Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 05 November 2019

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 05 November 2019

 


 

 


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*  Nigerian president signs bill amending offshore oil output act

*  Shoprite's USave a bright spot in S.Africa's slowing economy

*  South Africa rand and bonds bounce on Moody's ratings reprieve

*  Ivory Coast cocoa farmers hope for more sunny days

*  S.Africa bonds rally after Moody's rating reprieve

*  Pirates kidnap four crew from Greek boat off Togo - Togo navy

*  Moody's leaves South Africa teetering on brink of 'junk'

*  Kenya's Safaricom plans joint bid with Vodacom for Ethiopia licence

*  Sudan agrees reforms with World Bank, IMF - finance minister

*  Cuadrilla says it hopes to overturn fracking suspension

*  Microsoft four-day work week 'boosts productivity'

*  Sportswear company faces two US accounting probes

*  Facebook bans political ad posted by ex-Downing Street aide

*  No-one understood our idea, but now it's worth over $1bn

*  Mothercare UK administration plan threatens 2,500 jobs

*  OneCoin lawyer on trial for role in 'crypto-scam'

*  Why India wants to track WhatsApp messages

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

Nigerian president signs bill amending offshore oil output act

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law on
Monday a bill that amends legislation on agreements related to offshore oil
production, according to the president’s Twitter account.

 

While offshore oil projects are among the most challenging for companies to
develop, they have helped boost oil output in the last few years from
Nigeria, Africa’s top crude producer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

Shoprite's USave a bright spot in S.Africa's slowing economy

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - In a bright spot amid South Africa’s economic woes,
Shoprite Holdings managed a 7.3% rise in quarterly revenue as shoppers
turned to its discount unit USave.

 

While its international operations saw sales fall 4.9% hurt by currency
devaluations and anti-immigrant attacks, the supermarket operator reported a
10.3% rise in South Africa for the three months to Sept 30.

 

It opened eight USave stores, which offer discounted goods in low income
areas, in the quarter.

 

Days of riots in South Africa chiefly targeting foreign-owned businesses
sparked retaliatory attacks elsewhere, forcing Shoprite to close several
stores in early September in South Africa, Nigeria and Zambia.

 

“Management is assessing the performance of the Supermarkets Non-RSA
segment, with specific reference to the Group’s return on capital invested
in Africa,” Shoprite said in a statement without providing detail.

 

The company’s other operations comprising OK Franchise, Computicket,
Medirite pharmacies, and Checker’s Food Services reported a 6.4% increase in
sales.

 

 

 

South Africa rand and bonds bounce on Moody's ratings reprieve

JOHANNESBURG/LONDON (Reuters) - The South African rand and government bonds
jumped on Monday after ratings agency Moody’s kept the country’s last
investment-grade credit rating intact, but many investors expected the rally
could fade soon.

 

Moody’s decision on Friday to leave South Africa’s sovereign debt at Baa3,
the lowest rung of investment grade, was a relief to beleaguered President
Cyril Ramaphosa, who is battling to stimulate growth in Africa’s most
advanced economy.

 

But by revising the outlook on that rating from stable to negative, Moody’s
sent a warning that a downgrade could follow in the next 12-18 months - or
sooner if the government doesn’t come up with a credible budget in February.

 

A downgrade to “junk” status on the local-currency rating could trigger
large outflows from South African government bonds, as they would be ejected
from the benchmark World Government Bond Index.

 

At 1500 GMT, the rand traded at 14.80 versus the U.S. dollar, around 1.5%
stronger than its previous close.

 

South Africa’s dollar-denominated sovereign bonds surged, with longer-dated
issues adding as much as 1.3 cents in the dollar. The yield on the benchmark
2026 rand bond fell 17 basis points to 8.405%, while the Johannesburg Stock
Exchange’s Top-40 Index saw modest gains of around 0.5%.

 

Traders and fund managers expected gains could probably be short-lived, as
it would be hard for Finance Minister Tito Mboweni to present a greatly
improved fiscal picture in February.

 

Warrick Butler, executive for rand and emerging market spot trading at
Standard Bank, said the three to four months until the February budget was
“a very short period of time to pump the water from the Titanic”.

 

Part of the reason for Monday’s rally was that South Africa had escaped with
the best of the possible outcomes from Moody’s, said Wayne McCurrie at FNB
Wealth and Investments.

 

A small minority had thought the rating would be downgraded or Moody’s would
place South Africa “on watch” - both bleaker outcomes than a negative
outlook.

 

A healthy appetite for high-yielding assets in emerging markets more broadly
and last week’s steep sell-off in South Africa underpinned the rally.

 

On Wednesday, the rand saw its largest daily fall in over a year, after
Mboweni’s medium-term budget slashed this year’s growth forecast to 0.5% and
showed government debt racing to exceed 70% of gross domestic product by
2023.

 

DON’T GET ‘FOOLED’

Deutsche Bank analysts warned clients not to be “fooled” by Monday’s strong
gains, adding they were extremely cautious on local government debt and
predicted the rand could sink to 15.50 to the dollar, more than 4% weaker
than its current level.

 

Those bearish projections - echoed by some local analysts - come at a bad
time for Ramaphosa, who is hosting a summit in Johannesburg this week to try
to woo foreign investors.

 

Adrian Saville, chief executive of Cannon Asset Managers, said the fact that
South African credit spreads traded in line with some junk-rated sovereigns
showed the bond market had made up its mind.

