Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 27 March 2019

[Bulls n Bears]

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 27 March 2019

 


 

 


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*  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> 

 


 

                                      

Nigeria central bank cuts benchmark rate to 13.5 pct in surprise move

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate to
13.5 percent from 14 percent as part of an attempt to stimulate growth in
Africa’s biggest economy, its governor said on Tuesday in a surprise move.

 

The move is the first rate cut since November 2015. The rate has been held
at 14 percent since July 2016 to support the naira and curb inflation.

 

Nigeria, which has Africa’s biggest economy, emerged from its first
recession in 25 years in 2017. Since then higher oil prices have helped the
country to halt the contraction and stimulate growth.

 

“This rate cut is meant to signal that there is a need for us to move course
a little further. To do so we need to begin to look at money supply,
liquidity to push growth,” said Godwin Emefiele, who added that six of the
11 members of the monetary policy committee members who met agreed on the 50
basis point rate cut.

 

He said Nigeria should be able to push growth to between 2.7 and 3 percent,
up from 1.9 percent last year.

 

Most analysts polled by Reuters in January expected rates to be kept on hold
through to the middle of the year at least.

 

 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 



South Africa's rand slips as global risk rally slows

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s rand slipped on Tuesday,
surrendering the previous session’s scant gains as the dollar steadied from
a sell-off triggered by fears the United States economy is heading for
recession.

 

The rand was 0.07 percent weaker at 14.3200 per dollar at 0645 GMT, compared
to a close of 14.3100 overnight in New York.

 

On Monday, the rand gained nearly 2 percent in a broad emerging market rally
sparked by renewed fears that economic growth in developed markets was set
to contract after an inversion of the U.S. yield curve and poor
manufacturing data from Germany and Japan.

 

But the rally lost steam in early trade as investors banked profits, with
ongoing chaos around Britain’s exit from the European Union cooling global
risk demand.

 

British lawmakers are due vote on a range of Brexit options on Wednesday.

 

Locally, with no top tier data due, investors are waiting for Thursday’s
central bank monetary policy decision.

 

A Reuters poll last week forecast the bank will leave lending rates
unchanged 6.75 percent, with inflation trending around 4 percent, supporting
bids for the rand.

 

Bonds weakened slightly, with the yield on benchmark 2026 paper adding 0.5
basis points to 8.715 percent.

 

 

 

Kenya's Equity Group 2018 pretax profit up on rising interest income

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya’s Equity Group Holdings said on Tuesday its 2018
pretax profit rose 6 percent to 28.5 billion shillings ($282.74 million),
helped by rising interest income.

 

The bank’s net interest income rose 10 percent to 41.4 billion shillings,
Chief Executive Officer James Mwangi told an investor briefing.

 

The bank, which also operates in Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan,
Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo, said net loans and advances rose to
297.2 billion shillings from 279.1 billion shillings in 2017.

 

Equity Group, which has a mobile phone-based financial business, insurance
agency and investment bank, said total assets rose 9 percent to 573.4
billion shillings.

 

($1 = 100.8000 Kenyan shillings)

 

 

South Africa's PIC state asset manager suspends acting CEO

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation (PIC)
suspended its acting chief executive on Tuesday over alleged interference in
an inquiry into impropriety at the 2 trillion rand ($139 billion) fund.

 

The PIC, one of the largest fund managers in Africa, said in a statement
that it had placed acting CEO Matshepo More on a “precautionary suspension”
and that Vuyani Hako, executive head of properties, had been appointed in
her place.

 

More did not respond to a request for comment on her suspension, which comes
several weeks after the PIC’s board of directors tendered its resignation
because of allegations of wrongdoing by four directors.

 

It was not immediately clear how More is alleged to have interfered with the
judicial inquiry into the PIC, which President Cyril Ramaphosa authorised
following allegations that some directors had used their position for
personal gain.

 

A spokesman for the PIC said he could not elaborate.

 

The PIC is the largest investor on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)
with significant stakes in South African blue-chip firms as well as bonds of
state-owned enterprises like struggling power firm Eskom and arms company
Denel.

 

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni is yet to appoint a new board at the PIC,
which this year suspended its head of listed investments and an assistant
portfolio manager for allegedly breaking governance rules over a technology
deal.

