Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 05 August 2020

Wed Aug 5 06:02:00 CAT 2020

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 05 August 2020

ü  Denel ordered to pay outstanding salaries

ü  Cell C defaults on repayments on $184 mln bond

ü  Morocco to reform state bodies in virus response, Finance Ministry says

ü  SAB dumps $290 mln investment plans after South Africa alcohol ban

ü  Eskom seeks $221 million damages over coal deal

ü  Congo to suspend value-added tax exemption for mining imports

ü  Pick n Pay warns of 50% earnings drop

ü  Oil falls as rising virus cases overshadow demand recovery

ü  Cashbuild to buy Pepkor's Building Company

ü  Disney focuses on streaming as it falls to a loss

ü  Crisis-hit Virgin Atlantic files for bankruptcy

ü  Anthony Levandowski: Ex-Google engineer sentenced for theft

ü  TikTok founder defends potential Microsoft sale

ü  Google-Fitbit takeover: EU launches full-scale probe

ü  BP halves dividend after suffering huge losses

 <http://www.zb,co.zw/> Denel ordered to pay outstanding salaries

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s Labour Court on Tuesday ordered
state defence firm Denel to pay workers outstanding salaries for May, June
and July by no later than Friday, Aug. 7, a copy of the court judgment
showed.

The case against Denel was brought by two trade unions, Solidarity and UASA,
on behalf of their members after the weapons manufacturer did not pay
salaries in full.

Denel, which makes equipment ranging from armoured vehicles to missiles, has
struggled to pay staff salaries amid a liquidity crisis aggravated by the
COVID-19 pandemic.

It is one of a number of struggling state enterprises the government has
been keeping afloat with bailouts.

A Denel spokeswoman said the company was preparing to comment in a
statement.

As well as paying outstanding salaries, Denel will have to meet statutory
obligations such as making payments to its employee pension fund, which it
has also struggled to do in recent months.

It was not immediately clear where Denel would find the money, given its
severe cashflow constraints.

Cell C defaults on repayments on $184 mln bond

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s Blue Label Telecoms said on Tuesday
that Cell C, in which it is the largest shareholder, had defaulted on the
payment of capital on its $184 million note, which was due on Aug. 2.

Cell C, a mobile carrier, also defaulted on interest and capital repayments
related to the respective bilateral loan facilities between itself and
Nedbank Limited, China Development Bank Corporation, Development Bank of
Southern Africa Limited and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited.

These were due in January and July 2020.

Morocco to reform state bodies in virus response, Finance Ministry says

RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco plans to reform, merge or dissolve some state
bodies to reduce their dependency on a state budget hit by the coronavirus
pandemic, the finance minister said on Wednesday.

The plan could include a merger of the indebted state railway operator,
ONCF, and the highway company ADM into a single entity, the minister,
Mohamed Benchaaboun, told reporters.

Morocco expects its economy to shrink by 5% this year, with the fiscal
deficit rising to 7.5% of gross domestic product and treasury debt to 75.3%
of GDP. Despite a tough lockdown, it has confirmed 26,196 cases of the
coronavirus.

The state has already announced some measures to help with the economic
impact. Last week, King Mohammed VI announced a $12.8 billion stimulus,
equivalent to about 11% of GDP.

The stimulus includes 75 billion dirhams ($8 billion) in state-guaranteed
loans to private and public enterprises and 45 billion dirhams as a
strategic investment fund to finance public-private projects, Benchaaboun
said.

State airline RAM will receive 6 billion dirhams, of which 60% is a direct
capital injection and 40% loans guaranteed by the state.

Morocco’s plan to generalize social security in five years would guarantee
health insurance, retirement pensions and unemployment compensation for
everyone, he said.

More than a third of Moroccan workers already work in unregistered
businesses without social protection, doing manual labour or selling in the
streets, accounting for 14% of GDP, according to the planning agency.

Unemployment is expected to surge to 14.8% in 2020 from about 9.2% before
the pandemic, the agency said.

Morocco intends to issue an international bond this year. “All preparations
have been made,” he said ,without offering further details.

SAB dumps $290 mln investment plans after South Africa alcohol ban

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African Breweries (SAB) said on Monday it was
cancelling 5 billion rand ($290 million) of planned investments as a result
of revenue losses sustained during a near three-month ban on alcohol sales
during the coronavirus crisis.

