Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 31 May 2019

Fri May 31 18:46:57 CAT 2019

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 31 May 2019

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*  Namibia says China can buy Rio's uranium stake if it respects laws

*  Kenya's NSE secures regulatory approval for derivatives market

*  Total to hold talks with Algeria over Anadarko assets

*  Vedanta's Agarwal says willing to invest in Zambia

*  Kenya needs to begin reorganizing debt, room for borrowing has shrunk -central bank chief

*  South African consumer confidence recovers, survey show

*  Kenya engages World Bank for $750 mln loan for budget support

*  Kenyan shilling inches down against the dollar

*  Naspers to list businesses that hold Tencent stake on Euronext

*  South Africa's rand tumbles to 5-month low on cabinet anxiety, risk aversion

*  5G: Finally, it's here in the UK - but so what?

*  Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg to face leadership vote

*  Boeing 737 Max could be grounded for months, says airline body

*  Premier League leads European football to £25bn valuation

*  Brexit shutdown slashes UK car production by 45%

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Namibia says China can buy Rio's uranium stake if it respects laws

WINDHOEK (Reuters) - Namibia’s mines and energy minister said he has no objection to Rio Tinto’s sale of its uranium mine stake to China provided it respects the African nation’s laws.

FILE PHOTO: A logo showing an entrance to the Rio Tinto-owned Rossing Uranium Mine in the Namib Desert near Arandis, Namibia, February 23, 2017. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko/File Photo

Rio, which is seeking to divest less profitable assets, said last November that it was selling its 69% stake in the world’s longest-running open pit uranium mine to China for up to $106.5 million and expected the deal to be completed in the first half of 2019.

Asked whether the sale would be cleared, Mines and Energy Minister Tom Alweendo told Reuters: “We have no objection to the sale provided that the buyer abides by what’s expected of him by our laws.”

China already owns stakes in Namibian uranium production, which, along with diamonds, is the mainstay of the Namibian economy.

Addressing concerns among Namibians that China will bring in foreign nationals to replace local employees, China National Uranium Corporation (CNUC) Vice President Li Youliang told a public hearing last week that was not the case.

There was “no intention to replace local Namibian employees with foreign nationals solely as a result of this transaction,” he told the hearing in the coastal town of Swakopmund.

“In fact, CNUC has a strong commitment to maintain the current level of local employees.”

Rio Tinto is selling its stake in Rossing Uranium mine to CNUC in a deal dependent on approval from the Namibian competition commission.

The Namibian government holds a 3% stake in Rossing and 51% of voting rights. The Iranian Foreign Investment Company also holds a legacy 15% stake that goes back to the original funding of the mine, which could have deterred some potential buyers.

The other shareholders are the Development Corporation of South Africa (10%) and individual shareholders (3%).

    China is targeting nuclear power as an alternative to fossil fuels. It was the only obvious buyer of the shares in the Rossing mine.

    Rossing has been operating since 1976 and has produced more uranium than any other mine. It employs around 1,000 workers and can carry on producing until 2025.

    The sale agreement comprises an initial cash payment of $6.5 million, payable at completion, and a contingent payment of up to $100 million following completion.

    The contingent payment is linked to uranium spot prices and Rossing’s net income during the next seven years.

While China is a big source of uranium demand, the market has languished as Western countries turn away from the energy source and trade tensions between the United States and China are generally disrupting commodities trade.

    A spokesman for Rio Tinto declined to comment.   

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Kenya's NSE secures regulatory approval for derivatives market

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya’s Nairobi Securities Exchange has received regulatory approval to launch a derivatives market, the Capital Markets Authority said on Wednesday.

The NSE, the main entry point for foreigners seeking to invest in East Africa, has been grappling with the challenges of setting up a derivatives market for years.

“This (approval) follows the successful completion of a six-month Derivatives Pilot Test Phase conducted between July and December 2018, and resolution of key issues that emanated from the test phase,” the CMA said in a statement.

