Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 24 October 2019

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 24 October 2019

 


 

 


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

 


 

 


 

 

*  Ghana’s cocoa farmers are trapped by the chocolate industry

*  South African Airways, Comair return planes to service after safety audit

*  South Africa approves $4 bln bailout for debt-laden Eskom

*  Ghana loses $190 million U.S. grant over cancelled power contract

*  South Africa business cycle indicator inches 0.1% lower in August

*  Green groups ask French court to order Total to disclose environmental
steps in Uganda

*  Russia's VTB looking to sell 10% of its Angolan unit

*  South Africa consumer inflation slows to 4.1% yr-on-yr in Sept

*  Uganda says coffee exports in 2019/2020 crop year to rise 16%

*  Mario Draghi: His legacy after eight tumultuous years at the ECB

*  When to fire the boss: A tale of three sackings

*  High Street woes mount as '85,000 jobs lost'

*  Tesla shares surge after unexpected profit

*  WeWork warns of job cuts after Softbank rescue

*  Tensions highlight the importance of global trade

*  Facebook's Zuckerberg grilled over Libra currency plan

*  Thomas Cook: Former bosses deny responsibility for collapse

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

Ghana’s cocoa farmers are trapped by the chocolate industry

The chocolate industry is worth more than $80 billion a year. But some cocoa
farmers in parts of West Africa are poorer now than they were in the 1970s
or 1980s. In other areas, artificial support for cocoa farming is creating a
debt problem. Farmers are also still under pressure to supply markets in
wealthy countries instead of securing their own future.

 

In research published last year I explored sustainability programmes
designed to support cocoa farming in West Africa. My aim was to identify
winners and losers.

 

 

I looked at initiatives such as CocoaAction, a $500 million “sustainability
scheme” launched in 2014, and concluded that they were done in the interests
of large multinationals. They did not necessarily relieve poverty or develop
the region’s economies. In fact they created new problems.

 

To sustain their livelihoods, the cocoa farmers of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana
need to diversify away from cocoa production. But multinational chocolate
companies need farmers to keep producing cocoa.

 

Diversification

Farmers choose to diversify their crops for a host of reasons. These include
a reduction in the resources they need to produce a crop (such as suitable
land), and a reduction in the price they can get for the crop.

 

Cocoa farming requires tropical forestland. This is limited; it is not
possible to keep expanding to new land to keep producing cocoa. So when the
land is exhausted, farmers would benefit from diversifying to products like
rubber and palm oil. They do not need to grow cocoa for its own sake.

 

A great deal of diversification occurred during the cocoa crisis of the
1970s in Ghana. Cereal output increased from 388,000 tonnes in 1964/1965 to
over 1 million tonnes in 1983/83, and decreased when cocoa was
“revitalised”. The same was the case with coconut, palm oil and groundnut.

 

But such diversification is more recently being prevented by multinationals
and other stakeholders who want cocoa cultivation to continue.
Multinationals that depend on cocoa as a raw material openly (and rightly)
regard diversification as a risk to their business. So they keep spending on
cocoa farming inputs.

 

 

Why there’s a limit to cocoa

In West Africa, cocoa has historically been cultivated using slash and burn
farming. Forest was cut down and burned before planting, and then, when the
plot became infertile, the farmer moved to fresh forestland and did the same
again.

 

The new land offered fertile soil, a favourable microclimate and fewer pests
and diseases. Growing the cocoa took less labour and yielded more.

 

This explains the link between cocoa farming and deforestation in Côte
d’Ivoire and Ghana. A recent investigation showed that since 2000, Ivorian
cocoa has been dependent on protected areas. Almost half of Mont Peko
National Park, for example, which is home to endangered species, as well as
Marahoue National Park has been lost to cocoa planting since 2000.

 

In Côte d’Ivoire, the area covered by forest decreased from 16 million
hectares – roughly half of the country – in 1960 to less than 2 million
hectares in 2005.

 

Forestland is finite. Slash and burn is no longer an option, because so much
of the forest is gone. In West Africa, planters are now staying on the same
piece of land and reworking it.

 

This has created its own set of problems.

 

 

Rising costs and threats

In both Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, several estimates of the cost of
maintaining a cocoa farm show that the investment costs required for
replanting have approximately doubled. One estimate of labour investment put
the replanting effort at 260 days per hectare, compared with 74 days per
hectare for planting using slash and burn.

 

The extra labour needed for sedentary cultivation is leading to child
trafficking and child labour in cocoa cultivation. Child trafficking
generally occurs when planters are searching for cheaper sources of labour
for replanting.

 

Planters who have successfully diversified into other crops have stopped
using child labour. In the cocoa industry, however, the use of child labour
is increasing. For example, the number of child labourers in the Ivorian
cocoa industry increased by almost 400,000 between 2008 and 2013.

 

There has also been a massive increase in the use of fertilisers and
pesticides to aid cocoa production without slash and burn.

 

The increased input (labour, fertilisers and pesticides) for replanting land
amounts to a higher production cost. It cannot be adjusted by price setting.
Cocoa producers have no control over price; they are price takers. So the
higher production cost reduces the profit made by cocoa farmers.

 

This explains why cocoa producers in Côte d’Ivoire are poorer now than they
were decades ago.

 

In Ghana, the government, through the cocoa marketing board, COCOBOD, has
managed the transition from slash and burn to sedentary farming. The
government created a mass spraying programme to control diseases and pests.
It also subsidised fertiliser and created a pricing policy that has
sometimes amounted to a government subsidy. Due to the extra free input
provided by the government, sometimes supported by NGOs and multinational
corporations, farmers have not become poorer in Ghana. But the approach has
led to huge debt for COCOBOD. For example, COCOBOD incurred GHc2 billion
(US$367 million) debt for subsidising the price of cocoa for the year 2017.

