Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 26 March 2019

Tue Mar 26 07:21:48 CAT 2019

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 26 March 2019

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

*  Eskom price hike to cost South Africa 90,000 mining jobs - Minerals Council

*  Tencent shareholder Naspers plots Euronext e-commerce IPO

*  South Africa's Taste Holdings appoints Dylan Pienaar as CEO

*  Lonmin warns on liquidity and persistent challenges

*  Egypt's central bank seen maintaining key rates

*  Nigeria's NNPC plans to revamp refineries to cut fuel imports

*  Airbus secures multi-billion dollar jet order from China

*  Apple unveils TV streaming platform and credit card

*  Autonomy boss in 'deliberate fraud', court told

*  Airlines keeping safety training 'to an absolute minimum'

*  Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal steps down amid crisis

*  Nike fined by EU for restrictions on football merchandise sales

*  Asia stocks: Markets sink as global growth jitters spread

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

Eskom price hike to cost South Africa 90,000 mining jobs - Minerals Council

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s gold and platinum mines will shed around 90,000 jobs in the next three years as above-inflation electricity price increases by power utility Eskom add to already soaring operating costs, an industry body said on Monday.

“In total, as many as 90,222 jobs would be at risk solely as a result of the MYPD4 tariff increases granted by Eskom,” the Minerals Council South Africa said in a presentation.

Job cuts are politically sensitive in Africa’s most industrialised economy where a quarter of the labour force is unemployed, while power outages and steep price increases by Eskom are set to hurt an already fragile growth outlook.

In February, miner Sibanye-Stillwater said it planned to cut nearly 6,000 jobs in a restructuring of its gold mining operations, while Gold Fields said last year it could slash 1,100 jobs, and Impala Platinum plans to cut its workforce by a third.

Labour unions have threatened strikes over the job cuts at mining firms as well planned reductions at a numerous state-owned companies.

Energy regulator Nersa said in early March Eskom could hike tariffs by 9.41 percent in the 2019, 8.10 percent in 2020 and 5.2 percent in 2021, far less than Eskom’s request for increases above 15 percent in each of the three years.

The industry body said in its presentation that 71 percent of all gold mines and 65 percent of platinum mines were “loss-making or marginal” by the end of 2018, adding the power price hike would make the situation even worse.

Once the largest contributor to South Africa’s gross domestic product, mining has shrunk steadily over the last decade with hard-to-reach deposits, high wage settlements and uncertainty over ownership laws deterring investors against a backdrop of slack global demand.

Last week, Statistics South Africa data showed gold production contracted for the 15th month in a row, shrinking by 22.5 percent in January, while platinum output was up 8.8 percent in the same period.

“We see the Eskom crisis as not just a crisis but a potential disaster,” said Minerals Council chief executive Roger Baxter.

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

Tencent shareholder Naspers plots Euronext e-commerce IPO

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Tencent shareholder Naspers plans to float a portion of its e-commerce ventures on Euronext in Amsterdam, a move South Africa’s biggest company said on Monday will create Europe’s largest listed internet group.

As well as holding a one third stake in China’s Tencent, which is worth around $122 billion, Naspers also owns other assets such as OLX, the biggest classifieds ads site in India and Brazil, and mobile classified platform letgo, which vies with Craiglist in the United States.

Founded more than 100 years ago in Stellenbosch, South Africa, Naspers has transformed itself from a newspaper publisher into a media and internet giant with a market capitalisation of 1.5 trillion rand ($104 billion).

“The listing will present an appealing new opportunity for international tech investors to have access to our unique portfolio of international internet assets,” Naspers Chief Executive Bob van Dijk said in a statement.

Van Dijk, who took the helm in 2015, has faced shareholder pressure in recent years to narrow the valuation gap between the market value of Naspers and that of its stake in Tencent.

Last month, he spun out and separately listed the company’s de facto African pay-TV monopoly Multichoice, a company valued at around 50 billion rand.

Naspers did not give financial details of the planned IPO, but chief financial officer Basil Sgourdos said the new entity was likely to be the third largest on Euronext, above oil giant Total, which is valued at around 130 billion euros.

The e-commerce businesses generate $3.3 billion in annual core profit, or EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation), from sales of nearly $16 billion, with Tencent accounting for virtually all the profit.