Investors will initially be offered single stock futures and equity index futures, the CMA said, before other financial and commodity derivatives are introduced.

Exchange executives have said derivatives trading would boost liquidity on the bourse, which has 65 listed firms of which telecoms and banks are some of the most heavily traded.

The NSE will be the second exchange in Sub-Saharan Africa after Johannesburg to launch trading in derivatives.

Kenya’s Stanbic Bank, part of Stanbic Holdings and Co-operative Bank of Kenya, have been licensed by the central bank to handle clearing and settlement for the derivatives exchange, the CMA said.

Total to hold talks with Algeria over Anadarko assets

PARIS (Reuters) - Total will meet Algerian authorities for talks over its plans to buy Anadarko’s assets in the country and is not worried by media reports that Algiers would block the deal, Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne said on Wednesday.

“We will meet Algerian authorities very soon,” Pouyanne told shareholders at the company’s annual meeting in Paris. “We are not worried. It is normal that authorities seek to have dialogue with their principal partners and Total is one of the partners of Algeria.”

Algeria’s energy minister said on Monday he would seek a “good compromise” when asked about his earlier comments that Algiers would block Total’s plan.

Occidental Petroleum has agreed to sell Anadarko’s assets in Algeria, Ghana, Mozambique and South Africa to Total for $8.8 billion if the U.S. oil company succeeds in completing a takeover of Anadarko

Pouyanne said Anadarko’s Africa assets were at the heart of Total’s strategy to remain a leading oil company in Africa and the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) market.

“The (Anadarko) deal demonstrates our capacity to be opportunistic and agile,” Pouyanne said during a presentation at the shareholder meeting.

“Anadarko assets representing around 3 billion barrels of reserves resources which we’ll acquire for $8.8 billion are plainly at the heart of our growth strategy focused on our strengths,” he said. “Africa and LNG in Mozambique, Africa and deep offshore in South Africa and Ghana, and in Algeria.”

Pouyanne added that the deal would also strengthen Total’s position as number two in the global LNG business and that it would have no negative impact on the company’s shareholder return policy.

“I would even say the opposite because this acquisition will generate a positive net cash flow from 2020, even if the price oil is less than $50 dollars per barrel,” he told shareholders.

Vedanta's Agarwal says willing to invest in Zambia

LUSAKA (Reuters) - Vedanta’s Chairman Anil Agarwal said on Wednesday he was prepared to invest in increasing Zambian copper production to 400,000 tonnes, creating another 10,000 jobs at Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), but said “the right framework” had to be in place.

Vedanta is fighting Zambia’s decision this month to name a provisional liquidator to run Vedanta Resources’ KCM business. The government has accused KCM of breaching its operating licence.

Legal proceedings have been adjourned until June 4.

In an announcement published in Zambian newspapers, Agarwal said he had told Zambia’s president that, “with the right framework” Vedanta was prepared to increase output.

“I am prepared to invest what is required to increase production safely and sustainably to 400,000 tonnes, creating another 10,000 jobs at KCM and more social benefits,” he said.

KCM is one of Zambia’s largest employers, creating work for around 13,000 people.

It has previously said it would raise output to 400,000 tonnes per year, but instead production has fallen because of technical issues as infrastructure has aged, as well as problems such as power outages.

Production for the full-year ended March 2019 was around 90,000 tonnes.

Agarwal said Vedanta worked to comply with Zambia’s laws and tax requirements and said he did not understand why state-controlled ZCCM-IH, which holds around 20 percent of KCM, had gone to court to seek the appointment of a provisional liquidator.

A government source, speaking on condition of anonymity said the interim management team was working on a plan likely to be announced by the end of the week.

A miner told Reuters the workforce had been paid on Tuesday, around three days later than usual.

Vedanta Resources, partial owner of the Mumbai-listed Vedanta group of companies, is the majority shareholder of KCM.

Agarwal said “the current position” of the Zambian government would harm the country’s “investor-friendly status” and he said a lot of mining companies were considering leaving Zambia.