 

Although cocoa planters are faring well in Ghana, it is not clear that
Ghana’s cocoa sector is really a success story. The shift to debt financing
has artificially produced the success.

 

 

The way forward

Cocoa “sustainability” activities are not the way forward. Cocoa
sustainability is a new form of colonisation in Africa, because its real
goal is to prevent African planters from diversifying away from cocoa into
other crops. These programmes keep the cocoa industry going under
deteriorating conditions.

 

The way forward is to switch from cocoa to crops that do not require
forestland (new or exhausted), extra fertilisers or more labour.

 

Research has shown that cocoa planters in Côte d’Ivoire who have diversified
into other crops, such as rubber, have succeeded in escaping poverty.

 

But that is seen as a major threat to the supply of raw material to Western
multinationals. One representative of a large chocolate multinational
explained “my enemy is not my competitor in the purchase of cocoa, but the
rubber industry”.

 

In conclusion, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire have to think about what is best for
them instead of what is best for the chocolate industry and consumers in the
developed world.--howwemadeitnafrica

 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

South African Airways, Comair return planes to service after safety audit

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African Airways (SAA) and Comair began
returning grounded planes to service a day after South Africa’s air safety
regulator flagged maintenance problems.

 

Flights were departing Johannesburg’s OR Tambo airport as normal on
Wednesday, a passenger service representative for Airports Company South
Africa said.

 

Comair said it expected no disruptions, after at least eight of its domestic
flights were hit on Tuesday.

 

SAA, which had 25 aircraft affected by the safety audit, did not respond to
an emailed request for comment.

 

The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) said it had found faults
during an inspection at SAA Technical. It issued a prohibition order until
these had been fixed but did not disclose what they were.

 

SACAA official Luvuyo Silandela told state broadcaster SABC that the
regulator had found that work done by SAA Technical had been signed off by
engineers “who do not hold the specific ratings to release that work”.

 

The regulator also had concerns about maintenance checks on components like
the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorders, Silandela said, adding
that he wished to dispel allegations that SAA Technical had used bogus parts
in planes.

 

SACAA, which did not respond to emailed requests for comment, said it had
accepted a corrective action plan from SAA’s maintenance unit and that the
decision by SAA and Comair to “self-ground” some aircraft was a
precautionary measure.

 

The lack of clarity over the exact nature of the faults at SAA Technical has
led to speculation from analysts that the regulator had found serious
infringements.

 

SAA Technical maintains aircraft for SAA, its subsidiary Mango Airlines and
British Airways franchise partner Comair, which also operates under the
kulula.com brand.

 

Mango Airlines flights had left Johannesburg for Cape Town on time on
Wednesday, its website showed.

 

SAA, which has not made an annual profit since 2011 and is dependent on
government bailouts, cancelled four domestic flights on Tuesday, combining
services and deploying bigger aircraft to accommodate affected passengers.

 

 

 

South Africa approves $4 bln bailout for debt-laden Eskom

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Crisis-hit South African power company Eskom was
handed an additional 59 billion rand ($4 billion) lifeline by parliament on
Tuesday, prompting criticism from opposition parties who described it as a
“blank cheque”.

 

The special bill passed by parliament to grant the funding was first
proposed by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni in July as Eskom struggled to
service its ballooning 450 billion rand debt pile and keep the lights on
throughout 2019 as its creaking fleet of coal-fired plants
buckled.[nL8N24N2GA]

 

Eskom unleashed another bout of nationwide blackouts last week following
repeated power cuts in February and March, which dragged the economy into
contraction.[nL5N2761PO]

 

Mboweni said in July that the bailout Eskom should adhere to strict
conditions to receive the bailout, including assurance that it would be used
only to service debt and not for operational costs.

 

The multi-party Standing Committee on Appropriation, responsible for
oversight of the bill, failed to agree on the conditions and early in
October opted leave the Finance Minister’s draft bill unchanged.

 

“The bill as it stands is a blank cheque that will blow up the deficit,” the
main opposition Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday, echoing objections of
other parties.

 

Speaking at the parliamentary debate on Tuesday Mboweni did not directly
address the matter of conditions but hinted that Eskom’s management would
come under closer scrutiny.

 

“One of the key issue we need to solve is to appoint the right people to run
Eskom. Appoint the right board of directors and a competent management
team,” he said.

 

“Then we must be in a position to hold that board of directors and
management team accountable. The problem at Eskom is not just financial.”

 

Eskom has been without a permanent chief executive since Phakamani Hadebe
resigned in May, citing unbearable pressure.

 

Hadebe was the 10th CEO in a decade to quit the state company in what has
proved something of a revolving door of top executives and board members as
treasury and presidential inquiries into graft and mismanagement deepened.

 

The special appropriation bill will go to parliament’s second house for
approval before being sent to President Cyril Ramaphosa for his signature
and enactment.

 

 

 

Ghana loses $190 million U.S. grant over cancelled power contract

ACCRA (Reuters) - The United States has cancelled $190 million in grants to
Ghana under the “Power Africa” initiative in response to the Ghanaian
government’s termination of a contract with a private utility provider, the
U.S. embassy said.

 

The Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. government foreign
assistance agency, agreed in 2014 to provide $498 million in funding to
Ghana’s power sector to help stimulate further private investment.

 

The initiative, launched in 2013 by then president Barack Obama and aiming
to bring electricity to tens of millions of households in Africa, was the
largest by the United States under Power Africa.

 

One reform under the agreement involved handing over operations at state-run
Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in March to Ghana Power Distribution
Services (PDS), a consortium led by Philippine electricity company Meralco.