BIG BRANDS

The new entity, which will have a secondary listing in Johannesburg, will house stakes from some of the biggest internet brands in emerging markets including Russia’s biggest social networking site mail.ru, Indian online travel firm MakeMyTrip and Brazilian food delivery firm iFood.

The new company is expected to be owned 75 percent by Naspers and have a free float of 25 percent when it lists in the second half of the year.

Naspers outsized weighting on the JSE shareholder weighted index - constituting around 25 percent - is also a headache to fund managers who have been forced to sell the stock when its valuation rises to limit their exposure.

“The proposed listing on Euronext Amsterdam is expected to help address this market issue,” van Dijk said

Naspers’ problems mirror the dilemma faced by Yahoo, where its core business ended up being worth 10 times less than its stake in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan.

Yahoo fixed that by selling its core operating business to Verizon in 2016 and re-branding what was left as Altaba, a conflation of ‘alternative’ and ‘Alibaba.

Shares in Naspers were 1 percent lower at 3,248.17 rand as of 1117 GMT.

($1 = 14.4582 rand)

South Africa's Taste Holdings appoints Dylan Pienaar as CEO

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s Taste Holdings said it had appointed its chief operating officer, Dylan Pienaar, as chief executive officer effective on Monday as part of its restructuring.

Acting chief executive officer, Tyrone Moodley, stepped down on Monday and has been reappointed as a non-executive member of the firm which operates franchises such as Domino’s Pizza and Starbucks.

Lonmin warns on liquidity and persistent challenges

(Reuters) - Lonmin Plc, which is being bought by Sibanye-Stillwater, said it does not have sufficient liquidity to fund the new projects needed to avoid shaft closures and job losses.

The London-listed miner, crippled by soaring costs and subdued platinum prices, has been cutting spending to conserve cash and retain a positive cash balance, one of the conditions upon which South Africa-based Sibanye’s takeover is contingent.

The all-share deal, which is valued at 285 million pounds ($361 million) was likely to lead to more than 10,000 layoffs, the companies warned earlier. Lonmin said on Monday it has reduced over 8,000 positions as part of its business improvement plan.

“Despite these achievements we continue to be financially constrained and unable to fund the significant investment required to sustain our business and associated employment in the future,” Lonmin said in a statement ahead of its AGM.

“The challenges facing Lonmin and the industry persist,” Lonmin added.

Egypt's central bank seen maintaining key rates

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt’s central bank is likely to maintain interest rates at its meeting on Thursday, a Reuters poll showed on Monday, although some analysts predicted a cut ahead of expected fuel price increases this summer.

Eight out of 12 economists polled by Reuters said the bank’s monetary policy committee was unlikely to change its overnight rates, with deposits at 15.75 percent and lending at 16.75 percent.

Four analysts predicted that the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) would cut rates by 100 basis points (bps), following a cut of the same size last month, which was the first since March 2017.

“We anticipate that the CBE will keep interest rates on hold this month due to the recent uptick in price inflation,” said Nadene Johnson, an economist at NKC African Economics.

“But considering the need for private sector stimulus, the CBE is expected to reduce rates by 100 bps before year end.”

Headline inflation quickened in February to 14.4 percent from 12.7 percent in January. It had cooled to 12.0 in December from 15.7 percent the month prior. The bank’s target range is 10 to 16 percent.

Core inflation, which strips out volatile items such as food, also rose in February to 9.2 percent from 8.6 percent the previous month.

“The CBE I believe would need to capitalise on the cut that took place last month with another 1 percent cut this month,” said Hany Farahat, senior economist at Egyptian investment bank CI Capital.

The Egyptian pound’s continued appreciation, sustained foreign inflows in treasuries and the U.S. Federal Reserve holding rates all position Thursday’s meeting as a “golden window” for a further cut, he added.

Furthermore, an expected fuel subsidy cut in the summer, tied to an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, would naturally prevent the central bank from cutting rates in Q3, he said.

“And the meeting in Q2 is in May, which is very close to the subsidy cut decision,” said Farahat. “I would think right now is optimal.”

Egypt raised fuel and electricity prices last summer, reforms linked to a $12 billion IMF loan programme agreed in late 2016. Those measures included a currency float, fuel and energy subsidy cuts and the introduction of a value-added tax.