Other miners present in Zambia include Glencore and First Quantum. First Quantum said it had abandoned plans to lay off workers, but Glencore has said it is closing shafts that are no longer economic.

Kenya needs to begin reorganizing debt, room for borrowing has shrunk -central bank chief

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya’s headroom for new borrowing has shrunk since it tapped the Eurobond market this month and it is time for the country to begin reorganising its debt, central bank governor Patrick Njoroge said on Tuesday.

Njoroge, whose term is due to end next month, told reporters that the $2.1 billion Eurobond issuance in mid-May allowed Kenya to refinance some of its existing loans and “hopefully (give) us more room to expand the economy” and increase export capacity.

Kenya’s public debt as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) has increased to 55% from 42% when President Uhuru Kenyatta took office in 2013. The East African government has defended the increased borrowing, saying the country must invest in its infrastructure, including roads and railways.

Critics of the borrowing spree have questioned the value of some of the projects, particularly the billion China-backed railway project completed in 2017.

“As advisers of the government, our point is this is the time to begin working on reorganising our debt, not in a frantic way, so doing it the Eliud Kipchoge way, which is (that) it’s a marathon (run) and you have to do it in a steady way.”

The latest Eurobond was issued in tranches of seven and 12-year paper. The seven-year portion of the latest issue was priced at 7.0%, while the longer-dated tranche was priced at 8.0%.

“It is important to say that the moment for dealing with debt reorganisation, looking at debt and itself reorganizing it,...that moment has come,” Njoroge said. He did not spell out how the debt could be restructured.

Kenya is also negotiating with the World Bank for a $750 million loan for budgetary support, documents on the lender’s website showed on Tuesday.

Njoroge declined to comment on whether his tenure will be extended for a second and final four-year term.

The Kenyan economy expanded by 6.3% in 2018 as good rains boosted the agriculture sector. But a delayed start to Kenya’s rainy season this year could shave as much as 0.4% off forecasted growth, he said.

“We are not talking drought like we had in 2017,” Njoroge said, “because the rains have arrived, and the question now is are they adequate?”

The bank has forecast the same growth rate for this year, but the first rains, which usually start in March, did not come until late April.

First-quarter growth data, usually released in June, would make the outlook for this year clearer, he said.

The central bank held its benchmark lending rate at 9.0% on Monday, saying it would keep an eye on recent food and fuel price rises that could fuel inflation.

The U.S.-China trade dispute had escalated to a “full-scale war”, Njoroge added, and posed risks to the Kenyan economy. Uncertainty over Britain’s planned exit from the European Union is another external risk, he said.

South African consumer confidence recovers, survey show

(Reuters) - Consumer confidence in South Africa recovered in the second quarter after a general election and the stabilisation of the power grid, but consumer spending was likely to remain constrained for now, a survey showed on Wednesday.

The consumer confidence index, sponsored by First National Bank (FNB) and compiled by the Bureau for Economic Research, rose to 5 in the second quarter from 2 in the first quarter of 2019.

But household budgets were expected to remain constrained by higher personal income taxes, rising fuel and electricity prices and growing unemployment, FNB Chief Economist Mamello Matikinca-Ngwenya said.

“Consumers have been taking on more credit as financial pressures mount, but it is unlikely that the modest uptick in credit extension will be sufficient to underpin household consumption amidst dwindling real disposable income growth,” Matikinca-Ngwenya added.

The election boost to confidence, coupled with greater stability in the power grid, probably offset substantial increases in fuel prices, the survey indicated.

South African lawmakers elected Cyril Ramaphosa president last week, and he promised to create jobs and work for the interests of all citizens.

The country has been plagued by frequent power cuts and a 19% increase in petrol prices from the end of February to the beginning of May.

Consumer confidence dipped in the first quarter, suggesting that most consumers are neither optimistic nor pessimistic about the outlook for the country’s economy, the survey showed last month.