 

Despite positive changes to governance at state firms and greater certainty
on energy policy, Ramaphosa’s reforms were moving at a “glacial pace,”
Saville said.

 

Investors want to see progress cutting a bloated public-sector wage bill and
rescuing state power utility Eskom from crisis.

 

But those who are more risk-averse have been jettisoning South African bonds
for years on the expectation the country would be cut to junk.

 

Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s David Hauner estimates investment grade-only
investors now hold around $1.5-$2 billion of South African local-currency
bonds, down from $10 billion three years ago.

 

 

 

Ivory Coast cocoa farmers hope for more sunny days

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Heavy rainfall last week in most of Ivory Coast’s
cocoa-growing regions was accompanied by some of the sunniest days in
months, improving bean quality, farmers said on Monday.

 

Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer, is on the cusp of the dry
season which runs from mid-November to March.

 

Farmers said more rainfall mixed with sunny spells was needed before the
arrival of December’s dry harmattan winds for next year’s harvest to develop
well.

 

But continuing heavy rains could cause cherelles and small pods to fall from
trees and reduce the size of next year’s crop, they added.

 

While consistent sunshine throughout last week helped farmers dry beans
properly, some reported the high moisture content had caused damage to
trees.

 

“The sunshine has to continue. We have plantations where young pods are
rotting on trees because of the high moisture content,” said Jocelin Anvo,
who farms near the southern region of Agboville.

 

In Agboville, data collected by Reuters showed rainfall was 97.7 mm last
week, 75.4 mm above the five-year average.

 

In the eastern region of Abengourou, known for the good quality of its
beans, rainfall was at 68.6 mm, 46.4 mm above average. Farmers there also
reported concerns over black pod disease and humidity.

 

In the southern region of Divo, rainfall was 45 mm, 26.1 mm above average.

 

In the central regions of Bongouanou and Yamoussoukro, where rainfall was
both above average, farmers said the sunny weather was improving growing
conditions.

 

“The harvests are getting bigger and there is still a lot of cocoa on the
trees. If the dry season doesn’t come ruin the pods, we will have a lot of
money,” said Julien Koffi, who farms near Soubre.

 

Rainfall in Soubre, which includes the regions of San Pedro and Sassandra,
was 26.8 mm, 7.8 mm above the five-year average. In the region of Daloa,
which includes the region of Bouafle, rainfall was 38.1 mm, 25.9 mm above
average.

 

Average temperatures ranged from 24.7 to 27.1 Celsius.

 

 

 

S.Africa bonds rally after Moody's rating reprieve

LONDON (Reuters) - South Africa’s dollar-denominated sovereign bonds jumped
and yields of the local 10-year benchmark eased on Monday after Pretoria
escaped a relegation to “junk” status by ratings agency Moody’s in the wake
of last week’s bleak mid-term budget.

 

Local bond yields eased across the curve with the 10-year benchmark yield
slipping to 8.4%, a 18 basis points decline from the Friday close, according
to Refinitiv data.

 

Meanwhile, longer-dated Eurobonds bonds enjoyed the biggest gains with the
2041 issue adding as much as 1.5 cents in the dollar to trade at 109.028
cents, Tradeweb data showed. That was the largest daily gain in 4-1/2
months.

 

Late on Friday, Moody’s left South Africa on the brink of “junk” status
after it revised the outlook on the country’s last investment-grade credit
rating to “negative,” piling pressure on President Cyril Ramaphosa to
quicken the pace of reform.

 

 

 

Pirates kidnap four crew from Greek boat off Togo - Togo navy

LOME (Reuters) - Pirates attacked a Greek oil tanker off the coast of Togo
on Monday and fled after taking four crew members as hostages, the West
African nation’s navy and Greek authorities said, two days after a similar
attack in the waters of neighbouring Benin.

 

Of the missing crew members, two are Filipinos, one is Greek and one is
Georgian, the navy said in a statement. One security guard was also shot and
wounded in the attack, it said.

 

“Monday, 4th of November 2019, around 0300, the tanker boat Elka Aristotle
[...] was attacked around 18 kilometers (11 miles) from the port of Lome by
armed individuals,” the statement said.

 

The vessel’s manager, European Product Carriers Ltd, confirmed the early
morning attack, without providing further details. Greece’s shipping
ministry said it was “closely monitoring the issue”.

 

While piracy has decreased worldwide, West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea is a
high-risk area for abductions and armed robbery, according to the
International Maritime Bureau.

 

Armed guards were present on the Greek boat and tried to fight off the
attackers, but one was wounded, the Togo navy said. An investigation has
been opened.

 

The attack follows the abduction by pirates of nine Filipino crew members
from a Norwegian-flagged boat off the coast of Benin on Saturday.

 

 

 

Moody's leaves South Africa teetering on brink of 'junk'

JOHANNESBURG/LONDON (Reuters) - Moody’s left South Africa on the brink of
“junk” status on Friday after it revised the outlook on the country’s last
investment-grade credit rating to “negative,” piling pressure on President
Cyril Ramaphosa to quicken the pace of reform.

 

Moody’s said the outlook revision on its ‘Baa3’ rating, the lowest rung of
investment grade, was motivated by a deterioration in the economic growth
outlook and rising debt.

 

Analysts had expected the move after a bleak mid-term budget statement this
week that slashed this year’s growth forecast to 0.5% and showed government
debt racing to more than 70% of gross domestic product by 2023.