 

But Ghana’s finance minister informed U.S. officials on Saturday that the
government was cancelling the 20-year concession it had signed with PDS,
saying payment guarantees provided were not satisfactory.

 

In a statement on Tuesday, the U.S. embassy said the decision to terminate
the contract was unjustified and that the MCC was therefore cancelling $190
million in grants.

 

The remaining $308 million will still be disbursed.

 

“The United States underscores the importance of contract sanctity as
essential to a conducive investment climate and a pre-condition for
inclusive economic growth,” it said.

 

Ghana’s Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah told reporters on Wednesday
that the U.S. announcement did not represent “a crisis of confidence”
between the two governments.

 

“It has been a difference in opinion which we have mutually agreed to
respect,” he said.

 

Meralco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

 

 

South Africa business cycle indicator inches 0.1% lower in August

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The South African Reserve Bank’s composite leading
business cycle indicator in August decreased 0.1% month-on-month, driven by
a slight fall in commodity exports and business confidence, data showed on
Tuesday.

 

The indicator collects data on vehicle sales, business confidence, money
supply and other factors to gauge the outlook for Africa’s most
industrialised economy.

 

Indices: 2015 = 100 June July August

 

Leading Indicator  103.2 103.9 103.8

 

12-mth percentage change   -3.0 -1.5 -1.3

 

Coincident Indicator   105.8 105.4 —

 

 

 

Green groups ask French court to order Total to disclose environmental steps
in Uganda

PARIS (Reuters) - Six French and Ugandan campaign groups have asked a French
court to order energy major Total to disclose how it is addressing the human
and environmental impact of a Ugandan oil field, green group Friends of the
Earth said on Wednesday.

 

Total said on Wednesday it had no immediate comment on the groups’ legal
application, but cited a previous statement saying it was working in Uganda
in compliance with national and international standards.

 

Under French law, large French companies are required to publish annual
plans that address any adverse impact of their activities, and those of
subsidiaries and suppliers, on people and the environment.

 

In their legal application, the six campaign groups, which included Friends
of the Earth, said that Total had not met that obligation.

 

In a June 24 notification to Total, the campaign groups alleged Total
intimidated and failed to properly compensate local land-owners affected by
work on its Tilenga project in Uganda.

 

They also alleged Total had failed to develop adequate environmental
safeguards to protect the surrounding national park through which the Nile
river flows.

 

Crude reserves were discovered in Uganda more than 10 years ago but
production has been repeatedly delayed by disagreements with field operators
over taxes, while a lack of infrastructure such as a pipeline and a refining
facility, has also held up work.

 

In a Sept. 30 statement, Total said there was no legal requirement for it to
publish reports on each of its projects, adding it had put measures in place
to mitigate impacts from its Tilenga project, and was working in
consultation with local people who had to be re-located because of it.

 

 

 

Russia's VTB looking to sell 10% of its Angolan unit

SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - Russia’s state-controlled lender VTB wants to sell
a 10% stake in VTB Africa, its Angola-based unit, the bank’s chief executive
Andrei Kostin said on Wednesday.

 

The deal, if it happens, would see VTB’s stake decreasing to 40%, Kostin
said, adding that VTB was looking to sell a part of its stake to the Angolan
unit’s management.

 

 

 

South Africa consumer inflation slows to 4.1% yr-on-yr in Sept

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s headline consumer inflation slowed
to 4.1% year-on-year in September, from 4.3% in August, data from Statistics
South Africa showed on Wednesday.

 

On a month-on-month basis price-growth was flat, at 0.3%, the same rate of
increase as in the previous month.

 

Core inflation - which excludes the prices of food, non-alcoholic beverages,
petrol and energy - slowed to 4% year-on-year in September versus 4.3% in
August, while on a month-on-month basis prices rose 0.2%, compared with a
0.1% increase in the prior month.

 

 

 

Uganda says coffee exports in 2019/2020 crop year to rise 16%

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda forecasts its coffee exports in the 2019-2020
crop year will be about 16% higher from the previous period, boosted by
favourable weather and expanding acreage as new trees mature, an official
said on Wednesday.

 

James Kizito Mayanja, market intelligence and information manager at
state-run Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) told Reuters shipments
of the beans in 2019/20 (October-September) crop year may reach 5.1 million
60-kg bags, up from 4.4 million bags exported in the previous period.

 

Coffee was long Uganda’s single largest commodity export but it has since
been overtaken by gold whose shipments exceeded $1 billion in the year to
June.

 

Uganda is also Africa’s largest coffee exporter followed by Ethiopia. The
country predominantly cultivates robusta coffee.

 

“We had a good crop last year and we expect even a higher production this
year on account of favourable weather,” Mayanja told Reuters.

 

“Also the planting programme is starting to bear fruit because we are seeing
most of the trees that were planted are now maturing.”

 

In recent years the government has been pursuing a planting programme to
drive up exports, with farmers given free seeds to expand their acreage and
to replace aging, unproductive trees.

 

Uganda has experienced heavy rains in recent months including in the major
coffee growing areas of central, west and eastern parts of the country.

 

Mayanja said rain was helping spur good flowering and the bean formation
phase of the crop now underway in western Uganda.

 

If the rains are prolonged however, he said, roads in rural areas may be
rendered impassable which could stymie the transport of the crop to
collection points in urban centres and potentially slow exports.

 

Mayanja said crop quality may be affected too as wet weather disrupts the
drying process.

 

Much of the crop in Uganda is produced from small holder farmers who
typically dry their beans on bare earth in their compounds.

 

 

 

Mario Draghi: His legacy after eight tumultuous years at the ECB

To be blunt, Mario Draghi doesn't come across much like the hero in a video
game.