Kenya engages World Bank for $750 mln loan for budget support

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya is negotiating with the World Bank for a $750 million loan for budgetary support, documents on the proposed funding posted on the lender’s website showed on Tuesday.

The East African nation has multiple development funding programmes, worth billions of dollars, with the Washington-based lender, but the funding bypasses the Treasury and is usually channelled straight into the projects.

If the $750 million loan gets approved, it will be the first time in years the World Bank is putting cash straight into the Treasury to be used at the discretion of the government, said a source with knowledge of the issue.

The loan, which comes under the bank’s so-called development policy financing, is designed to support the government’s policy and institutional reforms and help make economic growth more inclusive.

The World Bank declined to comment as the loan has not been approved by its board.

Officials at the ministry of finance did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comments.

Kenya raised $2.1 billion in a sovereign bond this month, but some critics have expressed concerns over the country’s growing debt burden.

There has been a jump in government borrowing since President Uhuru Kenyatta came to power in 2013 - a rise that some politicians and economists say is saddling future generations with too much debt.

Kenya’s public debt as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) has increased to 55% from 42% when Kenyatta took over. The government has defended the increased borrowing, saying the country must invest in its infrastructure, including roads and railways.

Finance Minister Henry Rotich told Reuters earlier this month that he was aiming to bring down debt servicing costs in the next few years to 12-16%.

Kenyan shilling inches down against the dollar

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling edged down on Wednesday due to companies in the energy and manufacturing sectors buying dollars to meet their end month obligations, traders said.

At 0823 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 101.30/50 per dollar, compared with 101.20/40 at Tuesday’s close.

Naspers to list businesses that hold Tencent stake on Euronext

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - South African conglomerate Naspers plans to float consumer internet businesses with assets valued at more than 100 billion euros ($112 billion) on the Euronext stock exchange in Amsterdam on July 17, the media and tech group said on Wednesday.

Naspers will retain a 73% stake in the new company, which will hold assets including Naspers’ 31.2 percent stake in China’s Tencent, as well as its OLX classified businesses in India and Brazil and its U.S. business, letgo.

Naspers shareholders will receive shares representing 27% of the new company when it lists, Naspers said in a statement. Naspers first outlined the plan in March.

Naspers is motivated by the sheer size of its Tencent stake. The stake was worth 967 billion Hong Kong dollars, or 110 billion euros, as of Wednesday — well more than Naspers itself.

Naspers shares were up 1.8 percent to 315,189 South African rand in Johannesburg on Wednesday, giving it a market capitalisation of 1.37 trillion rand, or 82.7 billion euros.

Tencent’s rapid growth has led to Naspers’ valuation accounting for more than 25 percent of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Top 40 share index. That makes it problematic for South African pension funds and other investors in Africa to buy Naspers shares or South African indexes without disproportionate exposure to Asian tech giant Tencent.

“What we’re listing is really a new global consumer internet group that comprises all of our international internet assets,” Chief Executive Bob van Dijk told reporters on a call.

“This is a new opportunity for global tech investors to access our unique portfolio.”

He added he hoped the listing would lead to a reduction in the discount with which Naspers trades to its underlying assets.

Naspers’ other difficult-to-value internet assets include shares in a number of emerging market ventures including Russia’s biggest social network mail.ru, online travel companies including MakeMyTrip in India, and food delivery services including Brazil’s iFood.

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

This year Naspers also spun out Multichoice, which dominates the African pay-TV market.

($1 = 0.8961 euros)

South Africa's rand tumbles to 5-month low on cabinet anxiety, risk aversion

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s rand tumbled to a five-month low against the dollar early on Wednesday, extending losses in the previous session as global risk aversion and uncertainty over cabinet appointments hurt sentiment.

At 0648 GMT, the rand traded at 14.8575 per dollar, 0.9% weaker than its New York close on Tuesday. The unit was trading at its weakest levels since January 3.

The rand fell more than 2% on Tuesday as deputy president David Mabuza was sworn in as a lawmaker after being cleared by the ruling African National Congress of bringing the party into disrepute.