 

The rand tumbled more than 2.5% over the past week against the dollar, its
sharpest weekly drop since early August. Yields on local 10-year government
bond issues traded on Monday at just over 8% but climbed as high as 8.6%
following the dire budget predictions.

 

The negative outlook means there is a window of 12-18 months in which a
downgrade could be delivered, but it could come sooner if Moody’s isn’t
impressed by the fiscal picture presented at the next budget statement in
February.

 

“The development of a credible fiscal strategy to contain the rise in debt,
including in the 2020 budget process and statement, will be crucial to
sustain the rating at its current level,” Moody’s said in a statement after
South African financial markets had closed.

 

It added that its new outlook reflected rising concern that the government
would not find “the political capital to implement the range of measures it
intends, and that its plans will be largely ineffective in lifting growth”.

 

The finance ministry responded by saying the country had “a narrow window to
demonstrate faster and concrete implementation of reforms”.

 

Ramaphosa has struggled to revive Africa’s most advanced economy since
taking over from scandal-plagued Jacob Zuma in February 2018.

 

The wave of optimism among foreign and local investors that accompanied his
rise to power has fizzled out as the economic challenges have grown more
acute, with unemployment reaching an 11-year high above 29% and state power
company Eskom struggling to keep the lights on.

 

One of the greatest worries is rising government debt, which shows no signs
of stabilising soon amid repeated bailouts for state-owned companies.

 

‘CONSISTENT UNCERTAINTY’

Fund managers said they were not expecting a steep sell-off in government
bonds and the rand when financial markets re-open on Monday, because the
outlook revision was expected by so many and South African assets had fallen
sharply over the past week.

 

The spread of South African dollar debt over U.S. Treasuries is already
wider than on some junk-rated sovereigns, reflecting longstanding concerns
over the country’s fiscal health.

 

“Valuations are already reflecting this outcome. So on any sell-offs, we
would see it as a buying opportunity,” said Jean-Charles Sambor, deputy head
of emerging market fixed income at BNP Paribas Asset Management.

 

S&P Global and Fitch already moved South Africa’s debt to sub-investment
level in 2017, when the country was embroiled in corruption scandals under
Zuma.

 

A move to “junk status” from all three agencies typically increases a
government’s cost of borrowing by raising the premium that investors demand
to hold its debt. It could also see South Africa evicted from the benchmark
World Government Bond Index of local-currency debt, which could trigger
billions of dollars of passive outflows.

 

Phoenix Kalen, director of emerging markets strategy at Societe Generale,
said South Africa was now in the “last-chance saloon” and that it had to
stabilise its debt.

 

“This will be a Herculean task,” Kalen said, citing financial pressures at
state companies among causes for concern.

 

Ramaphosa’s government has promised Eskom R230 billion($15.3 billion) of
bailouts over the next decade, on top of a R59 billion “special
appropriation” over the next two fiscal years. But analysts say it will need
more state money than that.

 

Kevin Lings, chief economist at asset manager Stanlib, said a downgrade in
2020 was now his “base case” and that some investors would be reluctant to
buy South African debt until the downgrade had happened.

 

“Next year is going to be marked by consistent uncertainty around the
currency and bond markets, it’s going to put South Africa under a lot of
strain,” he said.

 

($1 = 15.0268 rand)

 

 

Kenya's Safaricom plans joint bid with Vodacom for Ethiopia licence

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya’s largest telecoms operator Safaricom plans a
joint bid with South Africa’s Vodacom for one of two Ethiopian telecoms
licences that will be offered next year, its acting chief executive said on
Friday.

 

Michael Joseph said the company, partly owned by Vodacom and Britain’s
Vodafone, had not made up its mind about another option of entering the
lucrative Ethiopian market through partial privatisation of state monopoly
Ethio Telecom.

 

Firms which want to secure the licences have to come with deep pockets,
Joseph said, citing the expected cost of acquiring the spectrum.

 

“You have to bid for the spectrum. There is talk about it and it is in the
billion dollar range, just for the licence,” he told Reuters after the firm
released its first half results.

 

 

 

Sudan agrees reforms with World Bank, IMF - finance minister

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan has agreed a roadmap to “rehabilitate” the
country with the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and African
Development Bank, its finance minister said on Thursday.

 

Finance Minister Ibrahim Elbadawi said the plan involved structural reforms
but did not go into further details. He said as part of the deal Sudan would
not have to pay its lenders debt arrears. There could also be non-financial
support.

 

Sudan’s inclusion on a list of countries deemed sponsors of terrorism by the
United States makes it ineligible for debt relief and financing from lenders
like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, cutting off a crucial
source of finance.

 

Elbadawi was speaking to reporters at Khartoum airport after he flew back
from Washington, D.C., where he was attending the annual World Bank and IMF
meetings.

 

He said negotiations with other creditors would begin in March.

 

“Based on that, Sudan’s debt relief programme will start by the end of
2020,” he said, without giving further details.

 

Elbadawi said that “friends of Sudan” will fund its 2020 budget, and said
the ministry has submitted financing requests for 20 projects to donors,
without identifying who those donors were.

 

A “friends of Sudan” meeting will be held in Khartoum in early December, he
said. Another meeting for donors will be held in April.

 

 

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have given Sudan $3 billion in
aid, agreed soon after former president Omar al-Bashir was ousted in April,
throwing a lifeline to Sudan’s new military leaders at the time.