 

But he is sometimes named after one - Super Mario, a plumber who is the
central character in a Nintendo game.

 

The European Central Bank president has been given this rather incongruous
nickname because of his role in steering the eurozone through some very
difficult times. His fans, if that's the right word, think he has saved the
euro.

 

So now that Super-Mario is pulling the plug on his time at the ECB - his
eight-year term is ending and Thursday sees the last ECB interest rate
announcement under his tenure - how does his record look? And what kind of
legacy will he leave his successor?

 

Stepping up

The eurozone financial crisis was already well underway when Mr Draghi took
office as president of the ECB in November 2011.

 

At its most intense the crisis led many people to believe that the eurozone
could break up. Greece came closest to having to give up the currency. The
eurozone could perhaps have survived that.

 

But investors became worried about the debt situation of other eurozone
economies, especially two of the largest - Italy and Spain. A default or
exit from the eurozone by either of them would have been a larger, quite
possible fatal challenge for the currency.

 

The pressure in the markets was severe. Both countries' governments saw
their borrowing costs soar to unsustainable levels.

 

It reflected a fear among investors that they might leave the euro and repay
their debts in a restored national currency that would lose value.

 

So Mario Draghi stepped in. It was perhaps the single most significant
moment of his time at the ECB. In a speech - outside the eurozone in London
- he told his audience and the financial world: "Within our mandate, the ECB
is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. And believe me, it
will be enough."

 

Rescue plan

Later, the ECB spelled out exactly what it was ready to do.

 

It was a programme that went by the name of outright monetary transactions
(OMTs). It involved buying the bonds or debts of eurozone governments if
their borrowing costs reflected fears of a eurozone breakup.

 

It seemed to work. Those high borrowing costs came down to more manageable
levels.

 

And how much did the ECB spend buying the debts of financially stressed
governments? Not a single euro. Just threatening to do it persuaded the
markets.

 

When central banks buy or sell financial assets it's called open market
operations. What Mario Draghi did was an example of something that is
sometimes known less formally as open mouth operations.

 

Inflation issue

He has had other challenges in the shape of indifferent economic growth and
inflation that has been persistently below the ECB's target, which is that
prices should rise at a rate that is below but close to 2%.

 

The ECB under Mr Draghi's leadership has taken some dramatic steps to tackle
the problem. There has been quantitative easing, buying financial assets,
mainly government bonds, with newly created money.

 

Although this has some similarities to OMTs, there is a very important
difference. It is not targeted on countries with borrowing cost problems.
The ECB's biggest holding of government bonds is Germany's, a country which
does not have that problem.

 

The ECB has also cut one of its interest rates to below zero. A few other
central banks have done this, but the eurozone is the largest economy to
have gone into the strange world of negative interest rates, where some
borrowers in effect get paid to borrow.

 

Draghi's legacy

Mario Draghi has been a key player in some of the highly technical
innovation that central banks have undertaken in the aftermath of the
international financial crisis a decade ago.

 

So what kind of legacy does he leave? The eurozone economy has been growing
continuously since the second quarter of 2013.

 

But it hasn't always been very robust and there are abundant warning signs
now. The largest country in the region, Germany, might well be in recession.
Inflation is persistently short of the ECB's target.

 

Increasingly there is a view that monetary policy - that is interest rates
and QE - can't fix the problem. Mr Draghi, his successor Christine Lagarde,
and many others have suggested that governments need to do more.

 

They argue that those countries that have room to spend more should do so to
provide the eurozone economy with some stimulus.

 

And they tend to be reluctant to name the countries they think could and
should do more, but it is no secret that Germany is the one they have mind
most of all. The Netherlands and some others also have strong government
finances.

 

There has also been some heavy criticism of Mr Draghi's performance,
especially from German commentators.

 

While he may regard the low and even negative interest policy as necessary
to stimulate economic activity, critics see the approach as an attack on
savers.

 

The German newspaper Bild recently called him Count Draghila and accused him
of sucking German savings accounts empty. The article carried a picture of
the ECB president with added vampire teeth.

 

There have also been challenges, unsuccessful so far, to the QE programme in
the German courts. The complainants have argued that it constitutes central
bank financing of government in a way that is banned by EU treaties.

 

This is often described as printing money, a term which raises the spectre
of high inflation.

 

This touches a nerve in Germany, which has a particularly strong aversion to
inflation, sometimes attributed to the hyperinflation the country
experienced in the early 1920s.

 

Mixed bag

In this case nothing like that has happened, as inflation has remained below
the ECB's target. The bank's negative interest rate policy has also
attracted criticism.

 

It is banks that are particularly affected. In essence they have to pay to
deposit money with the ECB and the concern is that it makes it harder for
them to be profitable.

 

Any economy needs banks to be commercially viable if they are to provide the
credit that business and consumers need.

 

So it's a rather mixed legacy that Mr Draghi will pass on. There are plenty
of challenges, which could include a recession fairly soon, and the ECB is
little firepower left to respond.

 

But it still is the eurozone and no countries have left it. When Mr Draghi
took charge its future existence was not at all assured.--BBC

 

 

 

When to fire the boss: A tale of three sackings

The names of some business leaders are so closely associated with the
companies they run that it's almost unthinkable the firm could exist without
its boss.

 

It's as hard to imagine Facebook without Mark Zuckerberg as it is to think
of Virgin without Richard Branson.

 

The now-former boss of WeWork clearly counted himself among that class when,
in August, his firm told potential investors: "Our future success depends in
large part on the continued service of Adam Neumann, our co-founder and
chief executive officer."

 

The firm described him as "critical to our operations" as it warned that Mr
Neumann did not have an employment agreement with WeWork and said his
departure would significantly hurt the business.