 

($1 = 14.4300 rand)

 

 

 

Crisis-hit Fastjet secures another extension on its loan agreement

(Reuters) - Cash-strapped regional Africa airline Fastjet Plc said on Monday
it has reached an agreement to further extend the repayment date on its
unsecured loans.

 

Fastjet in June had entered agreements with Annunaki Investments and SSCG
Africa Holdings, following which the airline lent $5 million from its
Zimbabwe unit to Annunaki in return for a $2 million loan to Fastjet from
SSCG.

 

The low-cost airline has been facing a multitude of issues mainly relating
to its dwindling cash pile and has struggled to secure cash through
fundraising and equity refinancing to continue operations.

 

The airline had entered into the loan agreements with Annunaki and SSCG so
that Fastjet can access a portion of its restricted cash held in Zimbabwe.

 

Fastjet now expects a repayment from SSCG by June 30, from the earlier
agreed date of March 31, the company said on Monday.

 

“The other terms of the loan agreements will remain the same,” Fastjet said.

 

Earlier this month, it got an extension to same loan terms till March 31 and
had said that the loan amount from Fastjet Zimbabwe to Annunaki had
increased from $5 million to $7 million, after certain currency
devaluations.

 

 

 

Alex Forbes exits insurance in strategic overhaul

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African financial services group Alexander
Forbes is looking for a buyer to acquire its insurance businesses, it said
on Tuesday, part of a strategic shake-up aimed at refocusing the group as a
wealth and pension funds manager.

 

Alexander Forbes’s decision to exit the business comes four months after
Dawie de Villiers started work as chief executive in place of Andrew Darfoor
who had been fired two months before.

 

De Villiers has drawn up a refreshed strategy which aims to build a
capital-light organisation in order to take advantage of the company’s
leading market position in the South African retirement fund administration
industry.

 

Selling the insurance business would release money that regulators demand be
held against insurance policies — a capital requirement rule that prevents
capital from being used to fund growth or pay higher dividends.

 

The company also outlines plans to return surplus money to shareholders
provided there were no enticing investment opportunities ahead.

 

“We are confident that the combination of these deliverables will
differentiate us in the market,” De Villiers said in a statement.

 

Shares in the company, which have slumped roughly 16 percent since de
Villiers was named chief executive at the beginning of October, rose 2.4
percent to 4.70 rand as of 1205 GMT.

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

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)

 

($1 = 0.8835 euros)

 

 

 

Cathay Pacific to buy budget airline Hong Kong Express

Cathay Pacific will buy low-cost carrier Hong Kong Express for $4.93bn Hong
Kong dollars ($628m).

 

The purchase will be made in cash and through promissory loan notes, the
company said in a stock filing.

 

Hong Kong Express, which flies to destinations across Asia, will become a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Cathay Pacific.

 

Cathay Pacific has been overhauling its business to cut costs, and returned
to profit in 2018.

 

"We intend to continue to operate Hong Kong Express as a stand-alone airline
using the low-cost carrier business model," a Cathay Pacific spokesperson
said in a statement.

 

Hong Kong Express captures "a unique market segment" the spokesperson said,
adding that the deal "represents an attractive and practical way for the
Cathay Group to support the long-term development and growth of our aviation
business".

 

The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

 

Turnaround plan

Cathay Pacific returned to profit last year after two years of losses, after
launching a cost-cutting programme.

 

The airline has been struggling against competition, particularly from
low-cost Chinese carriers covering Hong Kong, mainland China and South East
Asia.

 

Last year, it also became subject of a data breach in its IT systems,
jeopardising the personal information of up to 9.4 million passengers.

 

 

 

 

Ryanair trolling of British Airways' mistake backfires

A Ryanair attempt to make fun of British Airways on Twitter after a flight
mistakenly went to Edinburgh instead of Düsseldorf has backfired.

 

Ryanair's official Twitter account said it had a "present" for BA - a copy
of Geography for Dummies.

 

But Twitter users made a number of suggestions of books Ryanair could read,
including "Customer Service for Dummies".

 

In January Ryanair was again named the UK's least-liked short-haul airline.

 

On Monday, a British Airways flight that was supposed to go to Germany ended
up in Scotland after the wrong flight plan was used.

