Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 03 August 2020

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 03 August 2020

 


 

 

	
 


 

 


 

 

ü  South African telecom operator Telkom moves into financial services

ü  Kenya Airways resumes international flights after virus curbs lifted

ü  S.Africa will not have universal basic income grant this year, minister says

ü  Oil trading boosts Glencore's 2020 expectations

ü  MTN Group CEO Shuter to head BT's enterprise unit

ü  South Africa's trade surplus widens to $2.75 bln in June

ü  Microsoft to continue talks to buy TikTok's US operations

ü  Wealth inequality rises even as wage gap narrows

ü  TikTok: Pompeo says Trump to crack down on Chinese software in coming days

ü  Ban ads for polluting large cars, report says

ü  How the travel downturn is sending jet planes to 'boneyards'

ü  News Corp: Rupert Murdoch's son James quits company

ü  Jet2 to refund customers returning early from Spain

ü  British Airways pilots vote to accept jobs deal

 

 


 

 


 

 <http://www.zb,co.zw/> South African telecom operator Telkom moves into financial services

(Reuters) - South Africa’s telecom operator Telkom has branched into the competitive space of financial services by launching a life insurance business that it said will initially sell funeral insurance.

 

Telkom and other mobile operators in South Africa are looking to tap more than 11 million South Africans who do not have bank accounts to offer lending and other financial services, a move that is set to threaten traditional and digital banks.

 

They are also seeking to expand their mobile payment apps into online market places to leverage their network and customer base.

 

Partly state-owned Telkom has been diversifying its income streams beyond the fixed-line business, which now contributes just over 20% to group revenue, up from 56% in 2013.

 

Underwriter Guardrisk Life is part of JSE-listed insurer Momentum Metropolitan Holdings Limited.

 

In a Sunday Times newspaper ad, Telkom said it will also offer business loans and soon launch a digital wallet service for customers to buy products and pay for services via its Yep! app as well as other online transacting platforms.

 

The battle to capture South Africa’s unbanked is intensifying among mobile operators after biggest mobile operator by subscribers MTN Group re-launched its mobile money app in South Africa in February and has been building the platform to include online shopping payments and micro loans.

 

In July Vodacom Group announced plans to create a ‘super app’ in partnership with digital payment provider Alipay, part of China’s Alibaba group, to allow consumers in South Africa to shop online, pay bills and send money to family from next year.

 

 

 

Kenya Airways resumes international flights after virus curbs lifted

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya Airways resumed international flights on Saturday, heading to about 30 destinations for the first time since the routes were suspended in March due to the coronavirus.

 

The carrier, in which Air France KLM holds a small stake, resumed domestic flights in mid-July after the government cleared local air travel.

 

“We announced we are starting with 27 destinations, we increased it to 30 just following demand,” Allan Kilavuka, the airline’s chief executive officer, said during a ceremony ahead of seeing off a flight to London.

 

He said for the rest of the year the airline expected demand to remain below 50% of capacity, but it would increase flight frequencies depending on demand.

 

“In fact 2020, we call it a lost year. Because at some point we even see demand of 25% in some months, in some months we see 38%,” he later told Reuters.

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has depressed the global aviation industry, with African carriers alone expected to lose $6 billion this year in revenue.

 

In July, Kenya Airways said it would lay off an unspecified number of number of workers, reduce its network and offload some assets due to the coronavirus crisis.

 

Kilavuka said so far the company had laid off some 650 people, mostly trainee pilots, trainee cabin crew, technician trainees and newly hired staff on probation.

 

“What I have to emphasise though is it’s not because we want to. Those employees have done nothing wrong. They are very good employees. It’s just that we cannot afford to keep them,” he said.

 

The airline was struggling long before the coronavirus outbreak, posting 2019 losses of almost 13 billion shillings ($120 million).

 

Last month the Nairobi Securities Exchange suspended trading of Kenya Airways shares for three months, citing the government’s plan to restructure the carrier, after it submitted to parliament a draft law on nationalising the airline.

 

($1 = 107.6500 Kenyan shillings)

 

 

 

S.Africa will not have universal basic income grant this year, minister says

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa will not implement a universal basic income grant until at least March, Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu said in an interview on Friday, rolling back a pledge to have it ready by October.

 

Zulu unexpectedly announced the plan two weeks, reviving a policy that was the centrepiece of Nelson Mandela’s government when apartheid fell in 1994.

 

Zulu told Reuters a draft policy would be ready at the end of the financial year, in March. In the meantime, she would seek support from cabinet colleagues.

 

“In cabinet, no one has come to me and said this is nonsense,” she said. “We’re having the conversation, but I still need support in implementation.”