Remaining fuel subsidies are expected to be cut around mid-2019, and the petroleum minister said last month that Egypt would implement an automatic price indexation mechanism on 95 octane petrol starting in April.

To curtail inflation, the central bank’s monetary policy committee raised interest rates by 700 basis points over eight months following the IMF deal. It cut them by 100 bps last month. Prior to that, it had cut them in February and March last year by a combined 200 bps.

“We are looking for no move by the CBE, but we are very uncertain,” said Charles Robertson, chief economist at Renaissance Capital.

“A 100 bps cut may be the only way to stop EGP appreciation, but a cut might backfire if investors lose confidence in the authorities’ determination to cut inflation in 2020.”

The pound has strengthened more than 3 percent against the dollar in the year to date.

Nigeria's NNPC plans to revamp refineries to cut fuel imports

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria’s state-oil firm NNPC said it plans to revamp its refineries to help Africa’s biggest crude oil producer to save billions of dollars on fuel imports and has hired Italy’s Maire Tecnimont to tackle the Port Harcourt plant.

Nigeria has 445,000 bpd of refining capacity across four separate facilities which operate well below capacity due to mismanagement and lack of investment, forcing the NNPC to import the bulk of the country’s gasoline.

Maire Tecnimont said separately it had won a contract from NNPC worth about $50 million to carry out checks and equipment inspections for Port Harcourt in the Niger Delta. The work would last for six months starting from end of this month, NNPC said.

The overhaul of the 210,000 barrels per day (bpd) Port Harcourt refinery would be the first since the last revamp was carried out 19 years ago, the NNPC said late on Thursday.

NNPC said Nigeria’s effort to ensure local sufficiency in refined petroleum products would be bolstered by the first phase of the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery complex.

The corporation has been in talks with different consortiums to revamp its dilapidated refineries and has considered paying for the work via offtake of refined products rather than cash.

NNPC said it would use its own cash to pay for the work and then raise debt. The Port Harcourt overhaul would be followed by the Warri refinery, which is also in the Niger Delta, and the refinery at Kaduna in the north west of the country.

At the end of the first phase, the Port Harcourt refinery should reach 60 percent capacity utilisation, increasing to a minimum of 90 percent, NNPC said.

Italy’s Eni would act as adviser, NNPC said.

Oil minister Emmanuele Ibe Kachikwu has previously said the government would raise $1.2 billion to upgrade its refineries and would end reliance on imports by 2019.

Shortages of petroleum products have plagued the country for years. Nigeria’s gasoline consumption is roughly 40 million liters per day in a country of almost 200 million people.

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is building a 650,000 bpd refinery near Lagos, which would meet Nigeria’s current domestic demand and also export.

Airbus secures multi-billion dollar jet order from China

Airbus has secured an order from China for 300 jets, in a deal estimated to be worth tens of billions of dollars.

An agreement to purchase A320 and A350 XWB aircraft was signed during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Paris.

The order is part of a package of deals signed during Mr Xi's visit to Europe.

It comes as rival Boeing has grounded all of its 737 Max jets after two fatal crashes.

Airbus said in a statement it signed an agreement with China Aviation Supplies Holding Company covering the purchase by Chinese airlines of Airbus aircraft including 290 A320 planes, and ten A350 XWB jets.

The deal is worth an estimated 30bn euros ($34bn; £26bn), according to reports.

Airbus to lift plane production in China

Boeing grounds entire crash aircraft fleet

Italy joins China's New Silk Road project

"We are honoured to support the growth of China's civil aviation with our leading aircraft families - single-aisle and wide-bodies," Airbus Commercial Aircraft President Guillaume Faury said in a statement.

Mr Faury is due to become Airbus's new chief executive in April.

"Our expanding footprint in China demonstrate our lasting confidence in the Chinese market and our long-term commitment to China and our partners."

The deal will likely be a blow for Boeing, under pressure after two fatal crashes involving its 737 Max 8 jets in five months.

Many countries banned the aircraft from their airspace after an Ethiopian Airlines crash earlier this month. Boeing later grounded its 737 Max fleet as investigations into the cause of the disaster continue.

What's next for Boeing?

Mr Xi kicked off his European tour last week in Italy, where it became the first developed economy to sign up to China's global Belt and Road Initiative.

But other European countries and the United States have expressed concern at China's growing influence.--BBC

Apple unveils TV streaming platform and credit card

Apple has unveiled its new TV streaming platform, Apple TV+, at a star-studded event in California.