 

Sudan’s new transitional government, formed as part of a three-year deal
agreed by military and civilian leaders in August, has been working to
remove Sudan from the U.S. sponsors of terrorism list, to potentially open
the door for foreign investment.

 

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok is expected to visit the United States soon,
Elbadawi said, without saying when.

 

 

 

Cuadrilla says it hopes to overturn fracking suspension

Energy company Cuadrilla has said it hopes to "address concerns" about
fracking so that a moratorium announced by the government can be overturned.

 

At the weekend, ministers called a halt to the practice following research
from the Oil and Gas Authority.

 

It raised concerns about the ability to predict fracking-linked earthquakes.

 

But Cuadrilla, which was forced to suspend work at its Preston New Road site
after a series of tremors, said it would continue to give regulators data.

 

It said it hoped "to address concerns so that the moratorium can be lifted"
and that the Bowland gas resource - which stretches across northern England
- could be "further appraised and developed".

 

Fracking halted after government pulls support

On Monday, Business and Energy Secretary Andrea Leadsom confirmed the
"effective moratorium" in a written statement to the House of Commons.

 

She said it would be "maintained until compelling new evidence is provided
which addresses the concerns around the prediction and management of induced
seismicity".

 

However, the government is under pressure to make the ban permanent, amid
concerns ministers - who have previously been supportive of fracking - are
using it as an election ploy.

 

Why frack?

Fracking is a process in which liquid is pumped deep underground at high
pressure to fracture shale rock and release gas or oil trapped within it.

 

Assessment by the British Geological Survey in 2013 suggested there were
enough resources in the Bowland resource across northern England to
potentially provide up to 50 years of current gas demand.

 

Others, however, have questioned these findings.

 

Previously the government said shale development would provide opportunities
for jobs and investment, and could play a "key role" in maintaining energy
security.

 

But the industry has faced fierce opposition from both communities and
environmental groups, at a time when there is growing concern about the role
of fossil fuels in climate change.

 

It is not impossible, however, that the current moratorium could be lifted.

 

Fracking previously faced a moratorium during the Conservative-Liberal
Democrat coalition government that was overturned after just one year.--BBC

 

 

 

 

Microsoft four-day work week 'boosts productivity'

Microsoft Japan said sales had been boosted by nearly 40% during an
experiment in which staff worked a four-day week on full pay.

 

Offices were closed on every Friday of August 2019 and full-time staff were
given "special leave", which was paid.

 

Meetings were restricted to a maximum of 30 minutes and online discussions
were encouraged as an alternative to face-to-face.

 

Japan has some of the longest working hours in the world.

 

'Rest smartly'

A 2017 survey suggested nearly a quarter of Japanese companies had employees
working more than 80 hours overtime a month, often unpaid.

 

Microsoft's Work Life Choice Challenge 2019 Summer experiment was popular
with 92% of the staff it surveyed after the event.

 

During the month-long trial, electricity consumption had been reduced by 23%
and paper printing by 59% compared with August 2018, Microsoft said.

 

The technology giant said it was planning to implement a second Work Life
Choice Challenge this winter but would not be offering the same "special
leave".

 

Staff would, however, be encouraged to take time off to "rest smartly", it
said.

 

Six days

In contrast, Jack Ma, co-founder of Chinese online shopping giant Alibaba,
has championed 12-hour working days.

 

In April 2019, he described the "996" pattern, in which workers do
09:00-21:00 shifts, six days a week, as "a blessing".

 

A report commissioned by the Labour Party in the UK suggested a four-day
working week would be "unrealistic".

 

"Even though some people are compelled to work shorter hours than they want
to, most people are compelled to work longer hours than they want to," the
report. released in September, said.

 

Many workers find going part-time or reducing their days means they end up
having to squeeze the same amount of work into the time they do have.--BBC

 

 

 

Sportswear company faces two US accounting probes

US sportswear firm Under Armour has confirmed its accounts are being
investigated by US federal authorities.

 

It is co-operating with probes from the US Securities and Exchange
Commission and the US Department of Justice.

 

A Wall Street Journal report said authorities were looking into whether
Under Armour had shifted sales from quarter to quarter to appear healthier.

 

But Under Armour has said its "accounting practices and disclosures were
appropriate".

 

The firm, which supplies kits to Premier League club Southampton and the
Wales rugby team, says it has been assisting the authorities since July
2017.

 

News of the probe was the latest bad news for the company, which has been
struggling with stalling growth.

 

Shares in the company opened about 16% lower.

 

In October, the Baltimore, Maryland-based company said founder and
long-serving chief executive Kevin Plank would step down from the role next
year.

 

He is handing the reins to operations head Patrik Frisk, as the firm looks
to compete with long-established rivals Nike and Adidas in the US.

 

Revenues fall

On Monday, the firm cut its growth forecast for annual revenues as it
reported its third quarter financial results

 

Under Armour now expects revenues in the current financial year to grow by
2%, compared with an earlier forecast of 3%-4%.

 

The firm's third quarter results showed revenue fell 1% to $1.4bn (£1.07bn).

 

North American revenue fell 4% to $1bn but revenues from the international
business increased 5% to $368m. Other revenue was earned by its health and
well-being division Connected Fitness.

 

Within the international business, revenue was up 9% in EMEA (Europe, Middle
East and Africa), up 4% in Asia-Pacific, and down 4% in Latin America.