 

An emergency unemployment grant of 350 rand ($20.57), as well as top-ups to existing child and old age grants, were introduced earlier this year as South Africa entered a pandemic lockdown.

 

They are due to expire in October, but Zulu said it was unrealistic to expect a universal basic income grant by then.

 

No country pays out an unconditional universal basic income, according to the World Bank, but the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus has put the idea back on the table, even in fiscally conservative countries.

 

The United Nations says a temporary basic income for the world’s poorest 2.7 billion people could help slow the spread of the virus.

 

Zulu’s plan has been welcomed by unions and civil society, but the presidency and the treasury have yet to give explicit backing.

 

Guy Standing, professor of development studies at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and former adviser to the labour ministry, said Zulu was making “good noises” but needed cabinet support, especially from the finance ministry:

 

“Now’s the opportunity for (finance minister Tito) Mboweni to go back to the man he was in the 1990s ... who has these transformative ideas in his mind. He can help Minister Zulu.”

 

 

 

Oil trading boosts Glencore's 2020 expectations

LONDON (Reuters) - Switzerland-based Glencore expects a stellar performance from its oil trading arm to help the division hit the top end of its full-year target for operating income, it said on Friday.

 

Glencore’s large marketing division makes the group more resilient than most mining companies during commodity downturns.

 

Trading divisions of oil majors such as Royal Dutch Shell, Total and Eni reported bumper profits by virtue of storing oil when prices plunged to sell it later at higher prices, profiting from what is known as a contango market structure.

 

The group’s trading arm is now expected to be at the top end of its $2.2 billion to $3.2 billion target for the full year.

 

“Our Marketing business has also risen to the challenge, delivering robust counter-cyclical earnings,” Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg said in a statement.

 

Glencore warned that its net debt, which is already the highest amongst its mining peers, would be higher in the first-half of the year.

 

Copper output fell 11% to 588,100 tonnes for the six months to June 30 while cobalt output was down 33% to 14,300 tonnes, owing to the closure of the Mutanda mine in Democratic Republic of Congo.

 

Glencore stuck to its full-year expectations for most commodities, including copper and cobalt, but said it expects to mine 14% less coal because of the continued closure of its Prodeco operation in Colombia.

 

The miner closed some operations in Chad, Peru, Colombia, South Africa and Canada, but most of its larger operations were unscathed by the coronavirus disruptions.

 

In Congo, Glencore said it was on track with the ramp-up of its Katanga copper and cobalt mine.

 

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 

MTN Group CEO Shuter to head BT's enterprise unit

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The chief executive officer of South Africa’s MTN Group, Rob Shuter, has been appointed to head the enterprise unit of British broadband and mobile operator BT from next year, the two firms said on Friday.

 

MTN will announce Shuter’s successor in the next four to eight weeks, Africa’s biggest mobile operator by subscribers said in a separate statement.

 

In March MTN announced that Shuter would step down at the end of his four-year term in March 2021, with the 52-year old saying he chose not to renew his contract.

 

“I’m delighted to welcome Rob to BT. He brings a wealth of international telecoms experience and has a track record of driving innovation in business and consumer markets,” BT Group CEO Philip Jansen said in a separate statement.

 

“This will make him ideally suited to drive forward the support we provide to UK businesses and public sector organisations.”

 

Prior to joining MTN, Shuter served as CEO of Vodafone’s European Cluster as well as CEO of Vodafone Netherlands.

 

During his tenure, Shuter has helped MTN navigate major regulatory challenges, especially in Nigeria, and returned the mobile operator to growth.

 

MTN, which will release its interim results on Aug.6, has decided not to declare a 2020 interim dividend due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related ongoing uncertainty, it said in its trading statement.

 

Should conditions warrant a final dividend, it would be no more than 390 cents per share, which is aligned to its current dividend policy, it added.

 

“The key factors to consider will include the general macro-economic environment, the status of cash upstreaming from operating companies and the outlook for the holding company leverage ratio,” the telecom operator said.

 

Shares in MTN fell 6.88% after the announcement but recovered some losses to stand 4.70% lower by 1045 GMT, on track for their biggest daily fall in nearly two months.

 

 

 

South Africa's trade surplus widens to $2.75 bln in June

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s trade surplus widened to 46.63 billion rand ($2.75 billion) in June from a revised surplus of 19.69 billion rand in May, data from the revenue service showed on Friday.

 

Exports rose 10.1% on a month-on-month basis to 116.31 billion rand, while imports were down 18.9% to 69.68 billion rand, the South African Revenue Service said.

 

($1 = 16.9632 rand)

 

 

 

Microsoft to continue talks to buy TikTok's US operations

US tech giant Microsoft has confirmed that it is continuing talks to purchase the US operations of Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok.

