated across Africa and in other markets.

 

Safaricom has 72 percent of Kenya’s total mobile phone subscribers.

 

Kenya’s mobile market is lucrative, attracting 537 million financial
transactions valued at 1.65 trillion shillings between July and September
last year, according to the latest available data from the Communications
Authority.

 

But 95 percent of Kenya’s financial transactions are still done in cash,
said Mareuse.

 

“This is an opportunity for mobile financial services to capture this
segment of the market,” he said.

 

T-kash has features that the company hopes will attract users away from
other platforms, Mareuse said.

 

It claims its fees are now more transparent than competitors’. Like M-Pesa,
T-kash will be regulated by Kenya’s central bank.

 

Safaricom’s competitors say the company enjoys a dominant position in the
market, accounting for 90 percent of revenues in areas such as voice calls
and text messages, but the telecommunications regulator ditched plans in
January to break Safaricom into separate telecoms and financial services
businesses.

 

The government said last month that tree top mobile phone companies will
start a pilot scheme to allow customers to send and receive money across
networks, a policy change that could help Telkom’s new platform grow.

 

Information, Communication and Technology Minister Joe Mucheru said the
scheme would be a way to help level the market.

 

($1 = 101.1000 Kenyan shillings)

 

 

 

South Africa's rand edges firmer ahead of manufacturing data

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s rand edged firmer on Tuesday,
continuing to eke out gains in subdued trade as optimism over the domestic
economy and short-buying ahead of inflation numbers in the United States
spurred demand.

 

At 0640 GMT, the rand was 0.06 percent firmer at 11.8050 per dollar,
compared with a close of 11.8225 overnight in New York.

 

While the rand benefited from a global recovery in risk assets after last
week’s sell-off, triggered by figures showing rising U.S. wages, confidence
in the local economy continued to draw buyers.

 

Manufacturing data for January due at 1100 GMT is expected to show the
sector expanded 2.5 percent year on year. Last Tuesday gross domestic
product grew by more than expected, by 3.1 percent quarter on quarter. *
Inflation figures from the United States due later in the session could
wobble the rand’s approach toward 11.50 mark seen as a target for bullish
bets on the currency.

 

Stocks were set to open slightly lower at 0700 GMT, with the JSE securities
exchange’s Top-40 futures index down 0.15 percent.

 

In fixed income, the yield for the benchmark government bond due in 2026 was
up 1 basis point at 8.075 percent.

 

 

Gold slips as U.S. jobs data boosts risk appetite

LONDON (Reuters) - Gold fell on Monday as the previous session’s upbeat U.S.
payrolls data sparked a fresh rally in stock markets and shored up
expectations that the Federal Reserve would press ahead with further
interest rate rises this year.

 

World stocks hit a two-week high on Monday after Friday’s strong jobs data
helped offset investors’ concerns about the potential for a trade war
between the United States and other major economies. [MKTS/GLOB]

 

Spot gold was down 0.5 percent at $1,316.98 an ounce at 1435 GMT, while U.S.
gold futures for April delivery were 0.5 percent lower at $1,317.10 an
ounce.

 

“The strong U.S. jobs data on Friday has pushed the sentiment towards
risk-on trade,” Think Markets’ chief market analyst Naeem Aslam said.

 

“Investors like to get a bigger bang for their buck and gold isn’t offering
that. We think the support level of $1,300 is of significant importance, and
a break of this would send a negative signal for the traders.”

 

Money market traders stuck to bets that the Fed would raise interest rates
three times this year after data released on Friday showed U.S. job growth
recorded its biggest increase in more than 1-1/2 years in February.

 

Gold is highly sensitive to rising rates, which lift the opportunity cost of
holding non-yielding bullion, while boosting the dollar, in which it is
priced.

 

U.S. Treasury yields advanced after the jobs data, while stock markets
rallied as the numbers sparked a surge in risk appetite. That weighed on the
dollar on Monday, though the impact of the softer U.S. currency on gold was
muted.

 

Gold slipped to its lowest in a week on Friday after the payrolls report,
having come under pressure earlier in the week after failing to break
through the $1,340 an ounce level for a second time in two weeks.

 

“We are now getting within distance of the FOMC (Federal Open Market
Committee) meeting next week, with the rate hike being expected to be
executed,” Saxo Bank’s head of commodity research Ole Hansen said.

