Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 18 November 2019

Mon Nov 18 02:51:01 CAT 2019

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 18 November 2019

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*  S.African Airways, unions meet for talks amid damaging strike

*  IMF agrees lending programme with DR Congo

*  Protest forces AngloGold Ashanti to suspend Guinea gold mine

*  South African rand jumps to 1-week high as trade hopes boost risk buying

*  Savannah completes Seven Energy deal in Nigeria

*  South Africa's platinum mining firms, top union end 'titanic battle' as
they seal wage deal

*  IMF says lending programme agreed with Democratic Congo

*  Steinhoff sells Blue Group to Alteri Investors

*  Standard Bank lists Namibian arm on local bourse

*  Saudi Aramco flotation values oil giant at $1.7tn

*  Why US tech giants are putting billions into housing

*  Uber's paradox: Gig work app traps and frees its drivers

*  Alibaba backs Hong Kong's 'bright' future with huge listing

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

S.African Airways, unions meet for talks amid damaging strike

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African Airways (SAA) and unions on Saturday
met for talks the troubled state-run carrier hopes can bring an end to a
crippling strike that it says could push it to collapse.

Unions representing more than half of SAA’s workforce called the strike from
Friday, forcing SAA to cancel hundreds of flights, and said it would
continue until their demands were met.

The airline said the action would cost it 50 million rand ($3.36 million)
per day.

The talks will be mediated by dispute resolution body The Commission for
Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). The unions’ demands include
an 8% wage increase, and they also object to SAA’s plan to cut over 900
jobs.

SAA, which hasn’t made a profit since 2011, needs to cut costs to turn
around - a mammoth task complicated by the huge sensitivity of job cuts in a
country where unemployment is already close to 30%. Workers say they
shouldn’t be left holding the can for years of management failures and poor
governance.

Phakamile Hlubi Majola, spokeswoman for the National Union of Metalworkers
of South Africa (NUMSA), one of the unions that called the strike, said they
also want SAA to commit to bringing costly outsourced services back in
house, which are blowing a substantial hole in SAA’s budget.

“Otherwise we’ll be right back here six months from now with them saying
they’ve got no money,” she said by phone, adding the unions could not move
on other demands before this one was met.

SAA’s woes have left it reliant on state bailouts to survive, becoming a
source of frustration for taxpayers who have forked out more than 30 billion
rand since 2012 as well as for a cash-strapped government already propping
up other ailing state firms.

Acting chief financial officer Deon Fredericks says the strikes negative
financial impact could jeopardise critical talks underway with lenders to
secure the funding needed to stay afloat.

While it expects some international flights to restart from Sunday, SAA
extended its cancellations for national and regional flights into Monday.
The unions rejected SAA’s most recent wage offer late on Thursday.

“The unions have not really moved an inch in so far as their stance is
concerned and this is what we are urging them to do,” SAA spokesman Tlali
Tlali told Reuters by phone on Friday.

($1 = 14.8839 rand)

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

IMF agrees lending programme with DR Congo

KINSHASA (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund and Democratic Republic
of Congo’s government agreed on Friday to a financial assistance package
that would allow the IMF to resume lending to Congo for the first time since
2012, the two sides said.

The IMF suspended its last aid to Congo - a loan programme worth more than
$500 million - after the government failed to provide sufficient details on
the sale of state mining assets to an offshore company.

President Felix Tshisekedi took office in January and has tried to repair
relations with foreign donors that had frayed during his predecessor Joseph
Kabila’s 18 years in power.

IMF delegation leader Mauricio Villafuerte told reporters in the capital
Kinshasa that the terms of the Rapid Credit Facility would be submitted to
the IMF board in mid-December for final approval.

“The economic situation (in Congo) is very difficult now because of weakness
controlling spending during the political transition and new spending
initiatives,” Villafuerte said.