 

In the UK, its kit has also been worn in the past by the Tottenham Hotspur
football team and tennis player Andy Murray.--BBC

 

 

Facebook bans political ad posted by ex-Downing Street aide

Facebook has removed an advert from a tax campaign group for breaking its
rules on political advertising.

 

The Fair Tax Campaign, run by a former Boris Johnson aide, has been running
an ad with the message "could you afford an extra £214 each month?"

 

It claims that this is what Labour's tax plans would mean for everyone.

 

Labour is yet to publish its tax plans or manifesto for the 12 December
general election.

 

But Shadow chancellor John McDonnell this weekend said that if it won the
election, the party only planned to increase income tax for the top 5% of
earners to help fund increased public spending.

 

"In terms of income tax, we've said very clearly the top 5% will pay a bit
more, 95% of the earners will be protected," he told the BBC.

 

A Labour spokesman called the banned Facebook ad "fake news" and said it was
right that it had been swiftly removed.

 

Facebook challenged over political ad policy

The Fair Tax Campaign is run by Alex Crowley, a former aide to Prime
Minister Boris Johnson who left Downing Street in late September.

 

He told the BBC the ad made a "legitimate charge" that was based on a New
Economic Foundation Report from August this year. He said the campaign had
no links with the Conservative Party.

 

'Provide clarity'

The message in the ad says "sponsored" but does not reveal who has paid for
it. Under Facebook's rules, political advertisers have to register with the
social media firm and every advert has to show who has paid for it.

 

Facebook removed the ad after being contacted by the BBC.

 

The company said it should have carried a "paid for by" disclaimer and the
advertiser has been contacted "to provide clarity" on its policies relating
to ads about politics, elections and social issues.

 

The Fair Tax Campaign will be able to switch the ad back on if they register
and insert the "paid for by" disclaimer.

 

In the meantime the advert can be seen in Facebook's Ad Library, with a
message explaining why it has been removed.

 

The BBC has contacted the Fair Tax Campaign via its Facebook page which was
created on 13 October this year. So far there has been no response.

 

It is unclear who is behind the group, which says on Facebook that it
believes Labour's tax plans must never be allowed to happen and calls on
voters to oppose them in the 12 December general election.

 

Three Facebook users contacted the BBC to say they had been shown the
advert. They were responding to a crowd-sourcing initiative designed to
reveal how the different parties are targeting paid adverts during the UK
election campaign.

 

Facebook has come under fire on both sides of the Atlantic over its policy
of not policing misinformation in political adverts.

 

Boss Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly defended the policy, insisting that free
expression must be his company's priority.

 

As the UK general election campaign gets underway, the social media platform
is bound to be a vital campaigning arena, indeed it is likely to be the
principal focus for party spending.--BBC

 

 

 

No-one understood our idea, but now it's worth over $1bn

The BBC's weekly The Boss series profiles different business leaders from
around the world. This week we speak to Howie Liu, the founder and chief
executive of the fast-growing spreadsheet start-up AirTable.

 

Silicon Valley boss Howard Liu is sitting, he believes, on an idea that
could earn tens of billions of dollars. And with any luck, he tells the BBC,
his company AirTable will be the one to execute it.

 

"It's a profoundly large opportunity, not unlike the scale of Amazon, or
Facebook, or Google," he says without irony.

 

"I just think there's this sea change that's going to happen in terms of how
people can interact with software."

 

The big idea? Spreadsheets, but better. Spreadsheets, but richer.

 

Spreadsheets are commonly used by professionals such as accountants to sort
data, produce charts and do sums. But most of us find them too technical to
use in anything but a basic way.

 

How computing's first 'killer app' changed everything

AirTable changes that, says Mr Liu, making it so easy that people who
typically don't have coding skills - like cattle farmers - can set up
complex cloud systems for what they do, such as keeping track of cows and
equipment.

 

'Eyes glazed over'

The app has become a runaway success, attracting high profile customers such
as entertainment company Netflix, electric carmaker Tesla and the magazine
and website Time.

 

The company is also worth $1.1bn (£850m), based on its latest funding round,
despite only having had a product on the market for four years.

 

 

Explaining the concept to investors was difficult in the company's early
days, admits Mr Liu, who co-founded the business in 2012 and is also
AirTable's chief executive. It didn't exactly sound like an entirely new
idea.

 

"The concept of a spreadsheet predates even computing. Spreadsheets were the
first killer app."

 

And so, when he and his partners went into investor meetings armed with
their "pitch deck", they offered very little of what investors typically
expected to hear.

 

"You see all these pitch decks out there that show a chart of growth, and
market size, and all that kind of stuff. Ours looked nothing like that."

 

Instead they made a philosophical case for AirTable and how it could
transform the world of work.

 

 

"Honestly, I think a lot of eyes just glazed over. I distinctly remember a
few cases, even with the investors that said yes, where they said 'we don't
really get what you're talking about'."

 

Ultimately, what got those investors on board was confidence in the AirTable
team itself, which Mr Liu says was perhaps of more importance at such an
early stage.

 

"There are many ways for a great idea with a bad team to fail, whereas even
an unknown idea with a great team can succeed."

 

'I thought we were Chinese?'

Mr Liu grew up in College Station, Texas, "two hours away from Houston and
three hours away from Dallas".

 

He jokes that his family background is so complicated his mother didn't even
try to explain it to him until he was around 10 years old.

