Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 05 April 2019

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 05 April 2019

 


 

 


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*  Nigerian debt office expects approval of 1.649 trln naira in borrowing

*  Kenya forecasts 6.3 pct economic growth in 2019

*  Vodacom unit alleged to have caused $4.76 mln loss to Tanzania

*  Oando sells 25 pct stake in Nigerian gas company to private equity firm
Helios

*  How countries are getting tougher with mining companies

*  Kenyan shilling edges up against the dollar

*  Nigeria appoints local banks for 3.4 trln naira note issue programme

*  5G: World's first commercial services promise 'great leap'

*  US and China edge closer to 'epic' trade deal, says Trump

*  Jeff Bezos: World's richest man agrees $35bn divorce

*  Gender pay: Gap widens at almost half of UK firms

*  Tesla shares sink as car deliveries drop

*  Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 pilots 'could not stop nosedive'

 

 

 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

                                      

Nigerian debt office expects approval of 1.649 trln naira in borrowing

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria’s debt office said on Thursday it expects the
government to approve total borrowing of 1.649 trillion naira ($5.39
billion) in 2019.

 

Half the debt, 824 billion naira, will be foreign borrowing, Patience Oniha,
the director general of Nigeria’s Debt Management Office, told reporters in
the capital Abuja.

 

Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, has been racking up debt in an effort to
boost economic growth, which has been sluggish since exiting recession in
2017.

 

The aim of the borrowing is to create jobs and build infrastructure,
according to a debt office presentation on Thursday.

 

Domestic debt will be made up of federal government, sukuk, green and
savings bonds, the debt office said.

 

Nigeria’s parliament must approve the borrowing plan before it can go ahead.

 

($1 = 306.0000 naira)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 



Kenya forecasts 6.3 pct economic growth in 2019

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya’s economy should grow an improved 6.3 percent in
2019, President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Thursday, citing an improved business
environment and his government’s push to boost manufacturing, food
production and access to housing.

 

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta addresses the Nation from State House in
Nairobi, Kenya September 14, 2018. Presidential Press Service/Handout via
REUTERS

Last year, growth was an estimated 6.1 percent, he said.

 

“We expect an even stronger growth ... reflecting continued improvement in
the business environment, momentum associated with execution of the Big Four
Agenda, and sustained macroeconomic stability,” he told parliament.

 

The government also plans to boost output by setting up a credit guarantee
scheme for small and medium businesses, he said in an annual
state-of-the-nation address.

 

“We will be launching an SME Credit Guarantee Scheme in a few weeks, aimed
at deepening their access to credit without being subjected to complex
application procedures and collateral requirements,” Kenyatta said.

 

Small and medium businesses have been hardest hit since the government put a
cap on commercial lending rates in late 2016.

 

At the time, lawmakers said they were concerned about high interest rates.
But the cap led to a private credit squeeze, as banks said it forced them to
cut back on high-risk loans.

 

With many Kenyans fed up of government corruption draining state coffers and
distorting business and politics, Kenyatta reiterated a pledge to tackle
graft.

 

“I must, however, caution that the pursuit of the corrupt will be undertaken
strictly within the remits of the law – and not through vigilante justice
and pitchfork protest,” he added.

 

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations is investigating what it said was
fraudulent construction of two dams valued at 63 billion shillings ($626
million). Some payments were already made out despite the dams not being
built.

 

 

The probe has seen three ministers, including the one in charge of finance,
questioned by detectives.

 

They have all denied wrongdoing.

 

($1 = 100.6000 Kenyan shillings)

 

 

 

Vodacom unit alleged to have caused $4.76 mln loss to Tanzania

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Vodacom Tanzania said on Thursday the government had
accused it of causing an 11 billion shilling ($4.76 million) loss linked to
allegations of fraudulent use of network facilities against its managing
director and other executives.

 

“A bail application for the individuals in police custody will be heard in
(the) next few days,” Vodacom Tanzania said in a statement. The company also
said that it had appointed South African Jacques Marais as acting managing
director.

 

Marais was appointed to “ensure the company’s operations continue free of
interruptions and has initiated an internal investigation into the matter,”
the company said.