The South African drinks industry has been among the hardest hit by
restrictions, which included a ban on the sale of alcohol to the end of May,
which was reinstated last month to free up space in hospitals burdened by
what officials said were avoidable alcohol-related injuries.

“The cancellation of this planned expenditure is a direct consequence of
having lost 12 full trading weeks, which effectively equates to some 30% of
SAB’s annual production,” SAB vice-president of finance Andrew Murray said.

The sector has already cut 118,000 jobs and projections show that a
nine-week ban now will cost another 84,000 and 15.5 billion rand in GDP,
Richard Rushton CEO of Distell, which makes wines, spirits and ciders, said.

SAB, owned by the world’s largest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev, said it had
cancelled 2.5 billion rand planned expenditure for this financial year,
while the other half for the next financial year remains under review.

Investments being considered by SAB included upgrades to operating
facilities and systems, as well as the installation of new equipment at
selected plants, it added.

The ban has also forced the South African arm of Heineken to drop plans to
build a 6 billion rand brewery in KwaZulu-Natal, it said on Monday.

Industry associations have called for the government to drop the alcohol
ban, with some restaurant, bar and tavern owners considering closing for
good.

SAB said the country had lost an estimated excise tax of more than 12
billion rand during the first ban.

($1 = 17.2467 rand)

Eskom seeks $221 million damages over coal deal

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Power utility Eskom and South Africa’s Special
Investigating Unit (SIU) said on Monday they had issued a court summons in
an effort to recoup 3.8 billion rand ($221 million) they allege was diverted
by former Eskom executives and the Gupta family, who ran high profile
businesses in the country.

The move by Eskom and the SIU relates to the 2015 acquisition of Optimum
Coal by the Gupta-controlled company Tegeta Exploration and Resources. At
issue is a claim by Eskom that the deal involved a payment to the Guptas
which was authorised by previous executives, damaging the company
financially.

Eskom alleged “a concerted effort corruptly to divert financial resources
from Eskom, (and) to improperly and illegally benefit the Gupta family” in a
statement issued jointly with the SIU.

It said that Eskom had issued a civil summons in the North Gauteng High
Court against 12 individuals to recover funds lost.

Rudi Krause, the lawyer acting for the Gupta family, said he had not
received any communication from Eskom or South Africa’s SIU about claim for
damages.

“If they serve a summons properly and my clients are properly cited, then I
will have something to respond to. At the

moment I know nothing about it,” Krause said. Krause decline further comment
on Monday’s statement.

Eskom is one of several South African state-owned firms which have been
investigated over allegations of corruption involving government contracts.

The investigations have prompted the overhaul of Eskom’s management and
board, as well as government promises of stronger oversight, with President
Cyril Ramaphosa last year announcing Eskom would be spilt into three
separate entities.

Eskom also has had a succession of chief executives over the past decade as
it struggled to service debts totalling 450 billion rand, while trying to
keep power supplies going.

Brian Molefe, who resigned as Eskom CEO in 2017 after South Africa’s state
corruption watchdog questioned coal deals struck during his term, was one of
the individuals named in the statement. He also said he had not received a
summons.

“Suddenly they whip out this file after three years. Nobody has contacted
me,” Molefe said.

Another former Eskom CEO Matshela Moses Koko, who was also named in the
statement, also dismissed the legal move.

“What a horrific blunder and a bad publicity stunt by Eskom and the SIU,”
Koko wrote on Twitter. “I really want to comment but I don’t have the
summons. So I don’t know what Eskom is accusing me of,” Koko later told
Reuters.

The SIU is an independent statutory body that is accountable to South
Africa’s parliament and the country’s president. It says it conducts
investigations at the president’s request.

A judicial inquiry into alleged corruption involving state contracts worth
billions of rand at Eskom and other state firms, which began two years ago,
is ongoing.

South Africa’s parliament and National Treasury have also conducted
investigations into Eskom’s Tegeta deal and other aspects of its procurement
arrangements, but have not brought any criminal or civil charges.

($1 = 17.1724 rand)

Congo to suspend value-added tax exemption for mining imports

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo’s government has decided
to suspend the value-added tax (VAT) exemption on mining companies’ imports
in an effort to bolster state revenue, the budget minister said.

In a letter dated July 31 and seen by Reuters on Tuesday, Budget Minister
Jean-Baudouin Mayo instructed the finance minister to move to implement the
decision taken at last week’s cabinet meeting.