Villafuerte said that, as part of the deal, Congolese authorities agreed to
policies to reinforce macroeconomic stability and address the country’s
challenging business climate.

The office of Congo’s prime minister confirmed that a deal had been reached.

It was not immediately clear how much the programme, which lasts through May
2020, would be worth or whether it included the kind of far-reaching
transparency reforms, including opening up the books of state mining company
Gecamines, that watchdog groups have urged.

Congo’s central bank governor said last week that he expected the programme
to be worth about $370 million.

Congo is Africa’s top copper producer and the world’s leading miner of
cobalt, a key component in electric car batteries. But it is one of the
world’s least developed countries, due largely to corruption and poor
governance.

Villafuerte said the IMF expected Congo’s economy to grow by 4.5% in 2019,
up from a previous estimate of 4.3%, but growth would slow to 3.2% in 2020
due to a slowdown in mining production.

Protest forces AngloGold Ashanti to suspend Guinea gold mine

CONAKRY (Reuters) - South African miner AngloGold Ashanti suspended its gold
mining operations in Guinea after a community protested on its Siguiri
mining site, its Guinea subsidiary Societe Aurifère de Guinee (SAG) said in
a statement.

Protesters from the Fatoyah community invaded the site on Friday, erected
barricades and disrupted production in order to demand the tarring of a
road. SAG had to suspend its operations to safeguard its staff and property,
the company said.

“There is a tacit agreement between SAG and the villagers [...] to tar this
road,” resident Moussa Condé told Reuters by telephone.

AngloGold Ashanti spokesperson Stewart Bailey said the company is in talks
with community leaders to resolve the dispute.

A 30 km (18.6 mile) tarred road linking the towns of Siguiri and Kintinian
was recently completed, he said. The project was a partnership between the
government and AngloGold Ashanti.

The suspension puts a halt to all extraction and processing activities at
the mine and pauses sub-contracting services to SAG. Only a skeleton staff
will remain on site, SAG said.

AngloGold Ashanti owns 85% of SAG, whose Siguiri mine produced 242,000
ounces (6.9 tonnes) of gold in 2018.

South African rand jumps to 1-week high as trade hopes boost risk buying

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s rand powered to its firmest all week
against the dollar on Friday as risk appetite globally was lifted after a
U.S. official said a trade deal with China was getting close.

At 1645 GMT, the rand was 0.81% firmer at 14.6880 per dollar, its strongest
level in a week.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Thursday that the world’s
two largest economies were nearing agreement, providing a fillip to investor
confidence.

“We have been speaking about trade tensions and trade negotiations for what
feels like forever. And yet, it continues to be an important factor, one
that influences market movements on a daily basis. Today is no different,”
RMB analyst Siobhan Redford said in a note.

Bonds also firmed, with the yield on the benchmark government bond due in
2026 down 5 basis points to 8.38%.

Stocks ended slightly lower in a slide led by rand hedges hurt by the
stronger currency.

The Top-40 share index fell 0.46% percent while the broader all-share edged
0.31% lower.

Shares of Shoprite barely budged after the grocery giant’s long-time
chairman Christo Wiese stepped down on Friday after nearly three decades at
the helm.

Mobile operator Telkom dipped 2.65% to 55.80 rand on the day following its
announcement that it was in talks about a potential takeover of Cell C, the
country’s third biggest mobile carrier.

Shares in Cell C’s majority shareholder Blue Label Telecoms also slipped
1.2% to 2.55 rand.

Cell C has been grappling with hefty debts while Telkom, the fourth biggest
carrier and 40% owned by the state, is also struggling with an increasingly
costly debt burden.

Savannah completes Seven Energy deal in Nigeria

LAGOS (Reuters) - Savannah Petroleum has concluded its purchase of Nigerian
oil and gas company Seven Energy International, it said in a statement on
Friday.

The conclusion of the deal, first announced in 2017, followed a court
hearing earlier this week where administrators appointed to Seven Energy and
effected the transfer of assets.