 

But, just months later, the firm - which was valued at nearly $50bn (£39bn)
earlier this year - has pushed Mr Neumann from his board seat, demoting him
to the role of "observer", as it agreed to a rescue package from investor
Softbank that valued it at just $8bn.

 

WeWork seals multi-billion-dollar rescue deal

The rise and fall of WeWork's boss Adam Neumann

Nevertheless, Mr Neumann has walked away from the firm with a $1.5bn payoff.

 

He is one of many entrepreneurs who have struggled to steer the ship as
their companies grew from fledgling start-ups to corporate giants.

 

Some people - such as Alibaba founder Jack Ma or Bill Gates, who built
Microsoft - have made it look easy.

 

But tech strategist Flavilla Fongang says that in start-up phase, new firms
can focus just on growth, raising investment and building infrastructure.

 

Once the business is up and running, however, the founder has to turn his or
her attention to more delicate tasks, such as cultivating new leaders who
can run the company as well or even better, she says.

 

She describes firms like Uber as "very strong-minded in terms of the
disruption they wanted to create" and its employees as people who "wanted to
be part of that history".

 

"It becomes a bit of a cult almost where people come to work with a feeling
that everything they do will make an impact in society," she says.

 

But cult leaders rarely last long at the top.

 

Known to prefer T-shirts to suits, Mr Neumann's casual style was reflected
in his approach to corporate governance.

 

Although his audacious way of doing business once attracted investors such
as Softbank, the public market investors raised concerns about the firm's
financing and oversight.

 

He co-founded WeWork in 2010 with a single office in New York's Soho.

 

Less than a decade later, it now has more than 500 locations in 29
countries. But it lost about $900m in the first six months of this year.

 

As the numbers have grown bigger, so has the scrutiny from investors who
have questioned the links between Mr Neumann's personal finances and WeWork.

 

They also worried about his judgement, amid complaints about his
hard-partying ways.

 

But Mr Neumann's fate sealed after plans for a public share offering were
shelved last month.

 

Shortly afterwards, Mr Neumann announced he would take a step back from the
firm, saying scrutiny of his leadership had "become a significant
distraction".

 

During his time at Uber, Travis Kalanick presided over a rampant culture of
sexism, the covering up of a major hack, spying on journalists and,
allegedly, the theft of trade secrets from Google.

 

Mr Kalanick became known for his aggressive business tactics. When New York
Mayor Bill De Blasio threatened to limit the number of rideshare drivers
allowed to work in the city, Uber added "De Blasio's Uber" feature, which
showed no available cars or long waits for a ride.

 

When the city of Austin introduced a bill that Uber didn't like, the firm
switched off services in the city.

 

In a widely reported email to staff ahead of a company party in Miami in
2013, Mr Kalanick - known as TK - asked employees not to have sex with each
other if they were in the "same chain of command" or to throw beer kegs off
tall buildings, and levied a $200 (£158) "puke charge" for anyone who was
sick, presumably as a result of over-indulgence.

 

Eventually, in 2017, following a spate of apologies from Mr Kalanick for
both his own behaviour and that of members of his leadership team, he
resigned.

 

Like Mr Neumann, he also sold down his stake in the firm he founded to
Softbank.

 

Ms Fongang describes people like Mr Kalanick as "honest and direct".

 

"They say what they think," she says.

 

But she says things go wrong when their actions don't match their words.

 

Elizabeth Holmes also dropped out of college to work on the business venture
that made her a billionaire.

 

The difference between her and Mr Neumann or Mr Kalanick is that the
implosion of Ms Holmes' business, Theranos, has left her facing prison time.

 

She founded the firm on an idea for a drug-delivery patch that could adjust
dosage to suit an individual patient's blood type and then update doctors
wirelessly.

 

The patch never made it to market, but the big idea - the one upon which the
whole hoopla of Theranos was built - was a machine that could test for a
variety of diseases through only a few drops of blood from a person's
finger.

 

There was just one problem: it didn't work.

 

A story in the Wall Street Journal in 2015, accusing the firm of not using
its own machines to test blood samples, prompted an investigation by the US
financial regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

Within a year, Theranos had its licences revoked and began shutting down its
labs.

 

Forbes magazine revised Ms Holmes' wealth down from $4.5bn to "nothing".

 

When should they go?

Ms Fongang says a boss should quit or be booted out when staff and investors
lose faith in their ability to deliver on their vision.

 

"Not all start-up entrepreneurs are meant to be leaders," she says.

 

Some are great visionaries, while others are great inventors, she says.
"They should stick to that."--BBC

 

 

 

 

High Street woes mount as '85,000 jobs lost'

The government is facing calls to overhaul its High Street policies after
estimates were made of 85,000 retail sector job losses on a year ago.

 

The British Retail Consortium made the estimate after the number of retail
employees in the third quarter fell by 2.8% on a year earlier.

 

This is the 15th consecutive quarter of year-on-year decline, the BRC said.

 

Helen Dickinson, BRC boss, said it was time to overhaul business rates and
the apprenticeship levy.

 

"Weak consumer demand and Brexit uncertainty continue to put pressure on
retailers already focused on delivering the transformation taking place in
the industry.

 

"While MPs rail against job losses in manufacturing, their response to
larger losses in retail has remained muted," she said.

 

She said reforms to business rates and the apprenticeship levy would allow
retailers to focus on enhancing their online presence and adapt to changes
on the High Street.

 

The Treasury did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

"The government should enact policies that enable retailers to invest more
in the millions of people who choose to build their careers in retail," Ms
Dickinson said.

 

The figures are released at time when shops are closing on the High Street
with clothing retailer Karen Millen and Coast among the recent outlets to
shut.