 

"All four of my grandparents were Korean," he says. "But during the Second
World War they moved, as many Koreans did, to China. My parents were both
born in China, but moved to the States before I was born."

 

His parents thought he would be "too confused" by that kind of story, and it
wasn't until he had to do a family history essay for school that it was
explained to him.

 

"I interviewed my grandparents and I remember being like 'wait a second, I
thought we were Chinese?' I was super confused."

 

 

Less confusing was learning to code. Aged 13, Mr Liu picked up one of his
dad's books on C++, the programming language, and taught himself in a matter
of weeks.

 

At just 16, he began studying computational airfoil design at Duke
University in North Carolina. It was here that he met his eventual AirTable
co-founders, Andrew Ofstad and Emmett Nicholas, although the three wouldn't
work together until later on in their lives.

 

Mr Liu's first business was Etacts, a customer relationship management (CRM)
company. It was bought by software giant Salesforce in 2011 for an
undisclosed sum.

 

The sale gave Mr Liu the luxury of financial security when starting up
AirTable, but the acquisition, he reflects, left him feeling somewhat
hollow.

 

"I ended up being very fortunate to have this life-changing financial
outcome," he says. "But it was a failure in the sense that we never actually
built a real business, an organisation with its own culture."

 

It did, however, get him in the room with powerful people when he needed
backing for AirTable - people like Marc Benioff, chief executive of
Salesforce and one of the most influential men in the tech industry.

 

He wasn't sold on Mr Liu's idea, and suggested they instead put their effort
into creating a better way of gathering electronic medical records. They
ignored his advice.

 

"It wasn't like we arrogantly thought we knew better," Mr Liu remembers.
"Marc was extremely generous with his time and advice. He was doing us a
huge favour."

 

The San Francisco-based firm still only has around 80,000 business customers
but that figure is growing. A plethora of other famous users are helping to
spread the word, although the firm has found popularity among far smaller
enterprises too, particularly non-profit organisations.

 

When Hurricane Harvey battered Texas and Louisiana in 2017, AirTable was
used to log rescued pets and reunite them with their owners. The site has a
free plan, with limited functionality and capacity, and paid monthly plans
for small businesses.

 

The success makes AirTable, quite comfortably, a "unicorn" - the nickname
for privately held companies valued at more than a billion dollars. It's a
status symbol most in San Francisco strive for - but Mr Liu winces at the
term.

 

 

"It just viscerally feels
 cheesy. I think it's a label that has unnecessary
or artificial gravitas."

 

He feels too many start-ups, particularly in show-offish San Francisco, use
the "meaningless" unicorn tag to make themselves appear bigger and more
impressive than is justified.

 

"In the short term, you can fake it. But if you focus so much on what others
think of you, you don't focus on the right things. In the long-term, what
really matters are your business fundamentals."

 

Alex Wilhelm, editor in chief of investment-tracking website Crunchbase,
cites several factors in AirTable's appeal.

 

"AirTable hits on a few trends that venture capitalists are currently
excited about," he says.

 

"It touches on the idea that consumers are becoming more willing today to
pay a small fee for software to organise their personal or work lives.

 

"And it's something that venture capitalists can use themselves, and
understand. Never underestimate the power of that."--BBC

 

 

 

 

Mothercare UK administration plan threatens 2,500 jobs

Baby goods retailer Mothercare has said it plans to call in administrators
to the troubled firm's UK business, putting 2,500 jobs at risk.

 

Mothercare said its 79 UK stores were "not capable" of achieving a
sufficient level of profitability and that so far it had failed to find a
buyer.

 

It said its stores would continue to trade as normal for the time being.

 

Analysts said Mothercare had been slow to adapt to competition from rivals
and the switch to online retailing.

 

Mothercare has already gone through a rescue deal, known as a company
voluntary arrangement (CVA). This is an insolvency process that allows a
business to reach an agreement with its creditors to pay off all or part of
its debts. The process enabled the chain to shut 55 shops.

 

The firm said the decision to appoint administrators was "a necessary step
in the restructuring and refinancing" of the group.

 

"Plans are well advanced and being finalised for execution imminently. A
further announcement will be made in due course," it said.

 

Aisa Kara's parenting journey started in Mothercare when she used its
Babybond ultrasound scanning service.

 

"I was so anxious waiting for my 12-week scan, and I don't think either of
us could believe it was actually happening, so we booked our private
appointment," she said.

 

"Everything was OK and we viewed a heartbeat, so we left elated, and as it
was in Mothercare we got to buy our first item of baby clothing at the same
time.

 

"We bought all our nursery items and pushchair from there, and my daughter
and son have been dressed in Mothercare almost exclusively.

 

"The baby clothing is beautiful and I love the vintage styles. My only
complaint is that the online experience isn't as good as you would have
expected from a company trying to keep up with the market."

 

Other parents recall their Mothercare memories.

Dave Gill, national officer at the shopworkers' union Usdaw, said: "Usdaw is
providing our members in Mothercare with the support, representation and
advice they need at this difficult and uncertain time.

 

"We will urge the administrators to treat the staff with dignity and
respect, keep them fully informed through the administration process, do
everything possible to save jobs and keep as many stores open as possible
and prioritise stabilising the business to provide a more certain future."

 

It is understood Mothercare is in advanced talks to move its pension schemes
from its British operations over to its international parent company which
remains profitable.