 

“We’ve seen in the past that gold has been struggling ahead of these
announcements, so I think we’re just being sucked into the slipstream of
that meeting. That’s raising the risk that gold could be a bit more on the
defensive.”

 

Speculators raised their net long position in gold by 4,178 contracts to
161,812 contracts in the week to March 6, Commodity Futures Trading
Commission (CFTC) data showed.

 

Among other precious metals, silver was down 0.8 percent at $16.46 an ounce.
Palladium was 1.3 percent lower at $983 an ounce, while platinum was down
0.6 percent at $958.70 an ounce.

 

 

 

Algeria's Sonatrach to invest $250 million to boost output at Tinhert gas
field

TINHERT, Algeria (Reuters) - Algerian state energy firm Sonatrach will
invest $250 million to boost output at the Tinhert gas field to 20 million
cubic metres (mcm) per day by 2020 up from 5 million cubic metres, its CEO
said on Monday.

 

An employee stands near the headquarter of the state energy company
Sonatrach in Algiers, Algeria june 26, 2016.Reuters/Ramzi Boudia

“This is an important project that will push our gas output up,” Sonatrach’s
CEO Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour told reporters on the site located in Algeria’s
southeast not far from Libya’s borders.

 

Algeria’s total gas output is around 100 billion cubic metres per year, of
which 55 billion are exported.

 

 

Several gas fields which were due to come onstream in 2016 and 2017 will
come online this year, boosting Algeria’s gas output.

 

The new fields include Touat, with 12.8 million cubic metres per day,
Reggane North with 8 million cubic metres per day, and 148 barrels of
condensate per day and Timimoun with 5 million cubic metres per day.

 

The OPEC member has been hit hard by a slump in world oil prices and
struggled to attract energy investment to help develop new fields and
increase existing production.

 

Algeria is a major gas supplier to Europe.

 

Algeria remains dependent on oil and gas earnings, which provide 60 percent
of the state budget, and Sonatrach’s performance is key to the health of the
economy.

 

The North African country has been working on a new energy law to provide
better incentives for foreign firms, which had been deterred by current
terms.

 

But there are still divergent views within Algeria’s ruling classes over how
hard to push for foreign investment and domestic economic reform to boost
revenues and spur growth.

 

Kaddour, a U.S.-educated engineer, has sought to improve the performance of
Sonatrach, a sprawling state empire, and attract foreign investment to boost
its oil and gas production.

 

 

 

N Korea: UN draft report claims Singapore firms illegally sent luxury goods

The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting in November
about North Korea's nuclear ambitions

A leaked draft of a United Nations report claims two Singapore companies
have violated UN sanctions by supplying luxury goods to North Korea.

 

The final report has been submitted to the UN Security Council, and is
likely to be published later this week.

 

Singapore's government said it was aware of the cases and had begun
investigating where there was "credible information" of possible offences.

 

Both the UN and Singapore ban the sale of luxury goods to North Korea.

 

Global sanctions against North Korea have tightened considerably over the
last two years as Pyongyang has continued to conduct nuclear tests and
launch missiles.

 

Despite the recent development that unprecedented talks between North
Korea's leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump may take place
later this year, UN sanctions against North Korea will remain in place.

 

Analysts say the alleged violations by Singapore companies, if proven, raise
questions about how widespread such breaches might be across Asia.

 

Who's been named in the UN report?

The leaked UN report highlights two Singapore-based firms, among others in
Asia.

 

It alleges the two firms supplied a range of luxury goods to North Korea,
including wines and spirits, until as recently as July 2017.

 

Under UN Sanctions, it has been illegal to sell luxury items to North Korea
since 2006. And Singapore's laws have banned the sale of these items to
North Korea for several years.

 

The two Singapore-based firms under investigation are OCN and T Specialist.
They are sister companies and share the same director.

 

Both the companies have denied any wrongdoing.

 

The UN report also claims between 2011 and 2014 "transactions valued at more
than $2m (£1.4m)" - allegedly proceeds from the sale of goods in North Korea
- flowed from an account that OCN and T Specialist set up in a North Korean
bank, Daedong Credit Bank, to T Specialist's bank accounts in Singapore.