 

Microsoft boss Satya Nadella had a conversation with President Donald Trump about the acquisition on Sunday, the tech firm said.

 

Microsoft stressed that it "fully appreciates the importance" of addressing President Trump's concerns.

 

A full security review of the app will be conducted, the company added.

 

Microsoft will also have to provide the US government with a list of the "proper economic benefits" to the country, it said in a blog post.

 

The tech giant hopes to conclude discussions with TikTok's parent firm ByteDance by 15 September.

 

Microsoft said it was looking to purchase the TikTok service in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and would operate the app in these markets.

 

The tech firm added that it "may" invite other American investors to participate in the purchase "on a minority basis".

 

Microsoft emphasised that it would ensure that "all private data of TikTok's American users" was transferred to and remained in the US.

 

Further, it would ensure that any data currently stored or backed up outside the country would be deleted from servers after it was transferred to US data centres.

 

It also said that Microsoft "appreciates the US Government's and President Trump's personal involvement as it continues to develop strong security protections for the country."

 

But the tech giant added that current discussions were still in the "preliminary" stage, and as such there was "no assurance" that the purchase would proceed.

 

Government concerns

A possible sale of TikTok's US operations to Microsoft was thought to be on hold after Donald Trump vowed to ban the video-sharing app, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

 

The potential sale was had been seen close to agreement but was put in doubt after the US president's warning on Friday.

 

And on Sunday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that President Trump would take action "in the coming days" against Chinese-owned software that he believed to pose a national security risk.

 

Speaking to Fox News, Mr Pompeo said the action would be taken "with respect to a broad array of national security risks that are presented by software connected to the Chinese Communist Party".

 

Short-form video app TikTok is thought to have about half a billion active users worldwide - and about 80 million in the US - with a huge proportion of these in their teens or early 20s.

 

Some US politicians are worried the app's Chinese owner ByteDance poses a risk to national security because it could be used to collect Americans' personal data. Regulators have also raised their own safety concerns.

 

Late on Friday, Mr Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: "As far as TikTok is concerned we're banning them from the United States."

 

And in a statement on Saturday, a White House spokesman said: "The administration has very serious national security concerns over TikTok. We continue to evaluate future policy."

 

The Wall Street Journal said ByteDance tried to make significant concessions to the White House, including creating of thousands of jobs over three years.

 

A sale of the US operation to Microsoft, which owns LinkedIn, would give the US tech giant a far greater presence in social media, an area dominated by rivals. The value of TikTok's US arm has been put at between $15bn and $30bn (£11bn-£23bn).

 

According to the Financial Times, some executives at ByteDance believe Mr Trump's intervention may just be a negotiating ploy to help Microsoft secure a better deal.

 

TikTok declined to discuss the possible Microsoft deal, but a spokesperson said in a statement on Sunday: "While we do not comment on rumours or speculation, we are confident in the long-term success of TikTok."

 

The statement re-iterated that the company was committed to protecting the privacy and safety of users.

 

'Bizarre'

The move to ban TikTok comes at a time of heightened tensions between the Trump administration and the Chinese government over a number of issues, including trade disputes and Beijing's handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

 

The president's announcement on Friday was criticised by some in the tech sector, including former Facebook chief security officer Alex Stamos, who questioned whether the move was spurred by national security concerns.

 

He tweeted: "This is getting bizarre. A 100% sale to an American company would have been considered a radical solution two week ago and, eventually, mitigates any reasonable data protection concerns. If the White House kills this we know this isn't about national security."

 

Mr Trump was also criticised by the American Civil Liberties Union. "Banning an app that millions of Americans use to communicate with each other is a danger to free expression and is technologically impractical," said the ACLU's surveillance and cybersecurity counsel, Jennifer Granick.

 

"Shutting one platform down, even if it were legally possible to do so, harms freedom of speech online and does nothing to resolve the broader problem of unjustified government surveillance," she said.

 

On Saturday, in a bid to reassure TikTok's millions of US users, Vanessa Pappas, the country's general manager said in a video message: "We're not going anywhere . . . We're here for the long run.

 

"When it comes to safety and security, we're building the safest app because we know it's the right thing to do. So we appreciate the support."--BBC

 

 

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 

Wealth inequality rises even as wage gap narrows

The gap between how much people earn in London and the rest of the country has narrowed since the early 2000s, says the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

 

According to the think tank, the geographic inequalities in earnings and household incomes have dropped.

 

However, trends in the housing market have led to a jump in inequalities in wealth across the UK.

 

London is still pulling ahead of the rest of the country in wealth, health and education, the IFS warns.