 

Tanzanian authorities on Wednesday charged the managing director of Vodacom
Tanzania and other telecom executives with economic crimes, court documents
showed.

 

Egyptian Hisham Hendi and other executives “intentionally and wilfully
organised a criminal racket, which caused the government ... to suffer a
pecuniary loss,” the documents said.

 

They were not allowed to enter a plea or apply for bail, and are being held
in police custody until the case comes up on April 17, a court official told
Reuters.

 

Reuters was not able to contact legal representatives for the detained
executives on Thursday.

 

Vodacom, a subsidiary of South Africa’s Vodacom Group, is Tanzania’s leading
telecom company by the number of mobile subscribers, with about 32 percent
of the country’s 40 million mobile subscribers, ahead of Tigo Tanzania, a
subsidiary of Sweden’s Millicom, and a local unit of India’s Bharti Airtel.

 

“Vodacom Tanzania reiterates that it will continue to cooperate with the
investigation,” it said.

 

($1 = 2,312.0000 Tanzanian shillings)

 

 

 

Oando sells 25 pct stake in Nigerian gas company to private equity firm
Helios

LAGOS (Reuters) - Oando has sold its 25 percent stake in Nigerian gas and
power company Axxela to majority investor Helios Investment partners for an
undisclosed amount, Axxela said on Thursday.

 

The private equity firm now owns 100 percent of Axxela following Oando’s
divestment, the gas company said.

 

 

 

How countries are getting tougher with mining companies

LONDON (Reuters) - A mix of political populism, higher commodity prices and
the expectation electrification will spur demand for some raw materials has
led resource-holding governments to change the rules for miners operating in
their countries.

 

In most cases, governments are seeking to increase their share of profits,
rather than all-out resource nationalism, although Mongolia has been trying
to nationalise a stake in a copper mine.

 

The toughness is not universal.

 

Some governments see the hardened stance of other countries as a chance to
lure investment. Ethiopia is rolling out pro-business reforms after Prime
Minister Abiy Ahmed swept into office last year.

 

WHAT’S DIFFERENT THIS TIME?

Typically, resource holders have increased the demands they make of
international companies when commodity prices rise.

 

Commodity prices have been increasing since the start of this year, but are
relatively low and were still recovering from the crash of 2015-16 when the
latest wave of resource nationalism began.

 

In Africa, Tanzania, regarded as an extreme example, turned on the miners
after President John Magufuli swept to power in late 2015 pledging to secure
a bigger share of the country’s natural resource wealth.

 

Industry insiders and lawyers say political populism and social media are
impelling calls for a greater share, beginning with the local communities
around mines.

 

They also say investment by China and to a lesser extent Russia increases
the leverage of resource-holding governments.

 

“China’s growing investment in mining projects has helped spur resource
nationalism by giving many resource-rich countries an alternative to Western
investment,” Henry Hall, associate director at Critical Resource advisory
firm, said.

 

WHICH COUNTRIES DOMINATE?

In Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Zambia have been
seeking more of the profits from copper, cobalt and gold.

 

Democratic Republic of Congo in June last year signed off regulations to
implement its new mining code that raised royalties and taxes.

 

Major mining companies, such as Glencore and Barrick, have opposed the code
and are seeking negotiations and ways to increase pressure.

 

Zambia raised royalties from January and introduced a 10 percent tax when
the price of copper exceeds $7,500 per tonne.

 

Zambia also plans to replace value-added tax with a non-refundable sales tax
to help reduce public debt, but has delayed the move until July, pending
further consultation.

 

WHAT IS THE IMPACT ON INVESTMENT?

Mining executives say a first response is to withdraw exploration funding.

 

The biggest listed miners say they are focusing their exploration in
countries with low political risk.

 

Democratic Republic of Congo’s reserves, however, are temptingly rich and
include copper and cobalt, needed for an expected upturn in demand for
battery vehicles, which gives the government bargaining power.

 

Figures from S&P Global Market Intelligence show falls in exploration
spending in Tanzania, Zambia and Mongolia last year, while investment in
Democratic Republic of Congo rose as Ivanhoe Mines and its Chinese partner
Zijin Mining have invested in developing a copper mine.