 

Singapore has banned its financial institutions from providing financial
assistance or services for facilitating any trade with North Korea,
according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

T Specialist has testified to the UN that the funds did not come from North
Korea but a company registered in Hong Kong, and related to sales before
2012.

 

Did sanctions push N Korea into US talks?

The political gamble of the 21st Century

North Korea-Trump talks in 400 words

US-N Korea talks: What could happen now?

The two companies are also accused by the UN of having "long-standing, close
ties" - including ownership ties - with Ryugyong Commercial Bank, a bank the
US put on its sanctions list in 2017.

 

The Singaporean companies said they have no interests in the bank.

 

Their lawyer, Edmond Pereira, has confirmed they are under investigation by
Singapore authorities, but insisted they did not have any current financial
links, interests, or any sort of relationship with entities in North Korea.

 

Mr Pereira acknowledged that his clients "have done business with North
Korean entities... before the UN sanctions came into force".

 

He added the companies had "reduced their involvement" in North Korea but
that "these things take a bit of time".

 

Lawyers have said part of the problem is these sanctions are expected to be
enforced by companies who are often unaware of the changes in the law.

 

Singapore has banned its financial institutions from providing financial
assistance or services for facilitating any trade with North Korea

It was only in November last year that Singapore banned trade with North
Korea entirely. Before that, some trade was allowed.

 

The UN report claims some of the transactions in the OCN and T Specialist
cases appear to have used the Singapore financial system.

 

It also said it was the responsibility of member countries to make sure
their banks had a more "robust scrutiny" of individuals and companies
opening accounts with them.

 

The BBC contacted the two Singapore banks mentioned in the report. Both
banks declined to comment, citing Singapore's banking secrecy laws.

 

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) told the BBC it was working
closely with the UN on these cases.

 

"MAS will take stern action against any financial institutions in breach of
regulations relating to proliferation financing," MAS said in a statement
sent to the BBC.

 

The authority also said it expected banks to be aware of "the use of
multi-jurisdictional front companies, shell companies, joint ventures, and
complex or opaque ownership structures".

 

Difficult for banks to catch

William Newcomb, a former member on the UN Panel of Experts, said it was
precisely these financial loopholes North Korea seeks to exploit.

 

"What they will do is set up a shell company, then establish a company in
another location, a bank in a third location, and do business in another
location," he explained.

 

"And now you have multiple jurisdictions involved. So it becomes quite
complicated, and it's one of the techniques they use to defeat the
sanctions."

 

 

Financial crime researchers say it is difficult for banks to catch this sort
of behaviour.

 

"You would probably never know that the funds were coming from North Korea,"
said Tim Phillipps, Asia Pacific Leader for Deloitte's Financial Crime
Network.

 

He added the problem could be much bigger across South East Asia.

 

"If you're named in a report in this environment in Singapore, the MAS are
highly likely to demand extensive transaction history examination.

 

"But if you start to look across the other countries in South East Asia,
they generally haven't got the maturity of systems to prevent this."

 

The UN report highlights how easily entities allegedly doing business with
North Korea might potentially find loopholes to use - even in sophisticated
financial systems like Singapore's.--bbc

 

 

 

 

China's parliament unveils major ministry shake-up plan

China has said it plans to merge its banking and insurance regulators as
part of sweeping changes to its central government structure.

 

The planned shake-up, along with the creation of several new ministries, was
announced by the annual sitting of the National People's Congress (NPC).

 

The move will combine the insurance and banking bodies and is aimed at
reducing systemic risk in the financial sector.

 

Reforming China's financial landscape has been a central task for Beijing.

 

What will happen under the merger?

The Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) will be combined with the China
Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) to form a super regulator, overseeing
all of China's banking and insurance sector.

 

Some of their roles will be transferred to the central bank - the People's
Bank of China (PBOC) - which will take on responsibility for making new laws
and regulations.

 

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Human cost of China's economic reforms

President Xi Jinping's top economic advisor, Liu He, said the sweeping
reforms would be "profound" and would help abolish inefficiencies across
state agencies.

 

"Deepening the reform of the party and state institutions is an inevitable
requirement for strengthening the long-term governance of the party," Mr Liu
said.

 

Why does China say this is needed?