 

The difference between wages in London and the UK at large has shrunk, partly because a higher minimum wage has had a bigger impact beyond the capital, the think tank says.

 

After accounting for inflation, average full-time earnings in London have increased just 1.5% since 2002, compared with 5.6% across the UK.

 

But there are still big gaps in both earnings and productivity. Mean earnings in London are 1.3 times the UK average and still 54% higher than in the North East of England.

 

Londoners still earn more than others, with almost a third of full-time workers there making over £50,000 a year.

 

Higher house prices have also made Londoners wealthier - their average financial and property wealth soared 150% in the decade to 2018, compared to just 3% for the North East of England.

 

The report, part of the IFS's ongoing review of inequality, says people in London also benefit from better educational outcomes.

 

In 2005, 33% of young people attending state schools in inner London entered higher education. Today, 55% of young people in this area attend university.

 

In contrast, 37% of young people living in the South West now go to university, up from 29% in 2005.

 

And almost half of children receiving free school meals in inner London go on to higher education, compared to less than a fifth in several other English regions.

 

Housing costs in London

Although London is doing better in the many ways than the rest of the UK, it faces its own unique challenge when it comes to housing.

 

Rising housing costs are eating more into the incomes of households in London and surrounding regions than in other regions.

 

According to IFS, median household income after housing costs have been deducted has risen by 13% since the early 2000s outside the capital, compared with only 6% growth in London over the same period.

 

"In London and surrounding areas, the big issue seems to be housing. The high cost of housing pulls down the disposable income of households, especially poorer ones," said David Phillips, an associate director at IFS and an author of the report.

 

"And the rapid growth in house prices has widened wealth inequalities not just between London and the rest of the country, but also between those on and off the housing ladder in the capital."

 

Stacey Neile, in Sefton, Merseyside, has just set up a sweet shop.

 

She is building the business to pass on to her children, she says, because it is the only way she thinks they will escape a life on low pay.

 

"Everything round here is minimum wage," she told the BBC.

 

A higher minimum wage has helped boost pay outside London, but to her it feels like the maximum her family might ever earn.

 

On Friday, IFS released research showing young people were increasingly beginning their careers on the lowest rungs of the career ladder, despite rising education levels.

 

Merseyside entrepreneur Dr Elliot Street co-founded healthcare firm Inovus from his bedroom in 2012.

 

He discovered his star product designer working as a sales assistant in a local Maplin's electronics store.

 

"Now I almost expect to find them in Aldi, the car wash, who knows," he said.

 

The IFS is concerned that the trends and challenges it has highlighted will further be impacted by the coronavirus crisis, although it doesn't known yet how bad such an impact might be.

 

If the hospitality industry should struggle to recover, this could have a knock-on effect on areas that depend almost entirely on tourism, such as often-deprived seaside towns, it says.

 

And the rise in online shopping could further hit brick-and-mortar High Streets in some areas, which are already struggling to repurpose vacant retail space.

 

However, it also sees opportunities to address the inequalities that currently persist.

 

For instance, the rise of remote working due to lockdown could "reduce the pull of London and other major cities", which means access to higher-paid jobs could increase for residents of other areas, which would help to narrow income and wealth gaps, as property prices adjust.

 

A Treasury spokesman said that it remains "absolutely committed to helping every part of the country return to growth, jobs and prosperity in a way that is safe" .

 

"This means levelling-up communities who have felt left behind and truly delivering for every region and nation of the UK," he added.

 

"We recognise that every region and community will be feeling the impacts of coronavirus, and we've introduced unprecedented support for business and workers to protect them against the current economic crisis."--BBC

 

 

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 

TikTok: Pompeo says Trump to crack down on Chinese software in coming days

US President Donald Trump will take action "in the coming days" against Chinese-owned software that he believes pose a national security risk, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

 

Mr Pompeo said popular video app TikTok was among those "feeding data directly to the Chinese Communist Party".

 

His comments came days after Mr Trump said he was banning TikTok in the US.

 

The company has denied accusations that it is controlled by or shares data with the Chinese government.

 

Speaking to Fox News Channel, Mr Pompeo said the action would be taken "with respect to a broad array of national security risks that are presented by software connected to the Chinese Communist Party".

 

He said there were "countless" companies doing business in the US that might be passing information on to the Chinese government. Data could include facial recognition patterns, addresses, phone numbers and contacts, he said.

 

"President Trump has said 'enough' and we're going to fix it," he told Fox News.

 

Mr Trump told reporters on Friday he planned to sign an executive order to ban TikTok in the US, where it has up to 80 million active monthly users.

 

The app - mostly used by people under 20 - is owned by Chinese company ByteDance.