Congo, which is Africa’s top copper producer, originally agreed to suspend
the tax in July 2016 to help companies during a commodity price downturn and
to pay down hundreds of millions of dollars in VAT reimbursements owed to
the companies.

Congo’s economy has been badly damaged by the coronavirus pandemic and is
forecast to contract by 2.4% this year.

Pick n Pay warns of 50% earnings drop

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African supermarket chain Pick n Pay flagged
a more than 50% fall in first-half earnings on Tuesday, weighed down by
constraints on alcohol, tobacco and clothing sales during the lockdown, and
by voluntary severance payments.

President Cyril Ramaphosa imposed a nationwide lockdown from the end of
March to curb the spread of coronavirus, banning retailers from selling
non-essential items.

These account for about 20% of Pick n Pay’s group revenue, with higher gross
profit margins relative to basic food and grocery lines.

Pick n Pay, which also owns discount supermarket brand Boxer, was also
prohibited from selling general merchandise and hot foods.

Restrictions were lifted mid-May and subsequently from June 1, but tobacco
sales have been prohibited throughout, and the ban on alcohol sales was
reinstated last month.

The retailer said headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the 26 weeks to
Aug. 30 would be down more than 42.52 cents from 85.03 cents reported in the
previous year.

Shares in the company were down 5% at 0737 GMT.

It also blamed COVID-19-related costs for the decline in HEPS, the main
profit measure in South Africa that strips out certain items.

The group launched a voluntary severance programme in March, through which
it said more than 1,400 employees have left the business.

Oil falls as rising virus cases overshadow demand recovery

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices eased on Tuesday on concerns that a fresh wave
of COVID-19 infections will hamper a global demand recovery just as major
producers ramp up output.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 67 cents, or
1.6%, at $40.34 a barrel at 1020 GMT, while Brent crude dropped 71 cents, or
1.6%, to $43.44.

The declines come after WTI rose 1.8% and Brent climbed 1.5% on Monday on
better than expected data on manufacturing activity in Asia, Europe and the
United States. [nL4N2F520F][nL1N2F50TL]

News from Asia and Europe is adding to concerns that the infection crisis
may be spreading in a global second wave, not just in the United States and
Brazil, said Paola Rodriguez Masiu of Rystad Energy.

Denting fuel demand, cities from Manila to Melbourne are tightening
lockdowns to battle new infections, while Norway has stopped cruise ship
traffic in the latest European travel alarm. [nL8N2F5206]

In a further sign of a patchy rebound in demand, analysts estimate that U.S.
refined product stockpiles rose last week, according to a preliminary
Reuters poll ahead of data from the American Petroleum Institute later on
Tuesday and the U.S. government on Wednesday. [nL4N2F53YN]

At the same time, producers in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) and its allies, together known as OPEC+, are raising output
this month, adding about 1.5 million barrels per day of supply. U.S.
producers also plan to restart shut-in production.

“Most oil market participants expect more downward pressure on oil ... with
COVID-19 ravaging the landscape and OPEC+ adding more barrels into play,”
said Stephen Innes, Chief Global Markets Strategist at AxiCorp.

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

Cashbuild to buy Pepkor's Building Company

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African building materials retailer Cashbuild
has agreed to buy The Building Company Proprietary Ltd (TBC) from owner
Pepkor Holdings for 1.07 billion rand ($62.44 million), it said on Tuesday.

The deal will boost Cashbuild’s retail presence in previously
underrepresented regions such as the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Kwa-Zulu
Natal provinces, it said, and give it greater exposure to the mid-to-higher
income customer segment.

Clothing and furniture retailer Pepkor, which is majority owned by
Steinhoff, said in a separate statement it will use the proceeds to further
reduce debt, which stood at 14.1 billion rand on March 30.

Pepkor said the disposal of TBC, which contributed 10% of the group’s
first-half revenue, will enable it to focus on its core discount and value
retail businesses.

The deal also includes buying Pepkor’s shareholder loan claims against TBC.

TBC, a building materials retail and wholesale business, has 160 outlets and
21 franchise stores across the coastal regions of South Africa and Zambia,
Botswana and Namibia.

In a separate statement Cashbuild said revenue for the fourth quarter to end
June slid 23% year-on-year, while revenue for the year ended June fell 7%
due to lockdown restrictions that prevented the building materials retailer
from selling.