 

Globally, exploration spending climbed, but is far below the peaks of 2012
at the height of the commodity boom.

 

Spending was highest last year in countries considered mining-friendly, such
as the United States and Ecuador, which is welcoming Western explorers into
its copper prospects as it seeks to diversify from oil.

 

WHAT CAN COMPANIES DO TO PROTECT THEMSELVES?

Companies have threatened to leave when the terms of engagement change to
their detriment, but resource-holding governments know firms are reluctant
to do that when they have invested in building a mine.

 

Lawyers and mining executives say companies have become more careful about
where they invest in the first instance.

 

As sustainability has shot to the fore following the Vale dam disaster in
Brazil in January, the need to get all sections of society on side has
increased.

 

“One of the most important aspects to have a good understanding of is the
community landscape - without the social licence, mines will either not
start up, or will be disrupted by community activism,” Warren Beech, a
partner at law firm Hogan Lovells, said.

 

While the overall mood is cautious, China and Russia have a higher risk
appetite, potentially providing negotiating power for resource-holding
governments.

 

“The risk appetite varies, with China and Russia seemingly having a greater
appetite for risk, probably to support their strategic intent to control the
life cycle ... and to develop geopolitical influence,” he said.

 

As a last resort, international miners can threaten arbitration, which
lawyers say is cheaper than political-risk insurance.

 

Dispute settlement lawyer Samuel Pape of Latham and Watkins said miners can
seek legal protection by for instance investing through a company
incorporated in a country that has a bilateral investment treaty with the
resource-holding nation.

 

“Many disputes can be resolved through negotiations without the need to
commence proceedings under an investment treaty, though the potential for
such an arbitration can provide important leverage,” he said.

 

 

 

Kenyan shilling edges up against the dollar

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling inched up on Thursday supported by
inflows from remittances and investors buying government debt amid excess
liquidity in the local money market, traders said.

 

At 0711 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 100.65/85 per dollar,
compared with 100.75/95 at Wednesday’s close.

 

 

Nigeria appoints local banks for 3.4 trln naira note issue programme

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria has appointed local banks for a 3.4 trillion naira
promissory note issue programme to settle the backlog of state obligations,
the finance minister said on Wednesday.

 

Zainab Ahmed presented a memo to cabinet on Wednesday seeking approval for
the notes, which she said would help revive an economy which has faced low
growth since emerging from its first recession in 25 years in 2017.

 

The obligations to be settled by the government include pension liabilities,
unpaid salaries and accrued fuel supply interest, according to her memo seen
by Reuters.

 

 

 

5G: World's first commercial services promise 'great leap'

South Korea and the US have this week launched the world's first commercial
5G services, promising a new wave of capabilities for smartphone users.

 

Samsung said its Galaxy S10 5G device will offer speeds up to 20 times
faster than current phones as it began selling the handsets on Friday.

 

Countries are racing to build 5G networks that will be crucial for future
tech such as driverless cars.

 

Nations are also working to resolve security concerns tied to the networks.

 

What is 5G?

5G is the fifth-generation of mobile internet connectivity. Users will get
more data faster, with less delay. It also promises wider coverage and more
stable connections.

 

Ed Barton, chief television and entertainment analyst at Ovum, said the
shift from today's 4G networks to 5G will be significant.

 

He said first-generation or 1G networks enabled voice, 2G brought text, 3G
static images or photos, and 4G enabled video.

 

"We're expecting the leap from 4G to 5G to be a much greater leap than ever
before."

 

Part of the "leap" will come from the ability to move much greater volumes
of data across networks. 5G will mean more devices can be connected to the
network at better speeds.

 

Nikhil Batra, senior research manager at technology consultancy IDC Asia
Pacific, said speeds will be 10 times faster than what is possible with 4G.
Samsung said its 5G device will be up to 20 times faster.

 

What will 5G enable?

Initially, 5G will bring higher-quality streaming and the ability to
livestream to bigger audiences - a better experience for people watching
live sports or cloud gaming.