The move cleared the way for Mabuza, an important ally of Ramaphosa, to remain his deputy, but again threw a spotlight on corruption allegations that have hit the party’s popularity.

Investors are keen to see proof of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s clean governance pledge.

“The market requires evidence of strong leadership to quell fears of policy paralysis, which would require that members appointed to the executive are free of controversy,” RMB analyst Nema Ramkhelawan-Bhana wrote in a note.

“The deadline in which to appoint a cabinet is fast-approaching and the onus lies firmly on the president to free the market of its anxiety to stem the tide of rand losses.”

Stocks were set to open lower at 0700 GMT, with the JSE securities exchange’s Top-40 futures index down 0.6%.

In fixed income, the yield on the benchmark government bond due in 2026 rose by 7.5 basis points to 8.52%.

5G: Finally, it's here in the UK - but so what?

After years of hype - and sometimes confusion - the UK finally has a 5G network.

BT's EE subsidiary is the first to launch a service - and if you're feeling wealthy enough and live in the right place, you can sign up.

The lowest-priced deal is £54 a month plus a one-off £170 fee for a compatible handset.

But bear in mind that buys you only 10GB of data a month, which you will be likely to chew through fairly quickly if you take advantage of the next-generation technology to download lots of media.

For many people, it may make sense to wait - and not just to take advantage of rival offers from Vodafone, which starts its own 5G service in about five weeks.

The two operators are launching in select cities only.

And even there, the connectivity will be patchy, sometimes offering only outdoor connectivity, sometimes none at all - so customers will probably default to a slower 4G signal much of the time.

Chip-maker Qualcomm has promised the first 5G phones will offer "all-day battery life" - but second- and third-generation modems will inevitably be more energy-efficient and thus allow handset-makers to offer either longer life between charges or thinner phones.

What's more, many of the innovations that promise to make 5G truly disruptive have yet to arrive. But more on that in a bit.

How fast will it go?

The communications watchdog Ofcom suggests that in time 5G could offer speeds of 20Gbps.

That is fast enough to download an ultra-high definition 4K movie in less time than it takes to read its description.

But for now, you should temper your expectations.

To start with, the fibre lines EE is using to link each 5G site to its network have a total capacity of only 10Gbps, which must be shared around.

What is 5G and what does it mean to you?

The network has suggested that, on average, users will achieve about 150-200Mbps downloads at launch, with lucky individuals hitting about 1Gbps at quiet times.

Samsung's S10 5G is the premium handset choice on offer from the networks after they pulled sales of a rival device from Huawei

So, wait times for such big files will still be measured in minutes rather than seconds.

Even so, this would still be an improvement on the 29.6Mbps that OpenSignal said that EE typically provided via its 4G network.

Of course, there's another way to measure speed and that is in terms of latency - the lag between sending a command and getting a response.

In time, 5G is supposed to provide latencies of one millisecond or less, compared with the 20-70 milliseconds on offer today.

That will make playing videos games powered by a cloud-based service a more responsive experience and will pave the way for new use cases - such as remote-controlled vehicles, surgical robots, and live-streamed virtual reality.

To start with, however, things won't be close to that level.

EE says to expect latency of about 20 milliseconds at launch, falling to 10 milliseconds within the next decade.

Is it just about faster phones?

No - though that's undoubtedly the short-term hook to attract subscribers.

One of the biggest long-term benefits of 5G will be the ability for mobile networks to provide more connections at once.

In theory, 5G will be able to simultaneously support more than a million devices per sq km (0.4 sq miles), a big jump over the 60,000-odd devices that 4G technology maxes out at.

But to make this possible, antennas will be needed all over the place - from lamp-posts to bus shelters, in addition to more of the rooftop masts we're already used to.

These in turn will support hundreds of thousands of data-capturing sensors that will allow the authorities and businesses to gain deeper insights about behaviour and provide "smarter" services.