 

In July the proportion of all shops that are empty reached 10.3%, its
highest level since January 2015, according to a BRC and Springboard survey.

 

The BRC used data from the Office for National Statistics to calculate that
a 2.8% fall in jobs in the third quarter was the equivalent of 85,000 jobs
being lost in a year.

 

The largest impact was on full-time jobs with a 4.5% fall year-on-year and a
1.5% fall in part-time roles.

 

The figures were released ahead of the all-important Christmas season and
while the BRC said the retailers it surveyed were not planning on cutting
more jobs - unlike a year ago - it was only a temporary seasonal pick-up.

 

"We expect the long-term decline in employment to continue due to a combined
effect of the on-going structural change, weak consumer spending and fierce
competition in the industry," the BRC said.

 

It said 62% if retailers had plans to increase staff in the coming quarter,
higher than the 43% last year.

 

The lobby group contrasted the state of the job market in the retail sector
with the broader economy where it said ONS data showed employment increased
0.3% on the year.--BBC

 

 

 

Tesla shares surge after unexpected profit

Tesla shares have surged to their highest levels since February, after it
told investors that manufacturing at its Chinese factory and plans for its
next model were ahead of schedule.

 

The firm also reported an unexpected profit of $143m (£110.7m) for the three
months to 30 September.

 

That beat forecasts, but was down more than 50% from a year earlier.

 

Shares in the electric carmaker jumped by more than 17% in after-hours trade
to about $300 apiece.

 

Tesla has struggled with years of losses, fuelling investor doubts and
casting a shadow over the shares in recent years.

 

The firm has yet to turn an annual profit, although it recorded positive
results in the final two quarters of 2018.

 

Last year, the company took aggressive steps to slash expense, cutting
thousands of jobs and reining in other spending.

 

In the most recent quarter, operating expenses fell about 15% year-on-year
to $930m, lifting the firm's bottom line, despite a modest decline in
revenue.

 

In Wednesday's earnings release, the company said it expected to remain
profitable in the future with "possible temporary exceptions" around the
launch of new products.

 

The firm said it was "highly confident" it would deliver more than 360,000
vehicles this year - in line with previous estimates.

 

The company is betting on major success in China, the world's biggest car
market. Sales there had been hurt by tariffs triggered by the US-China trade
war.

 

Tesla said trial production had already started at its factory in Shanghai,
the first wholly foreign-owned plant in the country. However, it still needs
additional government sign-off before full production gets underway, it
said.

 

"We have cleared initial milestones toward our manufacturing license and are
working towards finalising the license and meeting other governmental
requirements," it said.--BBC

 

 

 

WeWork warns of job cuts after Softbank rescue

WeWork leaders have warned staff to expect major job cuts after a shake-up
at the struggling co-working company.

 

Softbank, the firm's biggest outside investor, has agreed to invest billions
in the firm after the collapse of WeWork's flotation plans and ouster of
co-founder Adam Neumann.

 

Its chief operating officer said WeWork must now "right-size" the business
to stem its losses.

 

Media reports say the firm would cut thousands of workers.

 

The Financial Times put the figure at as many as 4,000 - about a third of
its staff, which numbered more than 12,500 as of June.

 

WeWork did not respond to a request for comment on the figures.

 

Major cuts had been expected but postponed, as the cash-strapped company,
which lost $900m in the six months to June, needed money to pay severance,
the Wall Street Journal has reported.

 

On Tuesday, WeWork's board accepted a financing offer from Softbank that
includes $5bn in debt.

 

As part of the deal, Mr Neumann is to receive an exit package worth nearly
$1.7bn - a move that had spurred anger among workers fearing for their jobs.

 

'Right-size the business'

In a memo to staff posted by CNBC, Softbank's chief operating officer
Marcelo Claure, who was named to lead WeWork's board, said those affected by
the cuts would be "treated with respect, dignity and fairness".

 

"I am totally committed to open and transparent communication with you," he
wrote. "Yes, there will be layoffs - I don't know how many - and yes, we
have to right-size the business to achieve positive free cash flow and
profitability. But I will promise you that those that leave us will be
treated with respect, dignity and fairness."

 

WeWork, which rents office space on flexible terms to companies and
freelancers, grew rapidly from its founding in New York City in 2010 to more
than 500 locations around the world.

 

For years, the focus on growth overrode concerns about profitability and led
the company to experiment beyond office rentals, opening apartments and
schools. Those businesses are among the units expected to be sold.

 

WeWork is also likely to focus on the US, Europe and Japan, pulling back
from regions that include China and much of Latin America, the Financial
Times reported.

 

"To be candid, what we are lacking is focus on our core business," Mr Claure
wrote.

 

"The past two months have been challenging, and I am not going to minimize
those challenges," he wrote. "Fortunately, we have all the necessary
ingredients to make this one of the most amazing comeback stories ever, and
prove our detractors wrong."--BBC

 

 

 

Tensions highlight the importance of global trade

Global trade used to be a slightly worthy topic - loved by economists and
confined to the financial pages of newspapers.

 

But recent high profile trade rows have changed all that, underlining its
value and importance to us all.

 

Looking at the news headlines, it is easy to think that trade flows are
going into reverse. The continuing dispute between the US and China has seen
Washington imposing tariffs on more than $360bn (£287m) of Chinese goods,
while Beijing has retaliated with tariffs on more than $110bn of US
products.

 

Elsewhere, Japan and South Korea's trade dispute is threatening the
production of smartphones, computers and other electronics, while the
European Union and the UK face potential disruption from a disorderly
Brexit.

 

Yet step back from the headlines, and take the longer view, and things look
different. The world traded more than $25tn in goods and services in 2018 -
and that's more than 50 times the value of the products directly affected by
the US and Chinese tariffs.