 

Ovum's Mr Barton said down the track it will enable more augmented reality
capabilities, such as better mapping apps and shopping experiences. 5G will
be crucial for driverless cars.

 

The scope of possibilities is vast, from remote surgery to holographic video
calls. Mr Barton said we don't yet know what the "killer apps and use cases
will be".

 

"It's a bit like no one predicted that ubiquitous smartphones with payments
and location awareness would give rise to Uber," he said.

 

Streaming sports is among the services expected to be enhanced with 5G

5G and self-driving cars?

Could mixed reality transform the catwalk?

Where is it available?

The technology is being piloted in trials all over the world but commercial
applications are just becoming available.

 

South Korea's top three mobile carriers launched 5G services this week,
while US telco Verizon also launched 5G services in parts of two cities this
week.

 

Six UK cities named as 5G pioneers

Superfast 5G mobiles move a step closer

Who's winning the global 5G race?

DJ Koh, president of IT & mobile communications at Samsung Electronics said
it has begun "a new era where the incredible speed and connectivity of 5G
becomes a reality".

 

Frost & Sullivan telecoms analyst Quah Mei Lee says South Korea and Japan
have been leaders in 5G development. She said South Korea has always been
strong in consumer applications but there's "more than it can do" in 5G.

 

"We will see more applications coming to the market over the next
three-to-six months."

 

South Korea is among the countries leading 5G development

What about security concerns?

Much discussion about 5G infrastructure has centred around possible security
risks, namely the participation of China's Huawei.

 

Huawei, the world's largest maker of telecoms equipment, has faced
resistance from foreign governments over the risk that its technology could
be used for espionage.

 

The US, Australia and New Zealand have all blocked local firms from using
Huawei gear in 5G networks.

 

Should we worry about Huawei?

Huawei and 5G: Decision time

In principle, controlling the technology that sits at the heart of vital
communications networks gives an operator like Huawei the capacity to
conduct espionage or disrupt communications.

 

This becomes a bigger problem as more things - from autonomous vehicles to
domestic appliances - become connected to the internet.

 

The US argues Huawei could use malicious software updates to spy on those
using 5G, pointing to a Chinese law that says organisations must "support,
co-operate with and collaborate in national intelligence work".

 

Additionally, IDC's Mr Batra said the fundamental difference between 4G and
5G networks is the ability for remote control which raises "potential
security concerns".

 

Mr Batra said with 4G, software and hardware were very tightly coupled. In
5G networks, hardware is separated from the software.

 

"That allows for remote control... of the network assets. All of these
things can be managed virtually, and that makes it challenging in terms of
security."

 

Still, he said authorities around the world are working with operators to
address these concerns and "we haven't really seen any hard proof in terms
of what is the issue".--BBC

 

 

 

US and China edge closer to 'epic' trade deal, says Trump

President Donald Trump says the US has found agreement on some of the
toughest points in trade talks with China.

 

He said a deal could come in the next four weeks, but added some sticking
points remained.

 

The Chinese echoed the optimism, with President Xi Jinping touting
substantial progress, according to the Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

 

The US and China have been in talks since December trying to end a trade war
that is hurting the global economy.

 

Mr Trump said the US and China had agreed on "a lot of the most difficult
points" but that "we have some ways to go".

 

He was speaking from the White House, before a meeting with Chinese Vice
Premier Liu He.

 

The US president said if there was a deal, he would hold a summit with
President Xi.

 

"This is an epic deal, historic - if it happens," said Mr Trump.

 

"This is the Grand Daddy of them all and we'll see if it happens. It's got a
very good chance of happening."

 

Sticking points in negotiations in recent weeks have included how fast to
roll back tariffs and how a deal would be enforced.

 

Mr Trump suggested at the press conference that some of these persisted.

 

He said it would be tough for the US to allow trade to continue with China
in the same way as in the past, if a deal did not materialise.

 

'Conflicting signals'

The world's two largest economies imposed tariffs on billions of dollars
worth of one another's goods over the past year.

 

Negotiations between them have continued since a trade truce was agreed in
December, but have at times been rocky.

 

The BBC's China correspondent Robin Brant said that both sides were - yet
again - giving conflicting signals.