The acquisition is a significant boost for Savannah, which has operations in
Niger and Nigeria.

“We see strong potential for additional resource growth over time,” Savannah
chairman Steve Jenkins said.

The Seven Energy assets produce around 20,000 barrels of oil equivalent per
day (boe/d) - mainly gas - onshore in Nigeria. The assets have proven and
probable reserves of 92 million boe, and a 200 million standard cubic feet
per day gas plant and 260 km (160 miles) of pipelines.

Savannah has previously said it that is looking for other assets in
bilateral deals in Nigeria that are producing or can easily be put into
production.

South Africa's platinum mining firms, top union end 'titanic battle' as they
seal wage deal

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s biggest platinum mining union sealed
three-year wage hike agreements with Anglo American Platinum, Impala
Platinum, and Sibanye-Stillwater on Friday, ending months of negotiation
over pay.

The deal comes as a relief to the sector, where officials were fearful of a
repeat of a five-month platinum strike in 2014-2015 which crippled
production and hurt the economy.

The mood was celebratory as the Association of Mineworkers and Construction
Union (AMCU) signed deals which union president Joseph Mathunjwa said
increased workers’ monthly wages by at least 1,000 rand ($67.19).

AMCU had been in wage talks with the country’s top platinum miners since
June, and in October referred the dispute with Amplats and
Sibanye-Stillwater to a government mediation body.

“It has never been an easy journey ... but we managed to come to this day
where we are all smiling,” said Jimmy Gama, AMCU’s chief negotiator,
thanking the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA)
for its role in the deal.

Union members wearing green AMCU polo shirts sang, clapped, and danced as
Mathunjwa signed the agreements with representatives from the country’s top
platinum producers at a ceremony in Johannesburg.

Nico van Rooyen, sector manager at smaller union UASA that was also involved
in the wage talks, said the deal was the culmination of a “titanic battle”.

“Today is a momentous occasion, not only for the platinum industry, but for
South Africa as a whole,” said Lee-Ann Samuel, executive director at Impala
Platinum, emphasising the importance of job security in a country with
unemployment at an 11-year high.

The deal takes into account future inflationary pressures, said Samuel.

“It is encouraging that the negotiations were conducted in a constructive
manner without any disruption,” Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman said in
a statement.

Both Sibanye-Stillwater and Anglo American Platinum agreed to increase
workers’ wages by 1,000 rand a month.

“We are very pleased to have reached an agreement, and we welcome the
collaborative and constructive engagements with the unions throughout the
process,” Amplats CEO Chris Griffith said.

($1 = 14.8839 rand)

IMF says lending programme agreed with Democratic Congo

KINSHASA (Reuters) - An International Monetary Fund delegation said on
Friday that it had agreed terms with Democratic Republic of Congo for a
financial assistance package that would allow the IMF to resume lending to
Congo for the first time since 2012.

The IMF suspended its last aid to Congo - a loan programme worth more than
$500 million - after the government failed to provide sufficient details on
the sale of state mining assets to an offshore company.

President Felix Tshisekedi took office in January and has tried to repair
relations with foreign donors that had frayed during his predecessor Joseph
Kabila’s 18 years in power.

IMF delegation leader Mauricio Villafuerte told reporters in the capital
Kinshasa that the terms of the Rapid Credit Facility would be submitted to
the IMF board in mid-December for final approval.

“The economic situation (in Congo) is very difficult now because of weakness
controlling spending during the political transition and new spending
initiatives,” Villafuerte said.

It was not immediately clear how much the programme would be worth.

Congo is Africa’s top copper producer and the world’s leading miner of
cobalt, a key component in electric car batteries. But it is one of the
world’s least developed countries, due largely to corruption and poor
governance.

Steinhoff sells Blue Group to Alteri Investors

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Scandal-hit South African retailer Steinhoff
International said on Friday it had sold Blue Group, owner of Bensons for
Beds and Harveys Furniture, to Alteri Investors for an undisclosed price.