 

The growth in global trade may have slowed to 3.0% this year - the lowest
since the 2009 recession - according to International Monetary Fund, but the
trend is still upward

 

The more a country trades with its neighbours, the better the state of its
economy; and nations whose domestic economies are growing significantly also
tend to have higher rates of growth in trade as a share of their output,
argue economists.

 

"Liberal trade policies that allow the unrestricted flow of goods and
services sharpen competition, motivate innovation and breed success," says
the World Trade Organization (WTO).

 

And trade has existed as long as we humans have formed civilised societies.
In the 3rd millennium BC, the Sumerian city states in Mesopotamia (now Iraq)
traded with the Harappan civilization of the Indus Valley (present-day
Pakistan, parts of India and Afghanistan).

 

By the 2nd millennium BC, Bronze Age Greece, Egypt, Babylon and the Hittite
empire (now Turkey) regularly traded with each other - and with distant
Afghanistan, where the semi-precious stone, lapis lazuli, was highly prized
for its intense blue colour and used in jewellery.

 

It was a trade that came to a spectacular end when their interconnected
civilisations came crashing down around 1150BC - perhaps the first example
we know of a "global" economic collapse.

 

Today the sheer variety of global trade can be astounding. For example, take
cut flower exports from countries like Peru and Kenya. These have soared
thanks to the growth of air travel, and the trade is now worth more than
$16bn a year - that's a lot of bouquets.

 

Or take the humble bicycle; in the UK 50 years ago most were produced in one
city - Nottingham. Today the industry is worth $45bn worldwide, and relies
on an integrated global supply chain with "rims from Bulgaria, titanium from
China, metal from Taiwan, hub gears from America", says Will Butler-Adams of
the UK's Brompton Bikes firm.

 

But it is the 20th Century's semiconductor chip which has gone further than
any other single item of technology in deepening many of our connections.
It's estimated the average western customer now uses services from 40
satellites orbiting the globe every day - all thanks to computer chips.

 

While silicon - the natural element at the heart of this $500bn industry -
is found in 90% of the Earth's crust, much of it comes from just one small
town in North Carolina called Spruce Pine. A particularly pure source of
quartz, the mineral from which silicon is extracted, is mined there.

 

"It does boggle the mind a bit," says mine manager Rolf Pippert, "to
consider that inside nearly every cell phone, and computer chip, you'll find
quartz from Spruce Pine."

 

In modern history, there have been two long waves of globalization. The
first started after the Napoleonic wars in 1815 and ended with World War
One. The second started after 1945 and is still continuing; the volume of
goods exported today is more than 40 times greater than it was in 1913, with
about 25% of total global production sold abroad.

 

Now we are seeing another radical shift.

 

While it took centuries for the world's economies to shift from agriculture
to manufacturing, the rise of the services sector has occurred much more
quickly over the past 20 years, and now accounts for 68% of total global
GDP.

 

Yet here, barriers to trading services internationally still remain, putting
a break on economic growth.

 

"What good is it manufacturing world-class goods if you don't have
sufficient access to business services like banking, accountancy and
insurance to make global operations viable?" argues Simon MacAdam, global
economist at Capital Economics.

 

Global Trade

More from the BBC's series taking an international perspective on trade:

 

Why 'hypebeasts' have fallen for Asian streetwear

Can a sacred drink boost an island's fortunes?

The hidden links between slavery and Wall Street

Will Brexit hit Britain's fresh vegetable supplies?

When it comes to exporting, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are
often under-represented. Bigger firms have more capacity to absorb the
expense of pioneering in new overseas markets, and smaller firms can often
find it hard to get the relevant information they need in a timely fashion.

 

But recent changes in the global trading landscape, such as the rise of
global value chains and the digital transformation, are offering new
opportunities for SMEs to integrate into the global economy.

 

Greater flexibility and capacity to customise and differentiate products can
give SMEs a competitive advantage in global markets, as they can respond
rapidly to changing market conditions and increasingly shorter product life
cycles.

 

So what next? The opening decades of the 21st Century have been labelled as
heralding an "Asian century". While critics might quote those oft-disputed
words of Zhou Enlai - "it is too soon to say" - what is certainly true is
that established trading patterns have radically changed.

 

We've seen the rise of new groupings like Brics (Brazil, Russia, India,
China, South Africa), and new trade deals like the Comprehensive and
Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP): agreed between
Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand,
Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam, the CPTPP is now the world's third-largest
free trade area.

 

The only two still bigger are the North American Free Trade Agreement
between the US, Canada and Mexico; and the European Union.

 

Advocates of free trade say that while globalisation is causing political
strains in some countries, as employment patterns shift, retreating into
simple protectionism will simply exacerbate rather than resolve problems.

 

And on that note, in her summary earlier this month, IMF chief economist
Gita Gopinath pointedly referred to the global importance of calming the
current trade disputes.

 

"To rejuvenate growth, policymakers must undo the trade barriers put in
place with durable agreements, rein in geopolitical tensions and reduce
domestic policy uncertainty."

 

In the end, it all comes down to trade.--BBC

 

 

 

Facebook's Zuckerberg grilled over Libra currency plan

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has tried to reassure sceptical US lawmakers
over the safety of the social network's proposed digital currency Libra.

 

At a fractious hearing in Washington, members of Congress attacked plans for
the payment system, warning it could be abused by criminals and terrorists.

 

Mr Zuckerberg was also challenged over claims that he had lied to US
regulators in the past.

 

But he promised Libra would not be launched without government approval.

 

He said Facebook would leave the Libra Association if the consortium tried
to launch a cryptocurrency without the permission of US regulators.

 

Mr Zuckerberg's appearance before the House Committee on Financial Services
comes after a tough month for the Libra project.