Headline earnings per share, the main profit measure in South Africa, for
the year is seen falling by more than 20% from 1,751 cents a year earlier.

($1 = 17.1362 rand)

Disney focuses on streaming as it falls to a loss

Disney plans to release Mulan on its Disney+ streaming site this year and
launch a new streaming service outside the US next year as it tries to build
on its early streaming success.

The new service will operate under the Star brand and stream a wider variety
of content than Disney+.

The firm said Disney+ had already attracted 60.5 million subscribers.

But the media giant reported enormous losses due to the pandemic as its
theme parks closed.

Disney lost $4.7bn (£3.6bn) in the three months to 27 June, as the virus
forced it to close theme parks and delay film releases and production.

That was down from nearly $1.8bn profit in the same period last year.

It said the pandemic was responsible for a $3bn hit to its operating income
- mostly due to the disruption to its theme parks, where revenues plunged
85% compared to 2019, chief financial officer Christine McCarthy said.

Overall revenue fell 42% compared with last year to $11.8bn.

Disney+ streaming hopes

As it grapples with coronavirus disruption, the firm is forging ahead with
its streaming ambitions, as it tries to position itself as a rival to
Netflix, Amazon and other streaming sites.

Last November, it launched the Disney+ streaming service in the US, later
expanding into other markets, including the UK.

Disney said it now has more than 100 million subscribers across its
on-demand sites, which also include ESPN+, the general audience Hulu
television site in the US, and the Hotstar streaming service in India.

The new international service will be somewhat similar to Hulu, but build on
the name recognition of the Star name outside of the US, where Hulu is not
as well-known, executives said.

It will offer material from the wider Disney empire, which includes
broadcaster ABC, 20th Century Films and SearchLight Pictures.

Chief executive Bob Chapek said Disney now plans to release its new live
action remake of Mulan on Disney+ in a $30 "premier access" deal in
September.

The decision to skip most of the world's cinemas and go straight to
streaming follows uncertainty about when big film theatre chains in the US
will be able to reopen.

Where Disney+ is not available, the film will be released in cinemas.

Mulan had been scheduled for release in March, but that has been postponed
several times as cinemas remain closed.

Most recently, it was set to open on 21 August and cinema operators had
hoped it would help spark a late-summer rebound for film revenues.

Paolo Pescatore, an analyst at PP Foresight, said Disney's streaming gains
were impressive but it would need to continue to add new shows and content
if it hopes to compete.

"It must continue to aggressively promote its growing suite of video
streaming services given the competitive nature of this market. There are
too many services chasing too few dollars," he said.

Beauty or Beast?

And despite the subscriber gains, Disney's streaming business is not yet
profitable, said Nicholas Hyett, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. That
part of the business recorded a roughly $700m operating loss in the quarter.

"It's tempting to look to the new Disney+ business for good news, and there
has certainly been good growth across all three major platforms," he said.

"However, this is really meant to be the icing on the cake rather than the
main event - and launch costs mean losses in the division have mounted," he
said.

He praised Disney for keeping its overall costs in check but said the
numbers "are far more Beast than Beauty. The forced closure of the group's
theme parks and no theatrical releases during the period mean revenue is on
the floor."--BBC

Crisis-hit Virgin Atlantic files for bankruptcy

Virgin Atlantic has filed for bankruptcy in the US as the global aviation
industry feels the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The UK-based airline is seeking protection under chapter 15 of the US
bankruptcy code, which allows a foreign debtor to shield assets in the
country.

It is the second Virgin-branded airline to struggle this year. Virgin
Australia went into administration in April.

Meanwhile, Virgin Australia's new owner Bain Capital is set to cut 3,000
jobs.

Virgin Atlantic's US bankruptcy court filing said it had negotiated a deal
with stakeholders "for a consensual recapitalization" that will get debt off
its balance sheet and "immediately position it for sustainable long-term
growth".

The move comes less than a month after the company said it had agreed a
rescue deal worth £1.2bn ($1.6bn) to secure its future beyond the
coronavirus crisis.

Under that plan Richard Branson's Virgin Group injected £200m, with
additional funds provided by investors and creditors.

The billionaire Virgin boss had a request for UK government money rejected,
leaving the airline in a race against time to secure new investment.