 

Several Republican senators have backed a plan by ByteDance to divest the US operations.

 

"What's the right answer? Have an American company like Microsoft take over TikTok. Win-win. Keeps competition alive and data out of the hands of the Chinese Communist Party," Senator Lindsey Graham wrote on Twitter.

 

US tech giant Microsoft has confirmed that it is continuing talks to purchase the US operations of TikTok.

 

Microsoft boss Satya Nadella had a conversation with President Trump about the acquisition on Sunday, the tech firm said.

 

The threats of action against TikTok and other Chinese-owned software come amid heightened tensions between the Trump administration and the Chinese government over numerous issues, including trade disputes and Beijing's handling of the coronavirus outbreak.--BBC

 

 

 

Ban ads for polluting large cars, report says

A new campaign called "Badvertising" is demanding an immediate end to adverts for large polluting cars.

 

It says the government should clamp down on sports utility vehicle (SUV) car adverts in the way it curbed smoking ads.

 

A car industry spokesperson said modern SUVs are the cleanest in history, and said many can run on batteries.

 

But a leading academic said sales of big polluting cars will breach UK climate targets, and should be banned.

 

A government spokesperson said: "We are developing an ambitious transport decarbonisation plan in order to reach our goal of net zero by 2050.

 

"We have also provided consumers with widely-advertised incentives and information to help inform their choices when buying a vehicle."

 

SUVs now make up more than 4-in-10 new cars sold in UK, while fully electric vehicles account for fewer than two in a hundred.

 

The report from the green think tank The New Weather Institute and the climate charity Possible says the trend towards big cars is propelled by aggressive advertising.

 

They fear the global trend of rapidly-increasing sales of bigger and more polluting SUVs is jeopardising climate goals.

 

The authors of the report point out that even electric engines won’t solve all the problems with SUVs.

 

That’s because they will still pollute the air through particles rubbing off brakes and tyres, and use up carbon-emitting resources to make their heavy batteries.

 

'Popular choice'

 

In urban areas, big SUVs are a particular nuisance, they say. Their report found that 150,000 new cars on the road are too big for a standard UK street parking space.

 

It comes as local authorities strive to create space on the roads for walkers and cyclists.

 

The authors want to outlaw advertising for cars with average emissions of over 160g CO2/km, and those exceeding 4.8m in length.

 

Andrew Simms, one author, said: "We ended tobacco advertising when we understood the threat from smoking to public health.

 

"Now that we know the human health and climate damage done by car pollution, it’s time to stop adverts making the problem worse.

 

"There’s adverts, and then there’s badverts, promoting the biggest, worst emitting SUVs is like up-selling pollution, and we need to stop."

 

But Mike Hawes, from the industry's trade body, the Society of Manufacturers and Traders, told the BBC: "SUVs are an increasingly popular choice.

 

"To single out a particular body type (such as SUVs) is to ignore the huge advances in emissions and powertrain technology made with every new model.

 

"Today’s vehicles of all types are the cleanest in history, with average CO2 emissions from dual purpose cars being more than 43% lower than they were 20 years ago."

 

'No difference'

 

Butthe Local Government Association, which represents local councils, is nervous of the trend towards larger vehicles.

 

A spokesperson told the BBC: "Making parking spaces larger would mean fewer spaces. Motorists would have to pay more for parking and wait longer for a space."

 

Would an ad ban work, though? Steve Gooding, from the RAC Foundation, said: "People spending £70,000 on a new car are probably not swayed much by ads – they’re attracted to the prestige brand. I suspect banning adverts wouldn’t make a great deal of difference."

 

What’s more, the report is published at a difficult time for the UK car industry, which is on its knees from the after-effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

 

But Professor Jillian Anable, from the Leeds University Transport Studies Unit, said the government needs to see the big picture on cars - and consider banning large polluting models altogether.

 

"(Given our CO2 targets) there is a clear trade off to be made: the more we can shrink the size and weight of the cars we drive, the less we will have to restrict how much they are driven.

 

"We ought to be thinking about not allowing large polluting cars to be sold into the UK market at all."

 

She added: "Our research shows an approach where the most polluting cars are phased out from now over the next 10-15 years will be more effective than the government’s proposed ‘cliff-edge’ target date in the future where petrol and diesel cars are suddenly no longer allowed to be sold."--BBC

 

 

 

How the travel downturn is sending jet planes to 'boneyards'

Hit by the collapse in demand for flights due to Covid-19 commercial airlines have parked their grounded fleet in some of the most remote locations in the world.

 

Last month, Australia's flag carrier Qantas bid a fond farewell to its last Boeing 747 aeroplane and sent it in a final flight to retirement from Sydney to Mojave desert in California.