Futurists envisage benefits such as a customer's smart-home automatically ordering the ingredients for meals that have been nutritionally tailored to their activities, while retailers make use of related data to ensure they have the right amount of stock to hand, thus minimising lost sales and goods going to waste.

5G makes it possible to support millions of sensors tracking behaviour, the environment and other devices

So, while 4G made it possible to start controlling internet-connected devices from afar, 5G should enable a multitude of machine-to-machine communications, allowing decisions to be made for people rather than by them.

Technology analyst Stephanie Hare says: "5G will make our physical world go from 'dumb' to 'smart'.

"It raises questions about how much choice and agency we will have, as companies and governments will have more information with which to target messages and options to us.

"The risk is that we won't be able to opt out."

What other changes will there be?

A little down the line, expect "network slicing" to become a new buzz-phrase.

This will allow operators to tailor different 5G contracts to different types of client by carving up their network into a variety of "virtual" slices, each of which will be isolated from the others and can be adjusted to guarantee different download speeds, latencies and bandwidth.

For example, a cloud gaming service provider might pay more for a contract that guarantees it super-low latencies, while the emergency services and broadcasters could be guaranteed that their 5G-based communications would not be disrupted by lots of people trying to watch YouTube at once.

EE suggests it will introduce this functionality in 2023.

Mobile networks are also likely to try to use the extra capacity they gain to offer a one-stop service that does away with the need for a separate home broadband connection.

Three's boss told BBC News last year that many customers had no need for the kind of speeds a fibre-optic cable delivered but would find 5G superior to what was possible over a copper phone line.

"It's expensive to dig up roads. It takes a lot of time and money," he said.

"It's much cheaper and quicker to provide that connectivity via a wireless connection."

What about Huawei?

A shadow hanging over all the networks' 5G plans is a possible ban on the use of Huawei's telecoms equipment because of security concerns.

Last month, it looked like the UK was about to green light use of the Chinese company's 5G antennas and masts - but Prime Minister's Theresa May's resignation means things are now less clear.

Three has said its 5G rollout could be delayed by 18 months if the government bans Huawei's equipment

Barring the company's infrastructure would prove a major headache for the operators.

EE and Vodafone would have to strip out some of their existing Huawei kit, which does double-duty for both 4G and 5G.

Both have indicated that if their engineers had to replace it, that would slow their ability to roll out 5G.

Telefonica's O2 hasn't widely deployed Huawei's equipment to date but is engaged in a network-sharing agreement with Vodafone, so would still be affected.

And Three has signalled that it plans to use the Shenzhen-based company's 5G products.

All of which means that while the UK is one of the first European countries to launch 5G, it could still end up taking longer to expand it nationwide than many of its continental counterparts.--BBC

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg to face leadership vote

A vote calling for Mark Zuckerberg to stand down as Facebook's chairman is expected to take place at the company's annual general meeting on Thursday.

Mr Zuckerberg is both Facebook's chief executive and the chairman of its board of directors.

Those calling for him to step down as chairman say this would help him focus on running the company.

Mr Zuckerberg is very unlikely to lose the vote, because he owns 60% of the company's shares.

However, the percentage of shareholders who vote against him could indicate how much faith they have in his leadership.

Trillium Asset Management owns about $7m (£5.5m) worth of Facebook shares, and works with other businesses that control "hundreds of millions" of dollars worth of the company's shares.

The company is one of those advocating for Mr Zuckerberg to step down.

"He's holding down two full-time jobs in one of the most high-profile companies in the world right now. And if he can focus on being the CEO, and let somebody else focus on being independent board chair, that would be a much better situation," said Jonas Kron, senior vice-president at Trillium.

"He has examples in Larry Page and Alphabet, Bill Gates and Microsoft, of what it can look like for a founder not to be the chairman of the board.

"I realise that it may not be an easy step to take, but it's an important step that would be to his benefit and to his shareholders' benefit."

'Too much power'

In May, Facebook's former security chief Alex Stamos called for Mr Zuckerberg to step down as chief executive.

"There's a legit argument that he has too much power," Mr Stamos told the Collision Conference in Canada.