 

Ryanair trolled BA in a tweet that afternoon with the suggested reading
material. BA replied to the tweet saying: "No-one is perfect".

 

But Twitter users quickly came back with book suggestions lampooning the
low-cost airline, including "Employment Law for Dummies".

 

In 2018 Ryanair was forced to cancel hundreds of flights after strike action
by pilots and staff who were complaining about conditions.

 

The strikes caused disruption for tens of thousands of passengers.

 

In December 2018 the Civil Aviation Authority began legal action against
Ryanair after it refused to pay compensation to passengers over the
cancelled and delayed flights.

 

Diverted flights

Another commentator, Richard Spaven, referenced a story that first appeared
in the Independent on 6 January about a Ryanair flight bound for
Thessaloniki in Greece.

 

The flight was diverted more than 500 miles away to Timisoara in northwest
Romania. Passengers were then offered transport on an "old bus" to complete
the journey, which many refused, the Independent reported.

 

Eventually the Greek government sent an aircraft to fly the remaining
passengers in.

 

Many Twitter users poked fun at Ryanair over its practice of flying to
airports that are some way from the supposed destination, for example,
flying to Beauvais, which is more than 50 miles north of Paris, instead of a
closer airport to the French capital.

 

Twitter user Wayne Kavanagh asked Ryanair how much it was charging BA for
the book "because you not giving it away for free", a reference to Ryanair's
habit of charging customers extra, for example, to print boarding passes.

 

In January Ryanair was named the UK's least-liked short-haul airline for the
sixth year running after a survey by consumer group Which?.

 

Passengers were not impressed by industrial action, boarding processes, seat
comfort, food and drink, and cabin environment, the consumer group said.

 

At the time, Ryanair said passenger numbers had grown 80% in the previous
six years, and that reflected what people want "much more than an
unrepresentative survey of just 8,000 people."

 

British Airways declined to comment for this story.

 

Ryanair would not comment.

 

 

 

Uber buys Middle Eastern rival Careem for $3.1bn

Ride-sharing firm Uber has announced it is buying Dubai-based rival Careem
for $3.1bn (£2.3bn).

 

Careem was established in 2012, and operates in 15 countries across the
Middle East, Africa and Asia.

 

The firm will continue to operate under its own brand as a subsidiary of
Uber.

 

"This is an important moment for Uber as we continue to expand the strength
of our platform around the world," said Uber chief executive Dara
Khosrowshahi in a statement.

 

"Careem has played a key role in shaping the future of urban mobility across
the Middle East, becoming one of the most successful start-ups in the
region."

 

Careem co-founder and chief executive Mudassir Sheikha will lead the Careem
business once the deal - which still requires regulatory approval - has been
completed.

 

Market debut

The announcement comes amid reports that Uber is preparing to list its
shares on the New York Stock Exchange. The tech firm could be valued at as
high as $120bn.

 

Uber's rapid expansion, and its disruption of the traditional taxi industry,
has sometimes led to controversy, and it continues to face opposition from
both private hire drivers and regulators in several countries.

 

The ride-hailing taxi app company has also faced legal action in the UK and
US over its classification of drivers as self-employed contractors, rather
than as workers.

 

A series of scandals dogged Uber in 2017, including sexual harassment claims
made by female employees, data breaches, the use of illicit software to
thwart government regulators, and the forced resignation of its chief
executive Travis Kalanick.

 

 

 

Sackler-owned Purdue Pharma settles opioid lawsuit for $270m

Purdue Pharma, the drug-maker owned by the billionaire Sackler family, has
reached a $270m settlement in a lawsuit which claimed its opioids
contributed to the deaths of thousands of people.

 

As part of the deal, the US firm will fund a new centre to study addiction.

 

Purdue is one of several firms named in the claim which alleged they used
deceptive practices to sell opioids.

 

The deal is the first Purdue has struck amid some 2,000 other lawsuits
linked to its painkiller OxyContin.

 

The lawsuit filed by Oklahoma claimed that in order to persuade doctors to
prescribe their painkillers, Purdue, and other companies such as Johnson &
Johnson and Teva Pharmaceutical, allegedly decided to "falsely downplay the
risk of opioid addiction" and "overstate" the benefits of their drugs to
treat a wide range of conditions.

 

The companies deny the claims.

 

Is this America's most hated family?