 

Mr Liu said the US and China had reached a new consensus on important issues
like the text of the economic and trade agreement, Xinhua reported.

 

While that echoed Mr Trump's comments, US Trade Representative Robert
Lighthizer sounded more cautious. He said there were still some major issues
left in trade talks, according to reports.

 

Mr Brant said there was clearly still significant distance between the two
sides on the crucial issue of enforcement.

 

What's being discussed?

The US accuses China of stealing intellectual property from American firms,
forcing them to transfer technology to China.

 

Washington wants Beijing to make changes to its economic policies, which it
says unfairly favour domestic companies through subsidies and other support,
and wants China to buy more US goods to rein in a lofty trade deficit.

 

China accuses the US of launching the largest trade war in economic history,
and is unlikely to embrace broader structural changes to its economy.

 

What's at stake?

Failure to achieve a deal may see the US more than double the 10% tariffs on
$200bn (£153bn) of Chinese goods and impose fresh tariffs.

 

Mr Trump has in the past threatened to tax all Chinese goods going into the
US.

 

The US has already imposed tariffs on $250bn worth of Chinese goods, and
China has retaliated with duties on $110bn of US products.

 

The damaging trade war has already cast a shadow over global trade and the
world economy.--BBC

 

 

 

Jeff Bezos: World's richest man agrees $35bn divorce

The world's richest man, Jeff Bezos, and his wife MacKenzie have agreed a
record-breaking divorce settlement worth at least $35bn (£27bn).

 

Ms Bezos will retain a 4% stake in online retail giant Amazon which her
husband of 25 years founded.

 

She will also give up her interests in the Washington Post newspaper and Mr
Bezos' space travel firm Blue Origin.

 

The deal dwarfs a previous $3.8bn record set by art dealer Alec Wildenstein
and his wife Jocelyn.

 

Ms Bezos made the announcement in a tweet - her first and only one since
joining the microblogging website this month - stating that she was
"grateful to have finished the process of dissolving my marriage to Jeff
with support from each other".

 

Prior to the settlement, Mr Bezos held a 16.3% stake in Amazon. He will
retain 75% of that holding but Ms Bezos has transferred all of her voting
rights to her former husband,

 

The couple, who have four children, had been together since before Mr Bezos
set up Amazon in 1994, with Ms Bezos employed as one of the firm's first
members of staff.

 

Amazon is now vast online retail business which last year generated sales of
$232.8bn and has helped Mr Bezos and his family amass a $131bn fortune,
according to Forbes magazine.

 

How Jeff Bezos took Amazon to the top

Saudi Arabia 'hacked Amazon boss's phone'

Amazon's market value tops $1tn

Ms Bezos is a successful novelist who has written two books, The Testing of
Luther Albright and Traps, and was taught by Pulitzer Prize-winning author
Toni Morrison at Princeton University and who once said of her pupil that
she was "one of the best students I've ever had in my creative-writing
classes... really one of the best".

 

The settlement is the biggest since Mr Wilderstein and his wife, who became
well-known for her cosmetic surgery, divorced in 1999.

 

Mr Bezos is reportedly in a relationship with former Fox TV host Lauren
Sánchez.

 

After Mr Bezos and his wife announced in January that they would part, a US
tabloid magazine published details, including private messages, of an
extramarital affair with Ms Sánchez.

 

Mr Bezos has accused the publisher of the magazine, American Media
Incorporated, of blackmail. The publisher denies the claim.--BBC

 

 

 

Gender pay: Gap widens at almost half of UK firms

The gender pay gap has widened in favour of men at nearly half of the UK's
biggest employers over the past year, analysis by the BBC has found.

 

Across 45% of firms the discrepancy in pay increased in favour of men, while
at a further 7% there was no change.

 

Overall, 78% of companies had a pay gap in favour of men, 14% favoured women
and the rest reported no difference.

 

Firms had until midnight to file pay comparison data - by which time 10,428
had done so - or face legal action.

 

Overall, the median pay gap in favour of men lowered slightly from 9.7% last
year to 9.6% this year.