Mr Zuckerberg previously defended his leadership of Facebook.

In April, he said: "When you're building something like Facebook, which is unprecedented in the world, there are things that you're going to mess up.

"What I think people should hold us accountable for is if we are learning from our mistakes."--BBC

Boeing 737 Max could be grounded for months, says airline body

Boeing's 737 Max aircraft is unlikely to re-enter service before August, according to the head of the airline industry's trade body, IATA.

Director General Alexandre de Juniac said "we do not expect something before 10 or 12 weeks", although he added a final decision was up to regulators.

The aircraft was grounded globally in March after two crashes within months.

It comes as Boeing boss Dennis Muilenburg issued another apology, saying "it feels personal".

The aircraft was grounded by regulators worldwide after 157 people were killed when an Ethiopian Airlines' 737 Max crashed. Five months previously a Lion Air 737 Max crashed, claiming 189 lives.

Mr de Juniac told reporters in Seoul on Wednesday that IATA was organising a summit with airlines, regulators and Boeing in five-to-seven weeks to discuss what is needed for the 737 Max to return to service, he said.

He hoped that regulators can "align their timeframe" on when the aircraft will be back in the skies.

US operators United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and American Airlines have removed the 737 Max from their flight schedules until early to mid-August.

Later, Mr Muilenburg told US television station CBS that the crashes have had "the biggest impact on me" of anything in his 34 years at the planemaker.

'Steady progress'

In another apology, he said: "We are sorry for the loss of lives in both accidents, we are sorry for the impact to the families and the loved ones that are behind, and that will never change. That will always be with us. I can tell you it affects me directly as a leader of this company, it's very difficult."

Earlier in the day, Mr Muilenburg said he was confident about getting the 737 Max back in the skies.

He told an investor conference: "We're making clear and steady progress, and that includes the work that we're doing on the airplane update, the software update, working through the certification process with the FAA [US regulator]."

He said Boeing continues to expect to ramp-up its long-term production rate to 57 a month after cutting monthly output to 42 planes in response to the groundings.--BBC

Premier League leads European football to £25bn valuation

The big five European leagues generated a record €15.6bn (£13.8bn) in revenue in 2017-18, a 6% annual increase, according to new figures from Deloitte.

It says the European football market is now worth some €28.4bn (£25.1bn).

The English Premier League was the market leader, with record revenues of £4.8bn, as five teams competed in the Champions League for the first time.

Germany's Bundesliga overtook Spain's La Liga to become the second-largest revenue generating league in the world.

Deloitte said during the 2017-18 season, European club football was in the "strongest financial position that we've ever seen".

"This reflects the drive among leading clubs to generate ever greater revenues to fund success on the pitch and also the sustained efforts of UEFA to improve profitability and sustainability of clubs through Financial Fair Play and club licensing," said Dan Jones, partner and head of the Sports Business Group at Deloitte.

'Competitive nature'

With a quintet of English teams competing in the Champions League in 2017-18, and all reaching round 16 or beyond, Uefa payouts to clubs increased by about £71m.

Alongside the increase in European cash, match-day and commercial revenue also both grew at Premier League clubs - by 8% and 12% respectively.

However, following record operating profits in 2016-17, increased spending on player wages contributed to reduced operating profits. They fell by 16% to £867m, still the second highest level of profitability to date.

"This wage spending is an indication of the competitive nature of the division, with the top clubs competing for financially lucrative places in Uefa competitions, and clubs lower down the division fighting to remain in the Premier League itself," said Mr Jones.

"With the sale of the Premier League's domestic and international broadcast rights now complete for the 2019-20 to 2021-22 seasons, resulting in an overall 8% revenue increase, Premier League clubs will receive further increases in central distributions in the coming seasons.

"However, the increase is not as significant as in the previous two cycles and therefore clubs will aim to improve their competitive and financial position through developing and growing other commercial revenue."

He said that while the Premier League had retained its leading position financially, other leagues would continue to grow in coming years.