The reforms are part of President Xi's plans to strengthen the central
government's control over the economy, crack down on the financial industry
and guard against excessive borrowing and risk.

 

The rising level of debt being carried by some Chinese firms, by state-owned
enterprises and by local governments has been a widespread cause for concern
for several years.

 

Central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said that loopholes in the financial
regulatory system needed to be closed and that flaws in regulations needed
to be corrected in order to defuse financial risk across the sector.

 

On the sidelines of the NPC - the annual parliamentary meeting - last week,
he said the PBOC would take the lead in co-ordinating those efforts.

 

As part of recent efforts to reduce financial risk in the country, Beijing
took control over China's giant Anbang Insurance Group last month.

 

Anbang is recognised as one of China's richest and most opaque
conglomerates. It's best known for its aggressive international
acquisitions, including New York's Astoria Hotel.

 

Analysts described Beijing's unusual move to take control of the company as
a warning shot to other Chinese firms engaged in particular types of
financial engineering and leveraged acquisitions.

 

What other changes have been announced?

Several new ministries will also be created as part of the new reforms,
including a new ministry for agriculture and one for rural villages.

 

Other new ministries include ones overseeing natural resources, immigration,
culture and tourism, and the environment.

 

The intellectual property rights bureau will also be restructured.

 

Several of the changes reflect Beijing's commitment to its so-called three
critical battles: continuing efforts to resolve major risks in the economy;
an unprecedented campaign against poverty; and a continued fight to reduce
pollution.

 

The NPC, which is regarded as a rubber stamp for decisions made by China's
ruling communist party, is currently mid-way through its annual two-week
gathering.

 

On Sunday, the removal of the two-term limit on the presidency was approved,
effectively allowing Xi Jinping to remain in power for life.--bbc

 

 

 

UK exports to a group of emerging nations could be $10bn more

The UK is missing out on £10bn worth of exports a year to a group of
emerging economies, according to a study by Standard Chartered bank.

 

Annual exports to what Standard calls the Emerging 7 (China, India,
Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia) are currently worth
£24bn.

 

But the bank, which specialises in financing international trade, calculates
it should be £34bn a year.

 

Of all the G7 countries, the UK could be a big beneficiary of closer trade.

 

Standard Chartered urges the UK to orientate its Emerging 7 (E7) trade
policy accordingly.

 

Michael Vrontamitis, the bank's head of trade for Europe and Americas, said:
"With the UK settling into a slower pace of growth and Brexit on the
horizon, UK businesses need to look more widely for growth.

 

"It is clear that the E7 countries represent multi-billion-dollar trading
opportunities for the UK and British businesses searching for export
diversification and growth.

 

Brexit

The study was immediately welcomed by the International Trade Secretary,
Liam Fox, who has repeatedly stressed the opportunities that Brexit presents
to refocus trade policy on faster growing economies.

 

He said: "As an international economic department, we are supporting
businesses meet this demand, target overseas markets and succeed on the
global stage, so we create more jobs and prosperity in every part of the
country."

 

However, the study does not examine the potential loss of exports to our
biggest and closest market - the EU - as a result of Brexit. Many people
have questioned whether increased trade with the E7 can offset those losses.

 

One of the most sceptical voices was former civil servant Sir Martin
Donnelly, who until last year ran the very same Department for International
Trade of which Liam Fox is secretary.

 

Fulfilling potential

Sir Martin recently told the BBC that the UK was "giving up a three-course
meal, which is the depth and intensity of our trade relationships across the
European Union and partners now, for the promise of a packet of crisps in
the future if we manage to do trade deals outside the European Union which
aren't going to compensate for what we're giving up".

 

The Standard Chartered report says that of the G7 countries, only Germany is
fulfilling its export potential to the E7, and only then through its
reliance on its huge exports to a single country - China.

 

It is perhaps worth remembering that the UK exports more to the US than any
other single country, while China is Germany's number one export
destination. Neither of these relationships are supported by a free trade
agreement.

 

This illustrates a point often made by former trade minister and ex-chairman
of Goldman Sachs Asset Management Jim (Lord) O'Neill.

 

When it comes to trade, knowing which products and services foreign markets
actually want - and getting them there - is more important than striking
trade deals.