Steinhoff, which has been grappling with the fallout of an accounting
scandal worth an estimated $7 billion since revealing holes in its accounts
in 2017, said in August its only way to survive was to slim down and sell
assets.

“The sale of Blue Group is the latest in a series of planned divestments by
Steinhoff as we continue with our announced strategy of simplifying the
group’s portfolio and deleveraging our balance sheet,” Steinhoff CEO Louis
du Preez said.

The company, which added the transaction was subject to regulatory
approvals, did not disclose its value. Blue Group was a relatively minor
part of Steinhoff’s operation, contributing just under 5% of revenues in the
six months ended March 31.

Alteri Investors, a specialist investor focused on European retail, was
launched in 2014 as a joint venture between Alteri’s management and funds
managed by affiliates of alternative investment manager Apollo Global
Management.

Its founder and CEO Gavin George said the purchase was exactly the kind of
opportunity it was launched to find - a trusted brand with strong management
and the potential for profitable growth.

“We... are confident that our operational capabilities, alongside the
injection of fresh capital, can help to build a market leading, vertically
integrated business,” he said.

Steinhoff shares were flat at 1127 GMT.

Standard Bank lists Namibian arm on local bourse

WINDHOEK (Reuters) - The Namibian arm of South Africa’s Standard Bank listed
on the Namibian stock exchange on Friday, following an initial public
offering (IPO) that was 1.98 times oversubscribed.

Standard Bank, South Africa’s biggest bank by assets, raised 722 million
Namibian dollars ($49 million) through the IPO, saying the listing would
allow it to deepen Namibian ownership in the group.

Standard Bank Group Limited remains the controlling shareholder of SBN
Holdings following the flotation of a 25.1% stake.

The bank said it aimed to use the listing to make strategic acquisitions,
broaden ownership by previously disadvantaged individuals, and increase
access to capital to facilitate diversification and expansion.

($1 = 14.8511 Namibian dollars)

Saudi Aramco flotation values oil giant at $1.7tn

Saudi Arabia has placed a preliminary valuation on state oil company Aramco
of between $1.6tn (£1.22tn) and $1.7tn.

The company has published an updated prospectus for its initial public
offering (IPO), seeking more than $25bn for the sale of 1.5% of its shares.

That would make it potentially the world's biggest IPO, coming from the
world's most profitable company

It is short of the $2tn valuation that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was
reportedly keen to achieve.

"The base offer size will be 1.5% of the company's outstanding shares," the
state-owned energy giant said in a statement that set the price range at
30-32 Saudi riyals per share ($8-$8.5).

That could value the IPO at as much as 96bn riyals ($25.60bn) at the top end
of the range.

If priced at the top end, the deal could just beat the record-breaking $25bn
raised by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba in 2014.

Individual retail investors, as well as big institutions, will have a chance
to buy shares.

Aramco had initially been expected to sell some 5% of its shares on two
exchanges, with a first listing of 2% on the kingdom's Tadawul bourse, and
then another 3% on an overseas exchange.

The firm says there are now no current plans for an international sale, with
that long-discussed goal now seemingly being put on ice.

The crown prince is seeking to sell the shares to raise billions of dollars
to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil by investing in non-energy
industries.

Analysts S&P Global Ratings said the stock market debut could enable Saudi
Arabia to strengthen its financial position.

"If subsequently effectively deployed, the funds raised could be used to
support longer-term economic growth in Saudi Arabia," it said.

In its prospectus released last week, the company lists a variety of
investment risks ranging from terrorist attacks to geopolitical tensions in
a region dominated by Saudi-Iran rivalry.

The 600-page prospectus also includes the government's control over oil
output as another potential risk.

After the flotation, Aramco will not list any more shares for six months,
the prospectus says. Although one of the attractions for investors is the
potential of high dividends, the document said Aramco has the right to
change dividend policy without prior notice.