The US filing is tied to a separate action filed in a British court, where
Virgin Atlantic obtained approval on Tuesday to convene meetings of affected
creditors to vote on the plan on 25 August.

In May, Virgin Atlantic, which is 51% owned by Virgin Group and 49% by US
airline Delta, announced that it would cut more than 3,000 jobs in the UK
and close its operation at Gatwick airport.

Virgin Australia cuts

Meanwhile, Virgin Australia's new owner, the US private equity group Bain
Capital, said it will cut 3,000 jobs, which is about a third of the
airline's employees.

The turnaround plan for Australia's second largest airline will also see it
retire the budget brand Tigerair.

"Working with Bain Capital, we will accelerate our plan to deliver a strong
future in a challenging domestic and global aviation market," Virgin
Australia's chief executive Paul Scurrah said.

In April, Virgin Australia went into voluntary administration, making it
Australia's first big corporate casualty of the coronavirus pandemic.

The following month it was bought by Bain Capital, which said it supported
the airline's current management team and its turnaround plan for the
business.

Bain also promised a "significant injection of capital" that would help
Virgin Australia recapitalise and retain thousands of jobs.

Carriers around the world are struggling as they deal with the severe plunge
in air travel caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The International Air Transport Association warned in June that the slump
will drive airline losses of more than $84bn (£64bn) this year.--BBC

Anthony Levandowski: Ex-Google engineer sentenced for theft

An ex-engineer for Google's self-driving car unit has been sentenced to 18
months in prison for trade secret theft shortly before he joined Uber.

US District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco said Anthony Levandowski
had carried out the "biggest trade secret crime I have ever seen".

Levandowski loaded more than 14,000 Google files onto his laptop before
leaving the firm in January 2016.

He led Uber's robocar project, only to be fired in 2017 over this case.

Levandowski filed for bankruptcy in March this year because he owes $179m
(£136m) to Google's parent company, Alphabet, for his actions.

Judge Alsup said "billions [of dollars] in the future were at play, and when
those kind of financial incentives are there good people will do terrible
things, and that's what happened here", reports Reuters news agency.

Levandowski - who was a founding member of Google's self-driving car
project, Waymo - had been hoping for a sentence of 12 months' confinement at
his home in the San Francisco suburbs.

He said he had pneumonia, and could die of coronavirus in prison.

But Judge Alsup said a non-custodial sentence would amount to "a green light
to every future brilliant engineer to steal trade secrets".

He ruled that Levandowski could begin his custodial sentence after the
Covid-19 pandemic had peaked.

Prosecutors had recommended a 27-month sentence.

Levandowski, who now runs self-driving truck company Pronto, said in a
statement: "Today marks the end of three-and-a-half long years and the
beginning of another long road ahead."

Uber settled a lawsuit from Alphabet over the trade secrets theft, but the
dispute between the companies continues.

According to TechCrunch, Levandowski is suing Uber for $4.1bn, stemming from
its acquisition of his previous self-driving truck start-up, Otto.--BBC

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

TikTok founder defends potential Microsoft sale

The Chinese head of TikTok has defended plans to sell its US operations,
describing a deal as the only way to prevent the app from being banned in
the US.

In a letter to Chinese staff, Zhang Yiming said the critics do not see the
"full context".

The letter comes as US President Donald Trump has threatened to bar the
social media company.

Chinese state media have said such pressure amounts to "theft".

On social media, Zhang Yiming, founder of TikTok's Chinese parent company
ByteDance, has also been described as a "traitor".

In the letter to staff, which was shared by the company, he acknowledged the
criticism, but said "many people misunderstand the current, complex
situation".

He reminded staff of the firm's global ambitions and noted a rise in
anti-Chinese sentiment around the world, including in the US and India.

"As a company, we have to abide by the laws of the markets where we
operate," he said. "It feels like the goal was not necessarily a forced
sale, but given the current macro situation, a ban or even more."

The Trump administration has threatened to ban TikTok, saying the data it
collects from its users - including an estimated 100 million in the US - is
at risk of exploitation by the Chinese government.

Beijing and TikTok deny those claims, which the US has made against other
Chinese tech firms. But a sale to a US company is seen as a way to alleviate
such concerns.

On Sunday, Microsoft confirmed it was in discussions with ByteDance over
buying TikTok's operations in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand -
countries that make up four of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.

On Tuesday, it was reported that Apple is also interested.