Jennifer Aniston, Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey were among those who took to the stage at Apple's headquarters to reveal their involvement in TV projects commissioned by the tech giant.

The platform will include shows from existing services like Hulu and HBO.

Apple also announced that it would be launching a credit card, gaming portal and enhanced news app.

The event was held in California and Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook was clear from the start that the announcements would be about new services, not new devices.

It is a change of direction for the 42-year-old company.

Apple TV

There had been much anticipation about Apple's predicted foray into the TV streaming market, dominated by the likes of Amazon and Netflix.

The Apple TV+ app was unveiled by Steven Spielberg and will launch in the autumn.

Spielberg will himself be creating some material for the new platform, he said.

Other stars who took to the stage included Reese Witherspoon, Steve Carell, Jason Momoa, Alfre Woodard, comedian Kumail Nanjiani and Big Bird from Sesame Street.

The app will be made available on rival devices for the first time, coming to Samsung, LG, Sony and Vizio smart TVs as well as Amazon's Firestick and Roku.

Oprah Winfrey spoke of the potential of a book club on Apple TV+.

The subscription fee was not announced, and notably absent from the launch line-up was Netflix, which had already ruled itself out of being part of the bundle.

"The test for Apple will be, can new content separate them out from their competitors and can they commission and deliver on fresh new content that can reach audiences in the same way that Stranger Things has for Netflix for example?" commented Dr Ed Braman, an expert in film and production at the University of York.

The physical version of the card is made of titanium and does not have a card number or signature space on it.

The Apple Card credit card will launch in the US this summer.

There will be both an iPhone and physical version of the card, with a cashback incentive on every purchase.

The credit card will have no late fees, annual fees or international fees, said Apple Pay VP Jennifer Bailey.

It has been created with the help of Goldman Sachs and MasterCard.

News stand

The firm also revealed a news service, Apple News+, which will include more than 300 magazine titles including Marie Claire, Vogue, New Yorker, Esquire, National Geographic and Rolling Stone.

The LA Times and the Wall Street Journal will also be part of the platform, the firm said.

It added that it will not track what users read or allow advertisers to do so.

Apple News+ will cost $9.99 (£7.50) per month and is available immediately in the US and Canada. It will come to Europe later in the year.

Unlike TV+, the news platform will only be available on Apple devices.

Apple Arcade will offer 100 games not available elsewhere.

A new games platform, Apple Arcade, will offer over 100 exclusive games from the app store which will all be playable offline, in contrast with Google's recently announced streaming platform Stadia.

It will be rolled out across 150 countries in the autumn but no subscription prices were given.

in 2018 analyst firm IHS Markit valued the global gaming market on iOS, Apple's operating system, at $33.5bn.

There is space within that market for a platform like Apple Arcade which is not financed by in-app purchases or advertising, said IHS director of games research Piers Harding-Rolls.

"Apple's decision to move up the games value chain with a new, curated subscription service and to support the development of exclusive games for its Arcade platform is a significant escalation of the company's commitment to the games market," he said.

"Apple joins the other technology companies Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Amazon and others in investing directly in games content and services."

Analysis: Dave Lee, North America technology reporter, at the Steve Jobs Theater

Apple is making an aggressive push into several markets in which, thanks to sheer scale alone, it immediately becomes a massive player.

Its TV service has been long in the making, and Apple has amassed a roster of big stars, as expected.

A bigger test will be how creative those ideas will be - a lot of Netflix's success has been about finding new talent, not throwing money at already famous names.

I also have reservations about how many boundaries Apple will be prepared to push with its creative endeavours: if it's as controlling with its television as it is with its brand, it will create a catalogue bereft of risk-taking.

But TV is just a small part of what Apple is going for here. It wants (and needs) to turn its devices into the portal through which you do everything else - TV/film, gaming, reading the news... and you'd presume other things in the very near future.

The announcement of a credit card shows how far Apple is prepared to go to make sure life is experienced through your iPhone.

As Oprah put it on stage: "They're in a billion pockets, y'all."--BBC

Autonomy boss in 'deliberate fraud', court told

The founder of software giant Autonomy, Mike Lynch, "committed a deliberate fraud over a sustained period of time" to artificially inflate its value, the High Court was told on Monday.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) is suing Mr Lynch and former chief financial officer Sushovan Hussain for $5bn (£3.8bn).