 

The median pay gap is calculated by comparing the difference in pay between
the middle-ranking woman and middle-ranking man in the same companies.

 

By law, all companies, charities and public sector departments of 250
employees or more must publish their gender pay gap figures.

 

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has said it would take
enforcement action against all firms that missed the deadline.

 

It was unclear exactly how many companies had not reported, although it is
thought about a quarter did so in the last 36 hours before the deadline.

 

Among firms reporting the biggest increases in pay gaps were garage chain
Kwik Fit, Interserve FS (part of the Interserve Group), and car retailer
Inchape.

 

Firms reporting the biggest improvement in narrowing the gap were Newsquest
Media Group, Mitie, and DFDS Logistics.

 

The three companies with the biggest gaps were Countrywide Services at
60.6%, which was nevertheless down from 63.4%; Independent Vetcare at 48.3%
(50.5%); Easyjet at 47.9% (45.5%).

 

Want to find out the gender pay gap where you work? Try the calculator
below.

 

All British companies with 250 or more employees have to report their gender
pay gaps. Last year 78% disclosed that they paid men more than they paid
women.

 

All British companies with 250 or more employees have to report their gender
pay gaps. Last year 78% disclosed that they paid men more than they paid
women.

 

If you cannot see the calculator, please click here

 

A spokesman for Interserve Group said: "We are committed to addressing the
issues on gender pay and through the leadership of our chief executive,
Debbie White, we are making good progress."

 

A spokeswoman for Kwik Fit said it was committed to narrowing the gap and
both recruit more female staff and promote from within.

 

Easyjet said in March that the gap had widened from 45.5% as more female
cabin crew had been recruited since the last pay snapshot.

 

Most of the airline's pilots are male, and are more highly paid than cabin
crew. The firm is making efforts to recruit more female pilots.

 

Ahead of the deadline, Peter Cheese, chief executive of the Chartered
Institute of Personnel and Development, said it appeared that many companies
still did not have an "action plan" of how they will narrow their pay gaps.

 

"Organisations that simply provide their numbers are failing to meet the
increasing appetite and expectation for transparency amongst all
stakeholders, including employees, investors, and regulators.

 

"Financial figures would never be given without any explanation for them,
and gender pay gap reporting should be no different."

 

He acknowledged, though, that a reason for the gap widening at some firms
could be that they had initially focused on bringing more women into
entry-level roles in order to build a "pipeline of female talent".

 

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "Big employers clearly aren't
doing enough to tackle the root causes of pay inequality and working women
are paying the price.

 

"Government needs to crank up the pressure.

 

"Companies shouldn't just be made to publish their gender pay gaps, they
should be legally required to explain how they'll close them. And bosses who
flout the law should be fined.

 

"We can't allow another generation of women to spend their whole working
lives waiting to be paid the same as men."

 

Understanding the terminology

Median pay gap

 

The median pay gap is the difference in pay between the middle-ranking woman
and the middle-ranking man.

 

If you place all the men and women working at a company into two lines in
order of salary, the median pay gap will be the difference in salary between
the woman in the middle of her line and the man in the middle of his.

 

Mean pay gap

 

The mean pay gap is the difference between a company's total wage
spend-per-woman and its total spend-per-man.

 

The number is calculated by taking the total wage bill for each and dividing
it by the number of men and women employed by the organisation.

 

Pay gap v equal pay

 

The gender pay gap is not the same as unequal pay.

 

Unequal pay is giving women less than men for the same work. That has been
against the law since the Equal Pay Act was introduced in 1970.

 

A company's gender pay gap can also be caused by other things, for example
fewer women in senior or highly-paid roles or more women in part-time jobs.

 

How does the BBC calculator work?

The individual company data reflects information submitted by companies to
the Government Equalities Office.

 

The data submitted each year is based on figures drawn from a specific date
- called the "snapshot date" - the previous year.

 

5 April is the snapshot date for businesses and charities. 31 March is the
snapshot date for public sector organisations.

 

All gender pay gap figures in this article reflect the hourly median pay gap
for all employees.

 

Calculator design and development: Irene de la Torre Arenas, Becky Rush,
Scott Jarvis, Alexander Ivanov and Oliver Schnuck.