What are opioids and what are the risks?

US schools prepare for student overdoses

On average, 130 Americans die from an opioid overdose every day, according
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 

In 2017, of the 70,200 people who died from overdose, 68% involved a
prescription or illegal opioid.

 

Purdue said that the settlement with Oklahoma "resolves all of the state's
claims against" against the company.

 

 

The family, who were not named in this lawsuit, said: "The agreement reached
today will provide assistance to individuals nationwide who desperately need
these services - rather than squandering resources on protracted
litigation."

 

'Profound compassion'

The Sackler family, who are worth $13bn, according to Forbes magazine, also
said: "We have profound compassion for those affected by addiction."

 

Under the settlement, Purdue will pay $102.5m towards the creation of a
National Centre for Addiction Studies and Treatment at Oklahoma State
University.

 

The Sacklers themselves said that they will contribute $75m over five years
to the centre.

 

The dynasty has increasingly been under the spotlight because of the wave of
legal action the company and individual family members are facing.

 

They are prolific philanthropists, having contributed millions of dollars to
the arts.

 

However, a number of major galleries recently announced that they would not
accept donations from the family, including the Tate in the UK and the
Guggenheim in New York.

 

'Reckless criminals'

A lawsuit filed by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey recently
released a number of potentially damning documents, including some that
present former Purdue boss Richard Sackler as someone who does not view
OxyContin as contributing to opioid addiction but instead blames the
individuals themselves.

 

He wrote in an email: "We have to hammer on the abusers in every way
possible. They are the culprits and the problem. They are reckless
criminals."

 

Commenting on the settlement, Purdue's chief executive Craig Landau said:
"Purdue has a long history of working to address the problem of prescription
opioid abuse and diversion.

 

"We see this agreement with Oklahoma as an extension of our commitment to
help drive solutions to the opioid addiction crisis."

 

Alexandra Lahav, a professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law,
told Reuters it was likely that Purdue was in talks to settle other
lawsuits.

 

"This may be the start of the dominoes falling for Purdue," she said.

 

But the Sackler family said that the agreement with Oklahoma "is not a
financial model for future settlement discussions".

 

Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson and Teva Pharmaceutical had attempted to
delay a trial over the claims made by Oklahoma state which is seeking $20bn
in damages.

 

However, on Monday the Oklahoma Supreme Court refused and the trial against
the other defendants will go ahead on 28 May.

 

Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter, said: "The addiction crisis facing
our state and nation is a clear and present danger."

 

He said one of the goals of the state's legal action was to ensure "a
dramatic abatement of the sale of pharmaceutical opioids".

 

He added that as part of the settlement with Purdue, Oklahoma has put an
injunction in place to stop the company marketing analgesic opioids within
the state.

 

 

 

Michelle Obama's memoir Becoming sells 10 million copies

Michelle Obama's memoir is on course to become the most popular
autobiography to date, according to its publisher.

 

Becoming, first published just five months ago, has already sold more than
10 million copies, Bertelsmann said.

 

"We believe that these memoirs could well become the most successful memoir
ever," said Thomas Rabe, chief executive of the German firm.

 

The firm paid $60m (£48m) in 2017 for the rights to the book alongside that
of former US President Barack Obama.

 

Mr Obama's book is yet to be published.

 

Bertelsmann owns a 75% stake in Obama publisher Penguin Random House.

 

Michelle Obama's book 'most valuable' of 2018

Thousands try to get Michelle Obama tickets

Obama book breaks sales record in 15 days

Nielsen - which tracks UK book sales - said Michelle Obama's book was
currently 11th on its list of top 20 bestselling biographies and memoirs,
which tracks sales since official records began in the late nineties.

 

A Child Called It, by Dave Pelzer is the top selling autobiography in the
UK. The book has sold 1.1 million copies, compared to 618,000 in the UK so
far for Becoming.

 

Michelle Obama's book, which explores her experience from childhood, her
work, motherhood and her time in The White House, has been praised for its
universal appeal across genders and ages.

 

In it, she reveals difficulties in her marriage with Barack, disclosing
details of how the couple suffered a miscarriage and later used in vitro
fertilisation (IVF) to conceive both children, Malia and Sasha.