They claim the two "artificially inflated Autonomy's reported revenues, revenue growth and gross margins".

The trial is believed to be the UK's biggest civil fraud trial.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) paid $11.1bn (£8.4bn) in 2011 for the business.

The two men deny the claims and Mr Lynch, who was present at Monday's hearing, has launched a counter-claim for at least $125m in damages against HP for "a series of false, misleading and unfair public statements" about his alleged responsibility for supposed accounting irregularities and misrepresentations at Autonomy.

'Serious accounting improprieties'

The 53-year-old, from Suffolk, argues that, at the time of the sale, Cambridge-based Autonomy was an "innovative technology company and a success story" and that HP "botched the purchase of Autonomy and destroyed the company".

The High Court also heard on Monday that HP announced it was writing down $8.8bn of Autonomy's value just over a year after it bought the business, because, it said, it had found "serious accounting improprieties".

HP's barrister, Laurence Rabinowitz QC, said Mr Lynch and Hussain had knowingly caused Autonomy to "engage in a programme of widespread and systematic fraudulent" accounting practices ahead of the sale.

He said Autonomy had been "meeting its revenue and revenue growth targets by simply buying and selling third party hardware, without any connection to Autonomy software".

'No statesman'

In a written opening, running to 894 pages, he said Mr Lynch was "a controlling and demanding individual, who took a close interest in the progress of individual deals and sales generally", and it was "inconceivable" that he was unaware of the fraudulent practices.

Robert Miles QC, representing Mr Lynch, said in written submissions that when HP bought Autonomy the company was "highly profitable" and "had a bright future".

Mr Miles argued that HP "mishandled the acquisition", adding: "Even the announcement of the bid was poorly managed, as it coincided with the announcement by HP of poor trading results, deteriorating prospects and the closure (or potential disposal) of significant parts of its business."

He said that, as a result of "various failings", HP's "planned synergies were never achieved".

He also submitted that HP had previously calculated that Autonomy could be worth as much as $50bn once integrated into its company.

A spokesman for Mr Lynch said ahead of Monday's hearing there was "no fraud at Autonomy" and that the case "distils down to a dispute over differences between UK and US accounting systems".

The spokesman added: "The real story is that HP, after a history of failed acquisitions, botched the purchase of Autonomy and destroyed the company, seeking to blame others. Mike will not be a scapegoat for their failures."

In separate criminal proceedings in the US, Mr Lynch faces 17 charges of securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy in a federal court over the sale of Autonomy and, if found guilty, could face up to 25 years in jail.

Hussain was convicted last April in the US of wire fraud and other crimes related to Autonomy's sale and is due to be sentenced in May, but is expected to appeal against that conviction.

The High Court hearing, which is expected to run for at least nine months, finishing in December at the earliest, continues.

Who is Mike Lynch?

A Cambridge graduate who built Autonomy up to be one of the top 100 UK public companies

Has an OBE for services to enterprise

Is a fellow of the Royal Society

Was previously on the boards of the British Library and the BBC

Autonomy was founded by Mr Lynch in 1996. It developed software that could extract useful information from "unstructured" sources such as phone-calls, emails or video, and then do things such as suggest answers to a call-centre operator or monitor TV channels for words or subjects.

Before it was bought by Hewlett-Packard, it had headquarters in San Francisco and Cambridge.

In 2010, about 68% of Autonomy's reported revenues came from the US and elsewhere in the Americas.--BBC

Airlines keeping safety training 'to an absolute minimum'

The head of the UK's Flight Safety Committee says that airlines and plane manufacturers are keeping safety training to an "absolute minimum" under pressure to keep their costs low.

Dai Whittingham, head of the trade group, said the industry has "less desire to provide training".

Pilot training is in focus after the Boeing 737-Max Ethiopia Airlines flight 302 crashed, killing all 157 on board.

Boeing said safety was its "highest priority".

The UK Flight Safety Committee consists of representatives from the world of aviation including major airlines, manufacturers and safety regulators.

Ethiopian Airlines 'believes in Boeing'

Ethiopian Airlines: 'Clear similarities' with Indonesia crash

Mr Whittingham told the BBC that "shareholders are squeezing airlines hard on costs. Spending on training fleets of captains and first officers is not necessarily welcome."