 

Data journalism: Clara Guibourg and Nassos Stylianou--BBC

 

 

 

Tesla shares sink as car deliveries drop

Tesla's share price closed down 8.2% after the electric carmaker warned on
profits following a 31% drop in vehicle deliveries during the first quarter.

 

The firm blamed problems with shipments to Europe and China, where it began
selling its Model 3 car for the first time.

 

Total deliveries hit 63,000 in the three months to March, below analysts'
forecasts which had already been cut.

 

Tesla now expects quarterly profits to be "negatively impacted".

 

The company encountered problems shipping the Model 3 to China in March
after customs authorities suspended clearance because of misprinted labels
on certain cars.

 

Tesla also saw shipments disrupted in Europe following strike action at the
port of Zeebrugge, where its vehicles are delivered before being distributed
to a number of countries in the EU.

 

Tesla said that it had only delivered half the entire quarter's vehicles by
21 March, and that 10,600 cars were still "in transit" at the end of the
quarter.

 

The carmaker's shares dropped nearly 9% in early trading in New York to
$265.9 each.

 

'Very disappointing'

Analysts had expected Tesla to deliver 82,000 vehicles between January and
March, but this was then reduced to 71,350.

 

In the fourth quarter, Tesla delivered 90,700 cars.

 

The Model 3 is key to Tesla's future. It is the company's lowest-priced car
and Tesla is building a manufacturing site in China which will allow it to
cut shipment costs.

 

However, analysts were also spooked by a sharp fall in deliveries of Tesla's
Model S and Model X vehicles.

 

In the fourth quarter, Tesla delivered 13,500 Model S models and 14,050
Model Xs.

 

But in the first quarter, that dropped to a combined 12,100 cars, which
analysts at banking group RBC said was "very disappointing".

 

'Feeling loved'

Meanwhile, Elon Musk appeared in a Manhattan court where a federal judge
urged the billionaire to settle contempt allegations by the US Securities
and Exchange Commission over his use of Twitter.

 

The SEC has asked that Mr Musk be held in contempt of court for allegedly
violating an agreement which restricted his use of social media to talk
about Tesla.

 

It followed a tweet last August by Mr Musk that he could take Tesla private
for $420 per share.

 

In a subsequent tweet, Mr Musk said he expected Tesla to produce 500,000
cars this year.

 

At the hearing the SEC stopped well short of recommending Mr Musk's removal
as chief executive or even from the electric car company's board.

 

District Judge Alison Nathan gave both sides two weeks to work out their
differences, and said she could rule on whether Mr Musk violated his recent
fraud settlement with the regulator if they failed.

 

Mr Musk declined to discuss the hearing as he left the courthouse,
surrounded by a horde of reporters, photographers and television cameras,
but said "I feel very loved here".--BBC

 

 

 

Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 pilots 'could not stop nosedive'

The Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed last month nosedived several times
before it hit the ground, a preliminary report has said.

 

Pilots "repeatedly" followed procedures recommended by Boeing before the
crash, according to the first official report into the disaster.

 

Boeing's boss has admitted for the first time a failure in the jet's
anti-stall system was a factor in the crash.

 

Flight ET302 crashed after take-off from Addis Ababa, killing 157 people.

 

Despite their efforts, pilots "were not able to control the aircraft",
Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges said.

 

It was the second crash of a Boeing 737 Max aircraft in five months.

 

Last October, Lion Air flight JT 610 crashed into the sea near Indonesia
killing all 189 people on board.

 

In a news conference in Addis Ababa, Ms Dagmawit said: "The crew performed
all the procedures repeatedly [that were] provided by the manufacturer but
were not able to control the aircraft."

 

The 737 Max family of aircraft was grounded following the Ethiopian Airlines
crash, a move affecting more than 300 planes.

 

What did the report say about the cause of the crash?

The preliminary report did not attribute blame for the crash. But it says
the crew were fully qualified to conduct the flight, and that they performed
all the expected procedures correctly.

 

The report goes on to recommend that Boeing review the 737 Max's "flight
control system related to flight controllability" and that aviation
regulators ensure this is done before the aircraft goes back into the air.