 

The fleet, according to a report, had carried more than 250 million people during almost half a century of service, including Queen Elizabeth II and every Australian Olympic team since 1984. The airline also announced it had decided to store its fleet of A380 super jumbos at a facility in Mojave desert until at least 2023.

 

Qantas said they had planned on retiring the plane in six months but brought forward the date because the coronavirus pandemic had "decimated international travel globally".

 

The pandemic has forced a large number of commercial airlines to ground their fleets in a handful of vast storage facilities around the world, some located in remote, arid deserts.

 

These places are variously called airline "boneyards" or retirement facilities Here planes are either parked - or stored - for long periods and then returned to service, or broken up to sell their parts.

 

Commercial airlines often find it cheaper to park their aircraft at a storage facility than at an airport.

 

Aeroplanes can be stored for a long time at these locations. Experts say airlines would typically incur a monthly cost of around $5,000 (£3,882) to maintain the aircraft in a "long-term storage programme".

 

"Some aircraft are stored for a long period before finding a new lessee, some are stored and then used for parts, some are scrapped," Ian Petchenik from flight tracking website FlightRadar24, told me.

 

Some of the more popular privately-run storage facilities are located in vast swathes of arid deserts in countries like the US, Spain and Australia.

 

Alice Springs in central Australia and Mojave in eastern California, for example, are two favoured locations. Other well-known storage locations are in Marana in Arizona and Roswell in New Mexico.

 

"Deserts offer two key components: large areas of open flat land, and climate that slows the corrosion of metal parts," Mr Petchenik says. The low humidity along with low aerosol and air particulates in these parts help store aeroplanes for a long time.

 

American author and former New York Times columnist Joe Sharkey remembers travelling to a former CIA airbase-turned-commercial airpark in Marana, in the desert, some 15 miles (24km) north of Tucson, Arizona.

 

"It was somewhat a disconcerting sight to see shiny tails of many commercial airliners glinting in the sun in the distance. All the planes have sealed off windows and engines," said Mr Sharkey.

 

Aviation experts say the pandemic has forced more planes to these "boneyards" than any development in recent history. Long haul airplanes are also being prematurely retired. Last week British Airways, the world's largest operator of the jumbo jets, announced it would retire all of its 31 Boeing 747s, 10% of its total fleet, ahead of a planned phasing out in 2024.

 

In April, more than 14,000 passenger aircraft - equivalent to two-thirds of the global fleet - were grounded around the world, up from less than 1,900 planes at the beginning of the year, according to Cirium, a London-based aviation data and analytics company.

 

Some 7.5 million flights have been cancelled between January and July and the airline industry has already suffered up to $84bn of revenue losses this year, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA)

 

"This is the largest grounding of commercial aircraft ever, precipitated by the virtual shutdown of the global passenger network as a consequence of travel restrictions resulting from the pandemic and the reduction in demand for passenger air travel," Rob Morris, head of consultancy at Cirium, told me in an email.

 

Airlines have faced a sharp decline in traffic triggered by global events in the past.

 

More than 13% of the commercial jet fleet were grounded after the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent Gulf War in 2001, say analysts. Passenger traffic nosedived after the 2008 global financial crisis, with 11% of the commercial fleet grounded in storage facilities in mid-2009.

 

"But the stored ratio has never got anything close to the ratios we have seen in 2020, illustrating the scale of crisis on airlines globally," Mr Morris said.

 

Delta Airlines parked its fleet at a "boneyard" in Arizona, and American Airlines flew its planes to a former military base-turned storage facility in New Mexico.

 

Many of the 371 Boeing 737 Max were moved to storage facilities around the world after the plane was grounded last March following safety concerns.

 

The Singapore Airlines group has parked 29 aircraft in Alice Springs in Australia, a spokesperson for the airline told me. The Airbus 380 appears to be one of the worst affected fleets.

 

"The A380 fleet is entering long-term storage due to unprecedented downturn in passenger demand," says Mr Petchenik.

 

As the pandemic enters its eighth month, many planes have returned to service as airlines begin to fly again.

 

Nearly 10,000 passenger aircraft were in the skies on 17 July, operating some 34,800 flights.

 

How Covid-19 will change air travel as we know it

But some 7,600 planes, representing more than a third of the global fleet, are estimated to be still grounded, according to Cirium.

 

For evidence of how bleak things are still with air travel consider this: Singapore Airlines, one of world's top carriers, is operating only 30 of its group fleet of 220 aircraft, while another 30 of its passenger aircrafts are being used to carry only cargo.

 

The fate of the planes at the facilities remain uncertain. Some are left to sit there. The final option is to scrap the plane and sell the parts.