Aramco has hired a host of international banking giants including Citibank,
Credit Suisse and HSBC as financial advisers to assess interest in the share
sale and set a price. Based on the level of interest.

The sale of the company, first mooted four years ago, has been overshadowed
by delays and criticism of corporate transparency at Saudi Arabia's crown
jewel.

Aramco last year posted $111bn in net profit. In the first nine months of
this year, its net profit dropped 18% to $68bn.

A third of Aramco's shares - about $8bn worth - will be sold to the man and
(the prospectus says) even the divorced woman on the street, giving local
Saudi Arabians a stake in their nation's cash cow for the first time.

A TV and billboard advertising campaign, as well as social media, is stoking
enthusiasm on the ground and demand is expected to be high. For the
remaining $16bn, the oil giant is turning to institutional investors.

And a source close to the company says there has been sufficient interest
that they're confident they can cover most of this off within the Gulf. But
there will be disappointment amongst officials if global demand is not there
for the jewel in Saudi Arabia's crown.

A fossil fuels company owned by an absolute monarchy in a volatile region
are not an easy sell for many Western firms, pursuing the latest trend in
investment policy of "ESG" (Environmental, Social and Governance) criteria.

Norway's sovereign wealth fund is among those to already rule themselves out
from investing.

But the promise of sharing the promised annual $75bn cash dividend pot might
be too good for some to miss, according to James Bevan, Chief Investment
Officer at CCLA Investment Management (one of the UK's largest charity fund
managers).

Given his firm's focus, he is not looking to invest in the shares but
explains why some are. "It's a 'risk' in the eyes of some investors to be
very underweight in oil and gas, and Aramco may be a means of plugging a
sector gap with perhaps less worry than associated with holding Gazprom," he
says.

Investors follow indixes - such as the FTSE 100 - which are made up of array
of types of industries and so some feel oil and gas needs to be
correspondingly represented in their portfolio.

As Aramco's big sales pitch road show kicks off, the real test of investor
appetite for the company will begin.BBC

Why US tech giants are putting billions into housing

History teacher Leon Sultan was raised in a San Francisco that working class
families could call home. That place has, for the most part, vanished.

The city is now the centre of America's thriving tech industry, with some of
the highest housing costs in the US. Homeownership is in retreat and
homelessness is surging, alongside newly-minted fortunes.

Mr Sultan currently lives in a rent-stabilised one bedroom apartment with
his wife, who also works in education, and his four-year-old son. When they
move to a bigger place in a few weeks, their rent will almost double.

"When I was born in the city in 1978, a two-income earning family could buy
a home," he says. "At this point, the only way to buy a home, if you're a
normal person... is to have some sort of edge."

"I feel lucky that I haven't been displaced yet."

'Unsustainable' course

Mr Sultan, and many others, blame the changes on the Bay Area's tech boom,
which has created vast wealth divides.

The growing backlash has played out in fights over new taxes targeting tech
and protests against the commuter buses that ferry workers south from San
Francisco to Silicon Valley, where many tech giants have their headquarters.

San Francisco: Where a six-figure salary is 'low income'

Homeless in US: A deepening crisis on the streets of America

The major cities being designed without children in mind

For years, the tech giants have faced down their critics unabashed. But now
there are signs of change.

In June, Google said it would invest $1bn in housing and Facebook has also
pledged $1bn. Apple upped the ante this month, saying it would devote $2.5bn
to the issue.

"We know the course we are on is unsustainable," Apple boss Tim Cook said as
he revealed his firm's plans.

Those moves followed a flurry of smaller donations and activity from firms
such as Cisco and Microsoft, which said it would invest $500m in housing in
its home state of Washington.

The commitments represent a "kind of acknowledgement from the tech industry
that yes, they're playing a role in this housing affordability crisis," says
Jeffrey Buchanan from Silicon Valley Rising, which has pressed the tech
giants on the issue for years.