In the second-tier English Championship, record wage levels have led to record operating losses.

Wages outstripped revenues, highlighting the financial risks that Championship clubs are willing to take in order to gain promotion to the Premier League. However, net debt among Championship clubs almost halved over the course of the season.

Tax contribution

Other findings regarding English football finances in 2017-18 include:

*         The top 92 Premier League and Football League clubs generated a record £5.8bn in revenue

*         Championship clubs generated record combined revenues of £749m, a 4% increase on 2016-17

*         The 92 Premier League and Football League clubs contributed £2.1bn in taxes (2016-17: £1.9bn)

*         Premier League clubs' wages-to-revenue ratio rose to 59%

*         Championship clubs' wages-to-revenue ratio increased to 106%

*         Scottish broadcast deals

Meanwhile, Scottish revenues increased to £206m in 2017-18, driven by match-day revenue growth of 19%.

The Premiership saw its highest average attendances since 2006-07, aided by the return of Hibernian to the top flight.

Following the termination of the SPFL's international media rights agreement with broadcast agency MP & Silva, replacement deals were signed. Those agreements with beIN Sports and other broadcasters made the league available to view in 119 territories for two seasons from 2018-19.

In addition, Deloitte says an exclusive five-year domestic broadcast rights deal with Sky Sports should deliver a 20% increase on the current deal from season 2020-21.

Outside the UK, the commencement of the German Bundesliga's new broadcast arrangements saw it leapfrog La Liga to become number two in terms of revenue generation.

The Bundesliga also remains the best-attended European league, with average crowds of more than 43,000.

Italy's Serie A remains some way behind the German and Spanish leagues in terms of revenues, with France's Ligue 1 remaining the smallest of the Big Five leagues.--BBC

Brexit shutdown slashes UK car production by 45%

Factory shutdowns designed to cope with disruption from a 29 March Brexit, slashed UK car production in April by almost a half.

Even though Brexit is delayed the factories still closed and production fell 44.5% according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

In what it called "an extraordinary month", the SMMT said only 70,971 cars rolled off production lines.

That was 56,999 fewer than in April a year ago.

Production for both home and overseas markets fell by 43.7% and 44.7% respectively.

The SMMT said car firms had brought forward their annual stoppages normally scheduled for the summer holidays.

It said the shutting of factories was part of a raft of costly measures, including stockpiling, training for new customs procedures and rerouting of logistics. It said the factories would not be able to repeat the process for the new 31 October Brexit deadline set by the European Union.

Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: "Today's figures are evidence of the vast cost and upheaval Brexit uncertainty has already wrought on UK automotive manufacturing businesses and workers.

"Prolonged instability has done untold damage, with the fear of 'no deal' holding back progress, causing investment to stall, jobs to be lost and undermining our global reputation."

Global slowdown

The stoppages in the factories have exacerbated a continuing slow down in the global car industry caused by the trade tensions between the US and China, uncertainties over the arrival of electric and self driving cars, and tougher environmental controls after the VW emissions scandal.

April was the 11th consecutive month of output falls in the UK.

In the year to date, 127,240 fewer cars have been built compared with the same period in 2018 - a decline of more than a fifth.

The SMMT estimated production for the whole of 2019 would be about 10% down on last year. It said the market might pick up by the end of the year if there was a favourable deal between the UK and the EU and a substantial transition period to adapt to trading outside the single market.

But it said a no-deal Brexit would make the declines worse with the threat of border delays, production stoppages and additional costs.

Mr Hawes said: "This is why 'no deal' must be taken off the table immediately and permanently, so industry can get back to the business of delivering for the economy and keeping the UK at the forefront of the global technology race."--BBC

INVESTORS DIARY 2019

Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

Dairibord

AGM

Steward Room, Meikles

31 May 2019, 12pm

Lafarge

AGM

Manresa Club, Arcturus

05 June 2019 , 12pm

CBZ

AGM

Stewart Room, Meikles

05 June 2019 , 3pm

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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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