 

"There is some element of precious metals in engines which has some value, but in many cases today the scrap value of the aircraft is minimal compared to the cost of scrapping, particularly given environmental laws," says Mr Morris.

 

"Hence, many obsolete planes may remain in storage for a prolonged period".

 

Others are returned to service.

 

"These aircraft require maintenance and usually a series of test flights prior to re-entering service. The engines and systems are run often to ensure they can be quickly put back into service," says Mr Petchenik.

 

More often than not, however, airline 'boneyards' conjure up visions of abandoned planes, which will never return to service.

 

Mr Sharkey met a senior manager at such a facility in Arizona who spoke about his experiences.

 

"A 747 came in not long ago with the newspapers and magazines all stacked neatly in the racks, and the pillows and blankets on the seats," the manager told him..

 

"It was eerie, like a ghost ship."--BBC

 

 

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 

News Corp: Rupert Murdoch's son James quits company

James Murdoch, the younger son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, has resigned from the board of News Corporation citing "disagreements over editorial content".

 

In a filing to US regulators, he said he also disagreed with some "strategic decisions" made by the company.

 

The exact nature of the disagreements was not detailed.

 

But Mr Murdoch has previously criticised News Corp outlets, which include the Wall Street Journal, for climate change coverage.

 

In recent years James Murdoch has also found himself at odds - politically - with his father, BBC North America correspondent David Willis says.

 

Whilst Murdoch Senior has pledged support for Donald Trump, James Murdoch has reportedly contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the campaign of Mr Trump's Democratic rival, Joe Biden.

 

James Murdoch's departure from News Corp would, our correspondent says, appear to grant even more influence to his brother Lachlan who is generally thought to share his father's more conservative views.

 

Rupert, News Corp's executive chairman, and Lachlan, co-chairman, wished James well in a joint statement.

 

"We're grateful to James for his many years of service to the company," the statement said. "We wish him the very best in his future endeavours."

 

News Corp also owns The Times, The Sun and The Sunday Times in the UK, as well as a stable of Australian newspapers, including The Australian, The Daily Telegraph and The Herald Sun.

 

What do we know about past disagreements?

Earlier this year, amid devastating wildfires in Australia, James Murdoch and his wife Kathryn expressed their frustration with climate change coverage by News Corp and Fox.

 

Their spokesperson told The Daily Beast they were "particularly disappointed with the ongoing denial among the news outlets in Australia given obvious evidence to the contrary."

 

Rupert Murdoch has described himself as a climate change "sceptic" and denies employing climate deniers.

 

But critics of News Corp pointed to its comment articles and reporting of the alleged role of arson in the wildfires as minimising the impact of a changing climate.

 

Employee attacks Australia fires media coverage

Who is James Murdoch?

Born in London in 1972, he is the youngest of Rupert Murdoch's three children from his marriage to Anna Torv, the others being sister Elisabeth and brother Lachlan.

 

He was schooled in New York, going on to study film and history at Harvard University but he dropped out in the mid-1990s without completing his degree.

 

Gaining a reputation as the family rebel, he set up an independent hip-hop label, Rawkus Records, which launched the career of rapper-actor Mos Def and gave an airing to the then little-known Eminem.

 

He was formerly chief executive of 21st Century Fox before Walt Disney bought most of its assets last year.--BBC

 

 

 

 

Jet2 to refund customers returning early from Spain

Jet2 has announced it will refund customers on holiday in Spain who have been asked to fly back to the UK early.

 

On Thursday, the airline cancelled flights back to the UK for hundreds of passengers.

 

The carrier told the BBC it is operating empty flights to pick up passengers from Spanish destinations up to and including 3 August.

 

Jet2holidays will also refund unused nights for customers affected by the flight cancellations.

 

The airline added that it would refund the difference if customers had to book new flights to return to the UK.

 

The move follows criticism from some passengers who told the BBC on Thursday they were being charged more money to fly back on rescheduled flights.

 

Other customers said they were anxious and upset about having their holidays cut short and their flights cancelled.

 

Jet2 told the BBC it was "responding to a very fast-moving situation with updates coming from the government with little or no notice, and we have had to make decisions about our programme accordingly".

 

"We can assure these customers that we will be in touch with them to resolve any issues that they may have," the firm added.

 

The airline has suspended flights and holidays to Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Majorca, Menorca and Ibiza up to and including 9 August have been suspended.

 

It follows a decision to suspend all holidays and flights to destinations in mainland Spain - Costa de Almeria, Alicante, Malaga and Murcia - up to and including 16 August.

 

The airline said customers had been contacted and advised of their options regarding flying back to the UK.