 

Crash investigators have focused their attention on the Manoeuvring
Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) - software designed to help
prevent the 737 Max from stalling.

 

The software reacts when sensors in the nose of the aircraft show the jet is
climbing at too steep an angle, which can cause a plane to stall.

 

The report does not mention the MCAS by name, but it does detail during the
minutes after take off the problems the pilots were having in trying to
control the aircraft's angle of flight.

 

At one point the captain called out three times "pull up", and seconds after
instructed the first officer to tell Air Traffic Control that they had a
flight control problem.

 

In a statement on Thursday, the chief executive of Ethiopian Airlines,
Tewolde GebreMariam, said he was "very proud" of the pilots' "high level of
professional performance".

 

"It was very unfortunate they could not recover the airplane from the
persistence of nosediving," the airline said in a statement.

 

What happened to the Lion Air flight?

An investigation into the Lion Air flight suggested the system
malfunctioned, and forced the plane's nose down more than 20 times before it
crashed into the sea.

 

The preliminary report from Indonesian investigators found that a faulty
sensor on the aircraft wrongly triggered MCAS without the pilots' knowledge.

 

Boeing has been working on an upgrade of the MCAS software since the Lion
Air crash.

 

It has said the system can be disabled - allowing pilots to regain control
if there appears to be a problem.

 

But the latest comments from Ethiopian officials suggest that pilots could
not regain control, despite following procedures recommended by Boeing.

 

Hundreds of 737 Maxs are grounded worldwide

Two crashes, five months apart, with a total of 346 people dead.

 

Both preliminary crash reports suggest a new design to the 737 Max 8
malfunctioned, pushing each plane repeatedly into a nosedive.

 

One lawsuit has been filed. More are likely.

 

The suffering of those who've lost loved ones can't be quantified. But the
commercial toll for the manufacturer and damage to its reputation, at this
stage, can't be either.

 

Hundreds of 737 Maxs are grounded worldwide. Thousands of orders are, for
now on ice, and some could even be in jeopardy.

 

The Max was Boeing's answer to Airbus' A320: a single-aisle, fuel-efficient
short-haul plane.

 

But in the opinion of one experienced 737 pilot, the new anti-stall system,
which was added to the aircraft and contributed to both crashes, was
"flawed".

 

Boeing is working to fix it. It needs to get the aircraft certified as safe
and back in the air as soon as it can.

 

What is Boeing doing to improve the aircraft's safety?

In a statement on Thursday, Boeing's chairman and chief executive Dennis
Muilenburg said that following the release of the report it was "apparent"
that in both flights, the MCAS software was "activated in response to
erroneous angle of attack information".

 

He added: "As pilots have told us, erroneous activation of the MCAS function
can add to what is already a high workload environment. It's our
responsibility to eliminate this risk. We own it and we know how to do it."

 

Earlier, Boeing said in a statement: "To ensure unintended MCAS activation
will not occur again, Boeing has developed and is planning to release a
software update to MCAS and an associated comprehensive pilot training and
supplementary education program for the 737 MAX."

 

The company said the update "adds additional layers of protection and will
prevent erroneous data from causing MCAS activation. Flight crews will
always have the ability to override MCAS and manually control the airplane".

 

Boeing has issued guidance to pilots on how to manage MCAS, and it plans to
install an extra warning system on all 737 Max aircraft, which was
previously an optional safety feature.

 

It is also revising pilot training to provide "enhanced understanding of the
737 Max" flight system and crew procedures.

 

The plane-maker says the upgrades are not an admission that MCAS caused the
crashes.--BBC

 

 

 

 

 


 

 


 

INVESTORS DIARY 2019

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


Zimbabwe 

Independence Day

Zimbabwe

18 Apr 2019 

 


 

Good Friday

 

19 Apr 2019

 


 

Easter Saturday

 

20 Apr 2019

 


 

Easter Sunday

 

21 Apr 2019

 


 

Easter Monday

 

22 Apr 2019

 


 

Workers Day

 

01 May  2019

 


 

Africa Day

 

25 May 2019

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

 


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been compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but no representation or
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