"I'm hopeful that it is a change in mindset in the industry... the old way
doesn't work."

Soaring prices

As the tech industry has boomed, home prices and asking rents in the Bay
Area have roughly doubled over the past decade, becoming by many counts the
highest in the US.

Last month, the San Francisco Association of Realtors said the median home
price in San Francisco had hit $1.4m. The average asking rent exceeded
$3,200 per month, according to research firm Moody's Analytics-Reis.

Wages in the area have increased as well, but not as fast as housing costs.

A family needs to earn $126,800 a year to rent a typical two-bedroom
property in San Francisco without spending more than 30% of their income -
the share typically considered affordable. In 2017, about 40% of Bay Area
renters spent more.

For Mr Sultan, homeownership is out of the question, but he says his family
is lucky. There's a woman on his street living in her car.

"I'm not feeling sorry for myself," he says. "There are a lot of folks in
this city who are struggling way harder than we are."

The high costs are forcing companies to pay more and work harder to find
staff, one reason the tech firms have taken an interest.

For the most part, their pledges aren't philanthropy.

Apple is lending the state up to $1bn to help finance affordable housing
projects and providing $1bn to California's first-time homebuyer fund.

Google and Facebook also plan to invest hundreds of millions in new housing.
Land owned by the tech companies that will be made available for housing
construction accounts for another major part of the commitments - a full
$750m worth in Google's case.

Such large promises are "unprecedented", but a lack of detail makes them
hard to evaluate, says Carol Galante, director of the Terner Center for
Housing Innovation at the University of California, Berkeley.

"It's in their self-interest but it's also obviously in the community's
interest."

'A drop in the bucket'

Facebook and Google have each said their plans should produce about 20,000
new housing units, some of which will be offered at below market rates.
Apple has not provided an estimate for its total commitment, but expects to
build about 3,600 new affordable units on its land.

But California State Senator Scott Wiener, whose district includes San
Francisco, says the plans represent "a drop in the bucket" compared to the
money and policy changes needed.

"I'm glad that Apple, Facebook, Google are doing this, but I think we also
have to be crystal clear that this is not going to solve the problem."

Between 2012 and 2017, San Francisco added fewer than 21,000 new housing
units, while the population grew by more than 58,000 and the number of jobs
jumped by 130,000.

Senator Wiener blames policies that hamper development - like rules that
limit the height of buildings - for much of the growing gap between supply
and demand.

"The problem is not that we have job growth," he says. "The problem is we
didn't plan for it."

'Chipping around the edges'

But Peter Cohen, from the Council of Community Housing Organisations, says
it's "simplistic" to rely on increased supply to solve the crisis.

New construction is often designed for the tech industry's upper crust, even
though many of the new jobs are lower-wage ones such as cooks and drivers,
he says.

He says the tech industry's announcements seem in part like a "branding"
effort to pre-empt new policies, such as higher taxes.

"We've got to have stable and significant sources of funding," he says.
"Otherwise we're just chipping around the edges."

Mr Sultan, the teacher, says he welcomes the plans for more housing -
especially if it's close to company campuses. Expansion in other regions
such as Texas - where Apple has announced a new base - make him even more
excited.

"The big issue for me is, why does the tech industry have to be housed in
San Francisco," he says. "Why can't they disperse throughout the country?"

Apple to create $1bn Texas base

The community that rejected Amazon

But the broad trends seen in his home city - rising housing costs, slow
construction, and declining homeownership, especially among younger families
- are happening across the US, especially in areas where tech companies are
expanding.

And as people and companies leave the Bay Area, they add to housing strains
in suburbs and other cities, pushing the poorest further away from the jobs
they need.

"We've got this kind of rolling musical chairs that's going on," Ms Galante
says. And those with the least, she warns, are "losing".--BBC

Uber's paradox: Gig work app traps and frees its drivers

On 24 November, after a nervous wait, Uber will learn whether its licence to
operate in London is to be renewed.