He said that if airlines wanted more training then they had to argue with their financial teams to get it signed off.

Money was also an issue for the airplane manufacturers, according to Mr Whittingham.

"They don't want to sell aircraft that will incur a big training bill for the airline, it is in their interests to keep costs down."

The Ethiopia Airlines crash was the second Boeing 737 Max 8 to crash in five months. A Lion Air flight in Indonesia came down in October last year killing all 189 people on board.

Earlier this week, investigators in Ethiopia stated there are similarities between both crashes, but the world is now impatiently waiting for more details from the black boxes.

Since the very first days after the crash, attention has been placed on the pilots and their training for the aircraft.

There is no evidence that the pilots flying the Ethiopia plane lacked the required training, but the crash has reignited a debate about safety more generally across the industry.

What do pilots say about the training they receive?

Pilots are often reluctant to speak out on issues such as safety as they are often bound by contracts from their employees.

There are, however, some in the industry who have voiced their concerns.

Karlene Petitt has been a pilot for more than 40 years, and has trained pilots for 21 years for major American airlines. Ms Petitt has also just completed a PHD in airline safety.

As part of the four-year research she surveyed more than 7,000 pilots about safety and training, guaranteeing them complete anonymity.

"Based upon my research, I have identified that we have a problem with pilot training worldwide, and training is going in the wrong direction which will impact safety," says Ms Petitt, who is based in the US.

"Pilots are often required to teach themselves the aircraft systems. They learn on their own - with no ground school," she adds.

"Is learning from a flash drive the same as structured classroom learning with an instructor? More so, is an electronic exam an accurate assessment of knowledge?"

A spokesman for the UK Civil Aviation Authority said: "Safety is our number one priority and the UK has one of the world's safest aviation industries. Commercial pilots undergo extensive training and testing and once qualified continue to be regularly checked and tested."

The requirements and standards for pilot training are set on a Europe-wide basis by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). These exceed international requirements.

Three of the UK's biggest airlines were approached for comment, but did not want to discuss airline safety.

Why is training sometimes not in classrooms or on simulators?

Another pilot who used to work at Boeing and has knowledge of the training requirements for the new 737-Max said avoiding a simulator-based training requirement for the new aircraft would have made it a much cheaper proposition for airlines.

"The expense of having an iPad programme versus having to fly the pilots to a training facility and take them off shift is millions of dollars in additional training costs," a former Boeing pilot told the BBC.

The pilot, who has decades of flying experience, and has been an instructor, said that it is also down to airlines to establish how much additional training to give their pilots, beyond the minimum requirement set out by regulators.

In its latest statement since the crash of flight ET302, Ethiopian Airlines has insisted that its pilots were trained on a 737-Max simulator.

What is the minimum training required for a pilot to upgrade to the 737-Max?

The Boeing 737 Max 8 is a new version of the popular Boeing 737-NG.

The minimum training required for a pilot to upgrade to the new plane was established by Boeing, and signed-off by US regulators at the Federal Aviation Administration.

When a pilot upgrades to a new model of aircraft it is known as "differences training".

In the case of the 737-Max the additional training can be done purely online. It is not compulsory for experienced 737 pilots to do any additional learning in a simulator.

One pilot who works for a major European airline and has completed the extra training for flying the Max said the computer-based course took him about two hours.

In a statement American Airlines, which also uses the plane, told the BBC: "Boeing 737-800 pilots were required to receive some additional training on the MAX 8, which included an hour lesson on some differences.

"Additional training was not required, as the 737-800 and the MAX 8 have same type certification."--BBC

Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal steps down amid crisis

The founder of cash-strapped Indian airline Jet Airways has stepped down as chairman of the company.

Naresh Goyal's resignation is likely to pave the way for potential investors to save India's oldest private carrier.

They were held back by Mr Goyal's reluctance to give up control of the company, reports say.

Jet's debt exceeds $1bn (£750m) and the airline has grounded some flights as it is struggling to pay employees, suppliers and leasing companies.

Within minutes of Monday's announcement, the company's stock jumped 12%.

In a stock market filing which also announced the resignation, the company said that banks would lend around $210m to keep it afloat until it starts to sell shares to new investors.

It also said that the banks would convert the debt they are owed to equity, reducing Mr Goyal's controlling stake in the company.