 

 

 

Apple acquires digital magazine platform Texture

Apple is buying the magazine app subscription service Texture for an
undisclosed amount.

 

Texture offers US-based users unlimited access to more than 200 titles for a
monthly fee of $9.99 (£7.19).

 

It is currently owned by Next Issue Media, which is backed by magazine
publishers Conde Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corp, Rogers Communications,
and Time Inc.

 

Apple said it was "committed to quality journalism from trusted sources".

 

Texture was launched in 2010 and won a "Best Of" award from the App Store
editorial team in 2016

 

One media analyst said the move to acquire Texture was Apple's way of trying
to appease content publishers, who were upset by the launch of its News app
in 2015.

 

At the time, content publishers said they were concerned that the News app
would threaten which types of content users had access to, and change the
ways in which people consumed content.

 

"A lot of this is talking the talk. If they really wanted to help
journalists, they could give publishers a waiver on the 30% tax Apple takes
from App Store revenue," Enders Analysis's Joseph Evans told the BBC.

 

"That wouldn't cost Apple anything, and it would be a big help to
publishers.

 

"But instead they do these user-facing things."

 

He acknowledged, however, that Apple's involvement could boost interest in
the eight-year-old service, which in turn would help publishers earn more
money.

 

Apple already runs a music-streaming subscription service and has been
commissioning new television content, leading to speculation that it might
launch a rival to Netflix.--BBC

 

 

 

Trump blocks Broadcom's bid for Qualcomm on security grounds

US President Donald Trump has blocked a planned takeover of chipmaker
Qualcomm by Singapore-based rival Broadcom on grounds of national security.

 

His order cited "credible evidence" that the proposed $140bn (£100bn) deal
"threatens to impair the national security of the US".

 

There were concerns the takeover could have led to China pulling ahead in
the development of 5G wireless technology.

 

The deal would have been the biggest technology sector takeover on record.

 

A takeover of Qualcomm by Broadcom would have created the world's
third-largest maker of microchips, behind Intel and Samsung.

 

The chipmaking sector is in a race to develop chips for the latest 5G
wireless technology and Qualcomm is considered to be a leader in this field,
followed by Broadcom and China's telecoms giant Huawei.

 

Analysts say Qualcomm is highly regarded for its commitment to research and
development (R&D), particularly in the field of 5G technology. Huawei is
equally committed to R&D in the area.

 

However, Broadcom is better known for selling assets and growing through
acquisitions, and deemed to be weaker on R&D.

 

With this in mind, analysts have said a deal between Qualcomm and Broadcom
could have given Huawei the chance to take over the top spot in years to
come - a situation US politicians wanted to prevent given their ongoing
security concerns around Chinese telecom firms doing business with US
carriers.

 

Others have said Mr Trump's decision was more about competitiveness than
security concerns.

 

"Given the current political climate in the US and other regions around the
world, everyone is taking a more conservative view on mergers and
acquisitions and protecting their own domains," said Mario Morales, vice
president of enabling technologies and semiconductors at global research
firm IDC.

 

"We are all at the start of a race, and you have 5G as a crown jewel that
everyone wants to participate in - and every region is racing towards that,"
he told the BBC.

 

"Semiconductor technology and companies like Qualcomm will be an important
weapon in that 5G arms race [and] the US like other nations and regions want
to be first."

 

Broadcom said it was reviewing the order and "strongly disagrees that its
proposed acquisition of Qualcomm raises any national security concerns".

 

The company had been pursuing San Diego-based Qualcomm for about four
months.

 

Last week, however, Broadcom's hostile takeover bid was put under
investigation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), a
multi-agency body led by the US Treasury Department.

 

The US company had rejected approaches from its rival on the grounds that
the offer undervalued the business, and also that any takeover would face
antitrust hurdles.

 

Earlier this year, Chinese telecoms giant Huawei said it had not been able
to strike a deal to sell its new smartphone via a US carrier, widely
believed to be AT&T.

 

The US also recently blocked the $1.2bn sale of money transfer firm
Moneygram to China's Ant Financial, the digital payments arm of
Alibaba.--BBC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 


 

INVESTORS DIARY 2018

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


CFI

AGM

Farm & City Boardroom, 1st Floor, Farm & City Complex, 1 Wayne Street

 

12 Mar 2018 11am

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


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