The impending decision has revived debate over whether the data-driven basis
for its business model and the "gig economy" jobs it creates are fair.

A wave of platforms has followed, offering new ways to buy and sell, to rent
from and temporarily hire others.

Rather than salaried employees, independent contractors are paid by
consumers for a specific job - a "gig".

The platforms in the middle argue they do not employ staff but simply
connect customers with people seeking to make money.

Research by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) estimates that one in 10 workers
in the UK now regularly does "platform work".

No company is more symbolic of this shift than Uber itself.

As a consequence, it has become a lightning rod for arguments about what gig
work really represents.

Does it usher in new, flexible, liberating ways to work, or is it the means
for a kind of arms-length control that undermines basic rights?

Abdura Hadi, an Uber driver who has worked on the streets of London for five
years, has noticed a change.

"On average, I used to work six-to-eight hours, six days a week to provide
for my family" he told me. Now, he adds: "It's 10-to-12 hours."

He's noticed that over the period, the number of Uber drivers has rapidly
increased, while the number of pick-up jobs has not kept up.

Increased competition has made a particular part of Uber's platform critical
to Mr Hadi and his fellow drivers' earning power - the software that
determines who gets each ride.

However, none of them knows how it works.

"My family depends on the algorithm," he explains.

"Sometimes it's scary, but if it was fair, it would be OK."

Minimum wage

At the heart of the controversy around Uber is that the disruption it has
brought isn't just economic, but also legal.

Uber: Will it get its London licence back?

On the Record: TaskRabbit's Stacy Brown-Philpot

The dangerous life of food delivery drivers

Definitions that were once reasonably clear in the workplace have become
muddied.

The question of whether Uber drivers are actually employees is currently
making its way through the British courts.

Even one of the most basic facts of any job has become disputed: how much
Uber drivers actually earn.

"It's a fact that drivers are working on less than minimum wage," claims Mr
Hadi.

Yet a recent study co-authored by researchers at Oxford University and Uber,
based on administrative data from the company, reported that the median
London driver earns about £11 per hour spent logged into the app.

That is just above the London Living Wage.

The study included vehicle operation costs and time spent waiting between
rides while logged in.

Data v anecdotes

Ken Jacobs, an academic at University of California, Berkeley, who has
studied hidden costs that Uber drivers and other gig workers face, refers to
them as the five "major loopholes".

They include:

time spent waiting for rides

the cost of driving back into busy areas after a ride

vehicle maintenance and insurance

the lack of payment for sick leave, meal breaks and rest breaks

the lack of holiday pay

"They tend to way underestimate the actual expenses a driver incurs," he
said.

Meera Joshi, the former head of the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission,
the regulator responsible for services like Uber across the city, says data
is key.

"Without data you only have anecdotes," she told me.

"You have stories from drivers about low wages, but you have no way to
really quantify that."

In perhaps the first move of its kind, Ms Joshi's commission forced Uber to
hand over data about its drivers operating in New York.

"What we found out was that conditions were worse than what was described to
us by drivers," she said.

"Ninety-six per cent of drivers were making less than the city's minimum
wage. Most of the drivers were providing the main source of income for their
families."

After the watchdog implemented minimum-wage protections to cover the 80,000
New York drivers involved, an additional $225m (£172m) per month went "back
into the pockets of drivers", said Ms Joshi.

As a result, the cash flowed into local neighbourhoods rather than back to
San Francisco-based Uber.

'Prison and liberator'

The Oxford paper also claimed that Uber drivers had higher levels of life
satisfaction than other workers, but also higher anxiety levels.

"That's the paradox of Uber," commented Duncan McCann, a researcher at the
New Economics Foundation.