Mr Goyal and his family currently own 52% of the airline. It's unclear how much they will eventually retain but they will lose their majority stake to the banks.

Jet Airways: The riches to rags story of India's oldest private airline

In recent weeks, it had grounded more than two-thirds of the 119 aircraft in its fleet. Thousands of flights were cancelled, affecting passengers flying on both international and domestic routes.

A pilots' organisation had also warned that its members would stop flying for the carrier if their salaries were not paid by the end of March.

Mr Goyal was at the "heart of the crisis", according to the BBC's Sameer Hashmi, who says his refusal to step down had prevented investors from pumping money into the airline.

It even ended a potential deal with Etihad Airways, which owns a 24% stake in Jet, and agreed to invest more and take control of the airline, our correspondent adds.

It happened again when India's largest conglomerate the Tata group showed interest in buying the airline, but stepped back when Mr Goyal refused to resign from the board.

There were also news reports that the Indian government had urged state-run banks to save the carrier as it wanted to avoid job losses ahead of a general election.--BBC

Nike fined by EU for restrictions on football merchandise sales

Nike has been fined by the European Commission for restricting the cross-border sale of goods carrying the logos of some of Europe's top football clubs.

The €12.5m (£10.7m) fine concerns merchandise such as mugs, bed sheets and stationery, which carries the brand of the club, but not Nike's trademark.

Manchester United and Barcelona goods were among those affected.

The commission found Nike restricted firms who made and sold the products from selling them across borders.

"Football fans often cherish branded products from their favourite teams," said competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

"Nike prevented many of its licensees from selling these branded products in a different country leading to less choice and higher prices for consumers."

As well as Manchester United and Barcelona, the commission said products bearing the brands of Juventus, Inter Milan and AS Roma were also affected, as well as national federations like the French Football Federation.

The illegal practices occurred between 2004 to 2017, the commission said.

Puma ousts Nike in Man City kit deal

Nike received a 40% discount on its fine for co-operating with the investigation.

"Nike co-operated with the commission beyond its legal obligation to do so, in particular by providing the commission with information that allowed it to extend the scope of the case," the commission said.

"As a result, the investigation included ancillary sport merchandise of a number of additional clubs."--BBC

Asia stocks: Markets sink as global growth jitters spread

Asian stocks sank on Monday amid growing concerns of a slowdown in the global economy.

Investors dumped stocks in favour of safer bonds, driving Japan's Nikkei index down more than 3%.

The losses in Asia tracked a global stock sell-off on Friday, fuelled by downbeat data and a cautious Federal Reserve.

Unusual moves in the US bond market have also raised concerns about a possible US recession.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index dropped 3.1% to 20,948.37.

In China, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.6% and the Shanghai Composite lost 1% in afternoon trading.

"Asian markets are taking clues from [the] sharp decline in US equities on Friday," CMC Markets analyst Margaret Yang said.

"The selloff is unlikely to cease until the US markets stop bleeding."

Clouds gathering over global economy

Is the US heading for a recession?

How worrying is China's slowdown?

Downbeat data from the US and Europe, combined with a cautious tone from the Federal Reserve, frightened investors last week.

The first inversion in the US bond yield curve since 2007 also heightened concerns, by raising fears of a recession in the world's largest economy.

The bonds, known as Treasuries in the US, are issued as a form of borrowing by governments to fund spending.

For the first time in more than 10 years, the rate of return (yield) on three-month US bonds rose above 10-year yields, something which is seen as an indicator that a recession could be coming.--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> 

DISCLAIMER: This report has been prepared by Bulls ‘n Bears, a division of Faith Capital (Pvt) Ltd for general information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for any securities. The information contained in this report has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but no representation or warranty is made or guarantee given as to its accuracy or completeness. All opinions expressed and recommendations made are subject to change without notice. Securities or financial instruments mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors. Securities of emerging and mid-size growth companies typically involve a higher degree of risk and more volatility than the securities of more established companies. Neither Faith Capital nor any other member of Bulls ‘n Bears nor any other person, accepts any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this report or its contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith. Recipients of this report shall be solely responsible for making their own independent investigation into the business, financial condition and future prospects of any companies referred to in this report. Other  Indices quoted herein are for guideline purposes only and sourced from third parties.

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