 

Eight of the 28 founding members of the Libra Association - set up to
independently govern the currency - have pulled out. They included
Mastercard, Visa, eBay and PayPal.

 

Meanwhile, regulators around the world continue to express concern about the
project. The G7 group of nations has vowed to block it unless Facebook can
prove it is safe and secure.

 

There are concerns the currency could be used for money laundering, disrupt
the global financial system, or give Facebook too much control over user
data.

 

Mr Zuckerberg told the hearing he understood the reservations about Libra
but was determined to persevere.

 

"I get that I'm not the ideal messenger for this right now. We've faced a
lot of issues over the past few years and I'm sure there are a lot of people
who wish it were anyone but Facebook that was helping to propose this," he
said.

 

"But there is a reason we care about this and that's because Facebook is
about putting power into people's hands."

 

He said Libra was a prime example of "American innovation" and could help
more than a billion adults without a bank account worldwide.

 

Facebook would not control the Libra Association and would instead occupy
one seat on a governing board of five, he added.

 

However, his testimony was largely met with scepticism as members of
Congress focused on the social network's past failings in areas such as data
protection.

 

Maxine Waters, the Democratic chairwoman of the panel, pointed out that the
social network was the subject of an antitrust investigation. She said it
had "allowed" Russia to interfere with the US election in 2016.

 

It had "huge" reach, with an audience of 2.7 billion users, she said,
adding: "Perhaps you feel you are above the law?"

 

She said it would be "beneficial for all if Facebook concentrates on
addressing its many existing deficiencies and failures before proceeding any
further on the Libra project".--BBC

 

 

 

Thomas Cook: Former bosses deny responsibility for collapse

A former Thomas Cook chief executive has denied contributing to the collapse
of the travel firm.

 

Manny Fontenla-Novoa told MPs looking into the demise that a series of
acquisitions under his watch had not left the firm with unmanageable debt.

 

But Harriet Green, who succeeded him, told the hearing on Wednesday she
inherited a "huge wall of debt".

 

The most recent chief executive, Peter Fankhauser, has also blamed debt as a
contributory factor in the collapse.

 

Mr Fontenla-Novoa told MPs on the business, energy and industrial strategy
select committee that his strategy, including acquisitions such as a 2007
merger with MyTravel, had left the company "in great shape" for future
growth.

 

When challenged by committee chair Rachel Reeves, who cited evidence to MPs
by Mr Fankhauser that he had "had his hands tied" and found his job
"impossible" due to the debt, Mr Fontenla-Novoa said: "I can't accept that,
because if Peter felt that, then maybe they should have done something about
that debt.

 

"They should have looked at what we did in 2010 in disposing of some assets.
Maybe they should have done that earlier. If they'd believed that they could
not service that debt, they should have done something about it before
2019."

 

Mr Fontenla-Novoa said that from about 2011, after he had left the business,
Thomas Cook "shrank capacity" in real terms by reducing the number of
available seats on aircraft or hotel rooms.

 

"You look at turnover in 2010, it was £9bn. You look at turnover in 2019,
[it was] £9bn, which in effect, because of inflation, capacity has gone
down," Mr Fontenla-Novoa said.

 

"In the same period of time, Jet2holidays have grown from nowhere to four
million passengers a year. On the Beach have grown from nowhere to 1.6
million passengers a year. Love Holidays, similar amounts. I believe there
was growth in the market. I believe we would have grown with that growth in
the market. Instead, Thomas Cook... has shrunk, competitors have grown."

 

Ms Reeves cited Mr Fankhauser's comments that Thomas Cook could not have
grown because it was spending £150m to £170m per year servicing debt.

 

However, Mr Fontenla-Novoa said it "was not about buying businesses or
investing in technology, it's about the capacity that you put onto the
marketplace."

 

Former chief executive Harriet Green said she had inherited in 2012 "three
profit warnings, a huge wall of debt, and a business model that was entirely
out of sync with the industry."

 

"That's what I fought for 28 months, 22 hours a day, to change. And my
responsibility is that I failed to complete that. This is a brand that was
loved, with staff as loyal and as amazing as I've seen anywhere in the
world," she added.

 

Bonus

Ms Green, who now works for IBM, said she had implemented a strategy that
was more focused on technology, but was asked to leave her post by the
chairman before she had fully implemented it.

 

Thomas Cook, whose founder was born during the Industrial Revolution, was
Britain's oldest holiday company before going into liquidation in September.
This put around 9,000 UK jobs at risk and left 150,000 holiday-makers
overseas, who were repatriated at an estimated cost of £100m to the
taxpayer.

 

Mr Fankhauser last week told MPs on the committee that the company was
dragged down by its debts, which reached over £1.4bn in 2018. "I'm sorry for
not being able to turn around this company at pace and to really pay back
this debt.

 

"Since 2012 we paid £1.2bn of interest costs and refinancing costs. Imagine
if we had only half of that reinvested in the business, we could have been
faster," Mr Fankhauser said.

 

Former senior Thomas Cook executives told the BBC the company's debt
problems began with the MyTravel merger. "We were told we're carrying this
debt from a deal that was done many years ago and now we've got this baggage
around our necks," said one former executive, who asked not to be
identified.

 

"What that means is we have to sell about 2,000 holidays to even pay a very
small piece of that debt back. What we're doing is essentially working to
pay back the interest," she said.

 

The year after the MyTravel deal, Mr Fontenla-Novoa was awarded a £5m bonus.
He said it was "not for delivering the deal" but "for delivering the
synergies". He said "those synergies were not just delivered, they were
audited by external auditors".--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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DISCLAIMER: This report has been prepared by Bulls ‘n Bears, a division of
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