 

As first reported by Sky, the aim is to stop the schemes being placed in the
Pension Protection Fund, which would likely result in cuts for members.

 

The company operates in more than 40 overseas territories, which are not
subject to administration.

 

In the financial year to March 2019, Mothercare's international business
generated profits of £28.3m, whereas the UK retail operations lost £36.3m.

 

In its heyday, Mothercare had hundreds of stores. It was the go-to place for
new parents. But it failed to keep up with our changing shopping habits.
Mothercare's UK arm has been loss-making for years. One big reason is
there's so much more competition these days.

 

>From Zara and H&M to the major supermarkets, there are no shortages of
places to buy children's clothing and often at cheaper prices. And then
there's online, with the likes of Amazon who are able to deliver basic kit
to your doorstep within hours of ordering. It has all eaten into
Mothercare's market share.

 

Truth is, this is a business that's been losing money for a very long time.
Last year's CVA wasn't enough to turn things around. Mothercare ran out of
time and money to try to revive its fortunes.

 

Shifting trends

Mothercare's move comes as High Street retailers continue to face tough
times amid a squeeze on consumers' income, the growth of online shopping and
the rising costs of staff, rents and business rates.

 

Retail analyst Steve Dresser told the BBC that like collapsed travel firm
Thomas Cook, Mothercare had failed to adapt to the world of online retail.

 

"They got very used to fat margins and a way of trading that's store-based,"
he said.

 

However, the firm had also lost its way on the High Street, with poor store
environments that deterred customers. Ultimately, he said, people did not
think of Mothercare first when it came to buying baby goods: "I think you
would be hard-pressed to know what the brand stands for."

 

Julie Palmer, partner at Begbies Traynor, said Mothercare had become "a
byword for trouble on the High Street", demonstrating "the failure of
well-established brands to stay afloat".

 

She added: "Other retailers, particularly those who have also previously
filed for CVAs, will be concerned that these restructuring plans haven't
succeeded and a more radical approach may be required in order to survive."

 

Richard Lim, boss of independent research consultancy Retail Economics,
said: "This is perhaps one of the most highly anticipated collapses on the
High Street... the cost-cutting operation and disposal of assets have not
gone far enough to revive plummeting profits.

 

"Years of underinvestment in the online business and its inability to
differentiate itself as a specialist for young families and expectant
parents has been the root of its seemingly inevitable downfall. As
competition has become fiercer they have been beaten on price, convenience
and the overall customer experience."--BBC

 

 

 

OneCoin lawyer on trial for role in 'crypto-scam'

The trial of a US lawyer accused of laundering some of the proceeds from the
OneCoin cryptocurrency "scam" has begun in New York.

 

Mark Scott is accused of routing approximately $400m (£310m) out of the US
while trying to conceal the true ownership and source of the funds.

 

Some is alleged to have ended up in Bank of Ireland accounts.

 

Prosecutors claim he also spent some of the fraud's proceeds on a yacht,
three homes and a Ferrari car.

 

They add that while the accused had earned hundreds of thousands of dollars
a year in his role as a partner at a top-ranked law firm, this was "a
fraction of the money he was paid to launder OneCoin fraud scheme proceeds".

 

A recent filing by his lawyers indicate that they expect the government will
prove that money that originated with OneCoin was indeed invested in funds
controlled by the defendant.

 

But they point to the fact that Mr Scott previously told the FBI that that
he had asked a colleague to look into rumours that OneCoin might be a
"pyramid scheme" before getting involved, and had been reassured "there was
nothing illegal going on".

 

"The central issue at trial will be whether or not Mr Scott knew OneCoin was
operating a criminal scheme," they add.

 

Mr Scott faces one charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering and
another to commit bank fraud.

 

He has pleaded not guilty.

 

The judge in the case has said it is likely to last between two to three
weeks.

 

US-based investors claiming to have been defrauded by the scheme are also
attempting to sue Mr Scott for recompense in a related case.

 

'Get rich'

In total, investigators believe as much as £4bn sterling has been raised
globally via what is said to have amounted to a Ponzi scheme, with investors
based in Uganda, China and the UK, among other countries.

 

"OneCoin used the success story of Bitcoin to induce victims to invest under
the guise that they, too, could get rich through their investments," New
York state attorneys say in one filing.

 

"This was, of course, completely false because the price of OneCoin was a
fiction and not based on supply and demand."

 

Among the evidence the prosecutors intend to present is testimony from one
investor who they say wired thousands of dollars for a OneCoin package to a
German entity, which in turn sent millions of euros directly to the
defendant's investment funds.

 

Others involved in OneCoin are also facing prosecution.

 

The man alleged to be one of the scheme's leaders, Konstantin Ignatov, was
arrested at Los Angeles International Airport in March.

 

And one of its co-founders, Sebastian Greenwood, was extradited from
Thailand to the US following an operation involving the FBI in November
2018.

 

However, the Bulgarian-based organisation behind OneCoin Ltd continues to
operate and denies all wrongdoing.

 

"OneCoin verifiably fulfils all criteria of the definition of a
cryptocurrency," it said in a recent statement given to The Missing
Cryptoqueen, a BBC podcast.

 

It added: "Our partners, our customers and our lawyers are fighting
successfully proceedings against OneCoin. We are sure that the vision of a
new system on the basis of a financial revolution will be established."

 

The BBC podcast has been documenting the search for Dr Ruja Ignatova,
another of the co-founders and the original public face of OneCoin.