When reports of talks between ByteDance - which has received backing from US
investors - and Microsoft surfaced on Friday, Mr Trump said he opposed the
deal.

But he later appeared to okay a potential sale, saying the government -
which would review any takeover by a US company for national security risks
- should receive a "substantial" cut of any purchase price. Mr Trump has
threatened to ban the app on 15 September if there is no deal.

"The United States should get a very large percentage of that price, because
we're making it possible," Mr Trump said.

Such a demand is highly unorthodox.

Nicholas Klein, a lawyer at DLA Piper, said generally "the government
doesn't have the authority to take a cut of a private deal through" the
Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which is the
inter-agency committee that reviews some foreign investments in the US.

Charlotte Jee, a reporter at MIT Technology Review, a magazine owned by
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said Mr Trump's comments were "pretty
astonishing".

Speaking to the BBC's Today programme, she said: "I hate to say this but it
is kind of almost Mafia-like behaviour - threatening a ban which pushes down
the price then saying 'oh we should get a cut of that deal afterwards to say
thank you for what we've done there'.

"It is extraordinary behaviour as well because last week we had lawmakers in
the US trying to look at whether tech companies are too big and now we've
got Trump trying to make one of them even bigger so it is a really, really
bizarre situation to be in."

Former FBI director James Comey once said that dealing with Donald Trump
gave him "flashbacks to my earlier career as a prosecutor against the Mob".

The US president has certainly made TikTok an offer it can't refuse.

If the video app doesn't break away from its Chinese owner, ByteDance, and
sell its US operation to Microsoft, Mr Trump will simply ban it - putting
TikTok's access to its 80 million active American users in jeopardy.

Mr Trump has already flexed his muscles against other Chinese firms, such as
Huawei.

But what makes the situation with TikTok unprecedented is the demand for a
cut of the sale price. The US Treasury has not explained how this
extraordinary demand for a cut of a private transaction would work.

Mr Trump reckons the government should get a big slice of the pie because
"we're making it possible".

However, the deal wouldn't be happening in the first place but for his
administration's claim that the likes of TikTok are feeding users' data
directly to the Chinese Communist Party.

Beneath the president's bombast, perhaps this is simply payback for the US
and its companies, some of whom claim China has stolen intellectual property
from them.

Perhaps Mr Trump is just doing outwardly what some governments have been
doing for years.

But one thing is certain, Mr Trump's demand for payment has muddied the
waters in an already fraught situation.--BBC

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

Google-Fitbit takeover: EU launches full-scale probe

The European Commission will carry out a full-scale probe into Google's
takeover of Fitbit.

The announcement follows a preliminary review, and threatens to derail the
purchase of the fitness-tracking firm.

It comes despite Google's offer last month to not use Fitbit's health data
for ad targeting.

Google's parent company Alphabet agreed a $2.1bn (£1.6bn) takeover of the
wearable tech firm last year. However, the deal has yet to be completed.

"The commission is concerned that the proposed transaction would further
entrench Google's market position in the online advertising markets by
increasing the already vast amount of data that Google could use for
personalisation of the ads it serves and displays," the regulator said.

The watchdog said its investigation should be completed by 9 December.

In response, the tech giant said it would cooperate with the process.

"We appreciate the opportunity to work with the European Commission on an
approach that addresses consumers' expectations of their wearable devices,"
blogged Google's devices chief Rick Osterloh.

Valuable data

California-based Fitbit helped pioneer the fitness tracker market, launching
its first device in 2009. It now has about 30 million active users and has
sold more than 100 million gadgets to date.

However, it currently ranks behind Apple, Xiaomi, Samsung and Huawei in
terms of global shipments of wearable tech, according to market research
firm IDC.

It posted a $132m (£101m) loss in its last annual results, alongside a sales
figure that had declined for the fourth year in a row, despite the launch of
its Versa 2 smartwatch.

Analysts suggested part of the attraction for Google was the fact that
Fitbit had formed partnerships with several insurers in addition to a
government health programme in Singapore.

While the European Commission has said its main concern is the "data
advantage" Google will gain to serve increasingly personalised ads via its
search page, it also said its investigation would look into:

the effects of the merger on Europe's nascent digital healthcare sector

whether Google would have the means and ability to make it more difficult
for rival wearables to work with its Android operating system.

For its part, Google has explicitly denied its motivation is to control more
data.