 

The 54-year-old also criticises the current US President, Donald Trump,
writing that she can "never forgive" him for "putting my family's safety at
risk" over his championing of the "birther" theory that her husband was not
born in the US and thus was not a legitimate president of the US.--BBC

 

 

 

Article 13: Memes exempt as EU backs controversial copyright law

'No meme is illegal': Protests were held against the copyright law changes

Copyright laws which critics say could change the internet have been voted
in by the European Parliament.

 

The new rules, including the controversial Article 13, will hold tech firms
responsible for material posted without copyright permission.

 

Sharing memes and GIFs will still be allowed under the new laws.

 

Many musicians and creators say the legislation will compensate artists
fairly - but others argue that they will destroy user-generated content.

 

Copyright is the legal right that allows an artist to protect how their
original work is used.

 

Tech companies have argued that artists are already paid fairly under the
current system. Google said it would "harm Europe's creative and digital
industries".

 

What is the controversial Article 13?

Why Europe's original copyright plan was so controversial

High-profile figures who have campaigned against the EU Copyright Directive
include Wyclef Jean and web inventor Sir Tim Berners Lee, while Debbie Harry
and Sir Paul McCartney have been among its supporters.

 

Web pioneer Sir Tim Berners-Lee has warned about the possible consequences
of copyright changes

It has taken several revisions for the current legislation, which was was
backed by 348 MEPs, with 278 against, to reach its final form.

 

It is now up to member states to approve the decision. If they do, they will
have two years to implement it once it is officially published.

 

The two clauses causing the most controversy are known as Article 11 and
Article 13.

 

Article 11 states that search engines and news aggregate platforms should
pay to use links from news websites.



Article 13 holds larger technology companies responsible for material posted
without a copyright licence. Tech companies already remove music and videos
which are copyrighted, but under the new laws they will be more liable for
any copyrighted content.



It means they would need to apply filters to content before it is uploaded.

 

Article 13 does not include cloud storage services and there are already
existing exemptions, including parody, which, for example, includes memes.

 

Memes 'excluded'

It was Article 13 which prompted fears over the future of memes and GIFs -
stills, animated or short video clips that go viral - since they mainly rely
on copyrighted scenes from TV and film.

 

Critics claimed Article 13 would have made it nearly impossible to upload
even the tiniest part of a copyrighted work to Facebook, YouTube, or any
other site.

 

However, specific tweaks to the law made earlier this year made memes safe
"for purposes of quotation, criticism, review, caricature, parody and
pastiche".

 

The European Parliament said that memes would be "specifically excluded"
from the directive, although it was unclear how tech firms would be able to
enforce that rule with a blanket filter.

 

MEP for London Mary Honeyball said: "There's no problem with memes at all.
This directive was never intended to stop memes and mashups.

 

"I think that's doom-mongering. People who carry out their business properly
have nothing to worry about at all."

 

'Massive blow'

Robert Ashcroft, chief executive of PRS for Music, which collects royalties
for music artists, welcomed the directive as "a massive step forward" for
consumers and creatives.

 

"It's about making sure that ordinary people can upload videos and music to
platforms like YouTube without being held liable for copyright - that
responsibility will henceforth be transferred to the platforms," he said.

 

However the campaign group Open Knowledge International described it as "a
massive blow" for the internet.

 

"We now risk the creation of a more closed society at the very time we
should be using digital advances to build a more open world where knowledge
creates power for the many, not the few," said chief executive Catherine
Stihler.

 

Google said that while the latest version of the directive was improved,
there remained "legal uncertainty".

 

"The details matter and we look forward to working with policy-makers,
publishers, creators and rights holders, as EU member states move to
implement these new rules," it said.

 

Kathy Berry, senior lawyer at Linklaters, said more detail was required
about how Article 13 would be enforced.

 

"While Article 13 may have noble aims, in its current form it functions as
little more than a set of ideals, with very little guidance on exactly which
service providers will be caught by it or what steps will be sufficient to
comply," she said.

 

European Parliament Rapporteur Axel Voss said the legislation was designed
to protect people's livelihoods.

 

"This directive is an important step towards correcting a situation which
has allowed a few companies to earn huge sums of money without properly
remunerating the thousands of creatives and journalists whose work they
depend on," he said.

 

"It helps make the internet ready for the future, a space which benefits
everyone, not only a powerful few."---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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