 

"For flight-only customers who were due to travel after this date, we have cancelled and refunded the cost of their original inbound flights, and customers can book another flight should they wish," a Jet2 spokeswoman told the BBC.

 

"There is availability on these inbound flights and our pricing reflects this. On the occasion where there is an increased cost, customers can get in touch with us with their booking information and we can assure them that any difference in cost between the original and new fares will be refunded.

 

"We appreciate that some customers were due to stay on holiday for longer than this, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused by these unprecedented circumstances. Nobody wants customers to be on holiday enjoying themselves more than we do.

 

"We can assure Jet2holidays customers that if they have not been able to stay the number of nights on holiday that they had originally booked, they will be refunded for those nights."

 

It will take up to 28 days for customers to receive refunds from Jet2.

 

"Since May, the Civil Aviation Authority has been reviewing the refund practices of 18 carriers - both UK airlines and international airlines - looking at how refunds for flight-only bookings have been handled during the coronavirus pandemic," said a Jet2 spokesman.

 

"The CAA found that we are the only UK airline to have been consistently processing cash refunds quickly and having only a small backlog of refund requests."--BBC

 

 

 

British Airways pilots vote to accept jobs deal

British Airways pilots have voted to accept a deal that will temporarily cut pay by 20% and eliminate 270 jobs, says the pilots' union Balpa.

 

The deal prevents a controversial "fire-and-rehire" scheme where staff would have been handed new contracts "on worse conditions".

 

The 20% pay cuts will reduce to 8% over two years and to zero in the long term.

 

The ballot result saw 85% of members accept the deal on an 87% turnout.

 

"Our members have made a pragmatic decision in the circumstances, but the fact that we were unable to persuade BA to avoid all compulsory redundancies is bitterly disappointing," said Balpa general secretary Brian Strutton in a statement.

 

BA said it was facing an "enormous challenge" and that it did not expect to return to 2019 levels of business "until at least 2023".

 

The airline had proposed to make 12,000 staff redundant, as it struggles with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, with 1,255 pilot jobs at stake.

 

Balpa said there would still be some compulsory redundancies, estimated at 270 jobs, although that number is "likely to fall" as BA will be working with the union to mitigate the impact of the changes.

 

 

On 28 July, trade union Unite threatened industrial action against the airline "with immediate effect" over plans to hand staff their notice and then rehire them on new contracts with unfavourable terms.

 

Talks with other BA staff, such as cabin crew, engineers and office staff, are still continuing.

 

Many airlines are struggling to survive as the pandemic severely disrupts global travel.

 

The plunge in travel will drive airline losses of more than $84bn (£66bn) this year, the International Air Transport Association has warned. It said last month that 2020 revenues would drop to $419bn, down 50% from 2019.

 

BA has insisted that it is doing its best to save jobs. On Thursday, Willie Walsh, the boss of BA owner IAG, told the BBC that the coronavirus crisis was the worst the company has faced in its history.

 

IAG reported a loss of €4.2bn (£3.8bn) for the first half of the year, and Mr Walsh said it would take until at least 2023 for passenger levels to recover.

 

 

However, there is anger from staff over the way BA has approached job cuts, according to the BBC's business correspondent Theo Leggett.

 

For cabin crew, there is not only the threat of redundancy, but also the possibility of big pay cuts for long-serving staff.

 

Many of those affected believe the company is using the current crisis to force through changes it has wanted to make for years.

 

Longer-serving crew at BA have contracts which are, by modern standards, relatively generous. They date back to an era when the airline industry was less ferociously competitive, before the emergence of budget carriers such as Ryanair and Easyjet forced older airlines to cut costs and change their business models.

 

In a statement, BA said: "This is an incredibly difficult time for everyone at British Airways and we are grateful to Balpa and our flight operations team for the work they have done to reach this agreement and save hundreds of jobs.

 

"The financial results show the enormous challenge British Airways faces as it contends with the impact of the global pandemic and government travel bans, reducing demand for travel very significantly.

 

"We do not expect our company to return to 2019 levels of business until at least 2023 and therefore we need to act now to reshape our company for a very different future."--BBC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


 


 

 


 

INVESTORS DIARY 2020

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


FCB

AGM

virtual

06  August 2020|3pm

 


Zimbabwe

National Heroes Day

Zimbabwe

10  August 2020

 


Zimbabwe

Defence Forces’ Day

Zimbabwe

11  August 2020

 


Old Mutual Zimbabwe

AGM

virtual

12  August 2020 | 3pm

 


CBZ

AGM

Virtual

14  August 2020 | 6pm

 


Lafarge

AGM

Virtual

18 August 2020  | 12pm

 


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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