"We believe the combination of Google and Fitbit's hardware efforts will
increase competition in the sector, making the next generation of devices
better and more affordable," wrote Mr Osterloh. 

"This deal is about devices, not data.

"We've been clear from the beginning that we will not use Fitbit health and
wellness data for Google ads."

The European Commission acknowledged this commitment, but said it was
"insufficient to clearly dismiss" its concerns.

Data promises

One digital rights activist welcomed the intervention.

"Google and its parent company Alphabet already have unprecedented control
over large parts of the digital world," said Wolfie Christl from Cracked
Labs, an Austrian research institute.

"They also want to take over digital health and insurance.

"Letting them acquire Fitbit without additional obligations would be a major
step into this direction, and thus should not happen."

The European Commission has reason to be wary of Google's promise to
restrict its use of Fitbit's data.

Smart thermostat-maker Nest pledged to keep its user data separate from
Google's after it was acquired in 2014. But Google began asking users to let
it merge the logs in 2019.

Other tech firms have also reneged on similar assurances.

Most notably, Facebook's efforts to integrate WhatsApp with its other
messaging services, despite the chat app having declared in 2014 that it
would "remain autonomous and operate independently".

Anti-trust scrutiny

The European Commission has ruled against Google in three previous
competition cases, concerning the company's:

In addition, the regulator is considering whether to launch a full-scale
investigation into the firm's jobs search tool.

Google also faces increased antitrust scrutiny in the US.

Its chief executive Sundar Pichai faced several claims of anticompetitive
behaviour last week when he was quizzed by Congress, including claims that
Google had too much control over the purchase and sale of online ads.

In addition, the Senate Judiciary Committee has said it plans its own
hearing into Google's "dominance in online advertising" on 15
September.--BBC

BP halves dividend after suffering huge losses

BP has halved its shareholder dividend and posted a $6.7bn quarterly loss
after the coronavirus pandemic hit global demand for oil.

The dividend news is another blow for pension funds and private investors
who have seen a string of firms cut or halt payouts.

The loss was largely due to BP writing down the value of its assets after it
cut its oil price forecasts.

BP said the outlook for oil prices and demand was "challenging and
uncertain".

It also warned that the pandemic could weigh on the global economy for a
"sustained period".

In the short-term, BP said it expected demand for oil could be up to nine
million barrels per day lower compared to last year.

It has already announced it will cut 10,000 jobs, with as many as 2,000 set
to be lost in the UK.

Oil prices have plunged after the coronavirus virtually shut down major
economies.

In April, the price turned negative for the first time in history, meaning
producers had to pay buyers to take oil off their hands over fear storage
capacity could run out.

BP's loss for the three months to June compares to a $2.8bn profit in the
same period last year.

The oil giant said its dividend would halve to 5.25 cents a share, compared
to 10.5 cents in the first quarter.

It follows a similar, earlier move by rival Royal Dutch Shell which cut its
first quarter dividend in April - the first reduction to its shareholder
payment since the Second World War.

The dividend blows for investors and retirement savers just keep on coming.

After Shell cut its dividend for the first time since World War II and
Britain's banks suspended their payouts, BP has now halved its dividend -
its first cut for more than a decade.

That is a particularly hard blow for UK pension funds and the army of
pensioner investors who rely on the payouts.

BP traditionally generates the largest dividend payment among the big blue
chip FTSE 100 giants.

Dividend watchers now reckon the total amount of payouts by British firms
will fall by two-fifths in 2020.

Link Group's Dividend Monitor shows that dividends fell by a 57% in the
second quarter of the year as 176 companies cancelled payouts and 30 more
have cut them.

That's not disastrous for investors, but it will be painful.

Despite BP's loss and a lower dividend, the company's share price rose by
6.26% to 298.6p as it announced a new strategy.

BP said it wanted to "pivot" from being a traditional oil company to an
"integrated energy company" and said it expects to achieve "net zero" carbon
emissions for the company by 2050.

Over the next decade, BP forecasts that oil and gas production will fall by
at least one million barrels of oil a day, or 40% compared to 2019.

It plans to invest in renewables, bioenergy and as well as hydrogen and
carbon capture and storage technology.

Bernard Looney, who took over as BP chief executive in February, said: "This
coming decade is critical for the world in the fight against climate change,
and to drive the necessary change in global energy systems will require
action from everyone."--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
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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
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