 

The ex-McKinsey consultant had appeared at numerous events and on social
media to promote the scheme.

 

But she disappeared from view around October 2017 and there has not been a
confirmed sighting since.--BBC

 

 

 

Why India wants to track WhatsApp messages

India's plan to mandate the monitoring, interception and tracing of messages
on social media has alarmed users and privacy activists - as well as the
companies running the platforms. Prasanto K Roy looks at the potential
impact of such a move.

 

The country's information technology ministry will publish, by January 2020,
a new set of rules for intermediaries: platforms that allow people to send,
or share, messages. It is a sweeping term, which also includes e-commerce
and many other types of apps and websites.

 

The move is in response to an explosion of fake news that has caused mob
violence and led to more than 40 deaths in 2017 and 2018. Most frequent were
rumours about child kidnappers, circulated on WhatsApp and other platforms.
Those messages, with no basis in fact, caused mobs to lynch innocent
passers-by.

 

Such "forwards" spread to tens of thousands of users in hours, and became
nearly impossible to counter once they had spread.

 

In one example in 2018, the victim of mob violence was a man who had been
employed by government officials to go around villages with a loudspeaker
and tell locals not to believe rumours being spread on social media.

 

There are more than 50 documented cases of mob violence triggered by
misinformation spread over social media in India in the last two years. Many
platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, and Sharechat, a vernacular language
social media start-up and app, play a role.

 

But the Facebook-owned WhatsApp is by far the most popular of the platforms.
With India accounting for 400 million of its global base of 1.5 billion
users, it ends up being the focus of discussions on the spread of
misinformation.

 

After a spate of rumour-driven mob violence in 2018, the government had
asked WhatsApp to help halt the spread of "irresponsible and explosive
messages" on its platform. The platform took several steps, including
limiting the number of forwards allowed to five at a time, and putting a
"forwarded" tag on those messages.

 

Not enough, said the government, which now wants WhatsApp to use automated
tools to monitor messages, as China does, to take down specific messages. It
also wants the company to trace and report the original sender of a message
or video.

 

India's attorney general has told the Supreme Court in a related case that
social media companies had "no business to enter the country and carry on if
they can't decrypt information for investigative agencies, in cases of
sedition and pornography, among other crimes".

 

"See, they [social media companies] have even gone to court to stop us," a
government official told me off the record.

 

He added that online surveillance in China is far deeper and more sweeping.
He is right about that: on its popular WeChat platform, messages famously
disappear if they contain banned words.

 

Media captionThe India WhatsApp video driving people to murder

WhatsApp says the steps it has taken are working.

 

The labels and limits have reduced the number of forwarded messages on the
platform by 25%, a spokesperson said. She added that the company actively
bans two million accounts a month for "engaging in bulk or automated
messaging", and runs a big public education campaign that has reached
hundreds of millions of Indians.

 

Meanwhile, privacy activists are most worried about the demands to "trace"
the original sender of a message.

 

The government says it wants to trace messages that cause violence and
deaths, but activists fear it will then track down critics, with a chilling
effect on free speech.

 

This is no unfounded worry, given the spate of cases where those criticising
government actions, such as its crackdown in Kashmir last August, or those
writing a letter of protest to the prime minister, end up facing a sedition
charge.

 

"What [they want] is not possible today, given the end-to-end encryption we
use," says Carl Woog, WhatsApp's global head of communications, told
journalists in Delhi in February.

 

"It would require us to re-architect WhatsApp, leading us to a different
product, one that would not be fundamentally private. Imagine if every
message you sent was kept with a record of your phone number. That would not
be a place for private communications."

 

Since 2011, India's laws have allowed platforms some safe harbour. A phone
company cannot be held responsible for what its customers discuss over its
phone lines; nor an email provider for the content of emails a person sends
to another.

 

As long as the company complies with laws, such as sharing phone records on
demand with the authorities, it is safe from legal action. The new proposed
rules will make conditions for such safe harbour tougher.

 

Complying with the proposed rules would weaken the apps or platforms
globally, given the difficulties of maintaining different apps for different
countries.

 

And that's not the only problem. The draft rules demand a local India office
for any platform which has more than five million users in India. This is
ostensibly to find someone to hold accountable when there's a problem.

 

 

But India's technology laws define intermediary in a sweeping manner,
spanning any platform used to share information.

 

So all of this would end up affecting others too: Wikipedia being an example
of a platform that might have to shut down access to Indians, if such a law
is enforced. It's also not clear what would be done if a messaging platform,
such as the increasingly popular Signal or Telegram, did not comply with
this rule.

 

It's likely that internet service providers would then be directed to shut
down access to them.

 

While privacy activists have taken a hard stance against the contentious
provisions - monitoring and traceability - public policy professionals say
the government is keener to find a solution than to shut down or seriously
disrupt platforms.

 

"They all use WhatsApp: bureaucrats, politicians, cops," the India policy
head of a global tech company told me. "No one wants to shut it down. They
just need to see WhatsApp taking more serious steps to tackle a real,
serious problem."

 

Like many others, though, he wasn't able to spell out what those steps
should be.--BBC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 


 

INVESTORS DIARY 2019

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


Companies under Cautionary

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


Bindura Nickel Corporation

 

 

 


Padenga Holdings

 

 

 


Delta Corporation

 

 

 


Meikles Limited

 

 

 


 <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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