"It is both a prison and a liberator. You can just switch on the app and
start working, but if you have a family to support, it's obviously less
flexible. You need to match peaks of demand: rush hours and weekends."

And Uber is just the "tip of the iceberg", he added.

"The majority of gig-economy workers are women, doing care, cleaning.

"Under the water level, you have platforms openly advertising rates beneath
minimum wage."

Uber has taken steps to benefit the drivers ahead of the licensing deadline.
For example, last week it added a button to their app to let them report
racism or other discriminatory behaviour from passengers, who it promises to
kick off its platform if the complaint is upheld.

"Drivers are at the heart of our service - we can't succeed without them -
and thousands of people come into work at Uber every day focused on how to
make their experience better, on and off the road," it said in a statement.

"Whether it's being able to track your earnings or stronger insurance
protections, we'll continue working to improve the experience for and with
drivers."

But in many ways, the gig economy simply reintroduces very old issues of
conditions and rights in the workplace in new ways.

Previous decades saw the struggles of employees to have their rights
recognised; now the struggle is one of workers to be recognised as employees
at all.

Once the focus was on the power of the owners of the means of production;
now it is on the owners of the means to find work via the net.

The new battleground is not over who controls the shop floor, but who
controls the data involved. Who has it, and what it reveals.

Whatever happens on 24 November, the wider debate will continue for a long
time yet.--BBC

Alibaba backs Hong Kong's 'bright' future with huge listing

Alibaba chief executive Daniel Zhang has praised Hong Kong's "bright" future
as the Chinese e-commerce giant prepares to list in the embattled financial
hub.

The firm, which is already traded in the US, hopes to raise up to $13.4bn
(£10.4bn) in its secondary listing.

That would make it the biggest share sale this year, according to Dealogic.

The move is seen as a boost for Hong Kong, diluting fears that protests have
tarnished its financial reputation.

The city has grappled with anti-government protests for nearly five months
and violent clashes escalated this week .

"During this time of ongoing change, we continue to believe that the future
of Hong Kong remains bright," Alibaba Chairman Daniel Zhang said.

He described the city as "one of the world's most important financial
centres".

Mr Zhang - who succeeded Jack Ma to take Alibaba's top job earlier this year
- said the company hoped to "contribute" to the future of Hong Kong.

The company will offer 500 million shares, priced at up to HK$188 ($24) each
for retail investors. Shares are due to start trading on 26 November.

The sale could knock Uber off the top spot as this year's biggest IPO,
according to Dealogic data. The ride-sharing firm raised $8.1bn in its New
York float in May.

Over the years, Alibaba has grown from an online marketplace into an
e-commerce giant with interests ranging from financial services to
artificial intelligence.

The company said the new listing will allow investors across Asia to
"participate in Alibaba's growth," as it seeks to tap "substantial new
capital pools" in the region.

Alibaba Singles' Day shopping frenzy breaks record

The Hangzhou-based firm had originally considered a Hong Kong IPO in 2013,
but opted for New York after failing to secure regulatory approval in the
Asian territory.

Growing unrest

The move to go ahead with the share sale in Hong Kong comes after Alibaba
reportedly delayed plans to list there earlier this year, amid ongoing
unrest and the US-China trade war.

The long-running protests have hurt the economy, which has fallen into
recession, and knocked business confidence in the city.

Death confirmed during Hong Kong unrest

A quick guide to the Hong Kong protests

Hong Kong protests hit Burberry and Cathay Pacific

The protests started in June against plans to allow extradition to the
mainland - which many feared would erode the city's freedoms.

Hong Kong is part of China, but as a former British colony it has some
autonomy and people have more rights.

While the extradition plans were withdrawn in September, the demonstrations
have continued, with protesters calling for an independent inquiry into
alleged police brutality, and democratic reform.--BBC

INVESTORS DIARY 2019

Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

Companies under Cautionary

Bindura Nickel Corporation

Padenga Holdings

Delta Corporation

Meikles Limited

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