Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 16 August 2020

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 16 August 2020

 


 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

 


 

 

ü  Tunisian economy shrank 21.6% in second quarter of 2020

ü  Nigeria's unemployment rate 27.1% in Q2 -NBS

ü  Sibanye-Stillwater expects first-half profit on higher metals prices

ü  Kenyan central bank to hold next rate-setting meeting on Sept. 29

ü  US-China trade deal review postponed as China ramps up farm, energy
purchases

ü  As silver trades near seven-year highs, here’s why investors continue to
pile in

ü  The clothing rental start-up Rent the Runway is closing all of its stores
for good

ü  Hot gambling stock DraftKings falls 6% after company reports larger loss
than expected

ü  Americans keep buying stuff despite the pandemic — retail sales rise for
a third straight month

ü  5 things to know before the stock market opens on Friday

ü  Coronavirus: How music played on in lockdown

ü  Sequoia leads $5m funding in Indian education loan startup

ü  Trump says looking at pressuring other Chinese companies after Bytedance

ü  Britain isn’t ‘recovering’, whatever the Bank may suggest

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

Tunisian economy shrank 21.6% in second quarter of 2020

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia’s tourism-dependent economy shrank 21.6 pct in the
second quarter of 2020, compared to the same period last year, due to the
coronavirus crisis, the state statistics institute said on Saturday.

 

Unemployment rose to 18 percent in the second quarter.

 

The government ended all restrictions on movement and businesses and opened
its sea, land and air borders on June 27. However, the pandemic is hammering
the tourism sector, which contributes nearly 10% of gross domestic product
and is a key source of foreign currency.

 

Tourism revenue in the first six months of this year fell by more than 50%
from the same period of 2019 as western tourists deserted Tunisia’s hotels
and resorts.

 

 

 

Nigeria's unemployment rate 27.1% in Q2 -NBS

LAGOS (Reuters) - More than a quarter of Nigeria’s workers were not in the
labour force in the second quarter of this year, the National Bureau of
Statistics said on Friday, in the country’s first unemployment data
published since 2018.

 

The unemployment rate stood at 27.1% in the second quarter.

 

It stood at 23.1% in the previous report, which dates back to the third
quarter of 2018.

 

Second-quarter unemployment among young people aged 15-34 was the highest at
34.9%.

 

Nigeria has been hard-hit by the fallout from the new coronavirus pandemic,
grappling not only with its own outbreak, but also from a plunge in oil
prices after lockdowns worldwide.

 

The country had 48,116 confirmed cases and 966 deaths as of Friday.

 

Nigeria entered the pandemic without having fully recovered from a 2016
recession that left more than 13 million people unemployed.

 

The World Bank has warned Nigeria faces a recession that will be “much more
pronounced” than in 2016 and potentially the nation’s worst financial crisis
in four decades.

 

 

 

Sibanye-Stillwater expects first-half profit on higher metals prices

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s Sibanye-Stillwater expects to swing
to a profit in the first half of 2020, boosted by higher precious metals
prices and a weaker rand currency, the miner said on Friday, sending its
shares up sharply.

 

Shares in Sibanye, which said it remains positive about its performance in
the second half of the year, were up 11.16% at 55.30 rand by 0836 GMT.

 

The precious metals producer, said headline earnings per share (HEPS) for
the six months to June is expected to be 350 cents compared with a loss per
share of 54 cents a year earlier when it was hit by strikes.

 

Sibanye said the inclusion of the Marikana operations, higher metals prices
and a weaker rand currency helped partially offset foreign exchange losses
and the impact of COVID-19 lockdown regulations on output.

 

“Supported by a better operational outlook than for H1 2020 and with
precious metals prices having recovered close to levels prior to the global
COVID-19 economic lockdown, the outlook for H2 2020 is positive,” Sibanye
said.

 

South African gold miners have rallied as investors rushed to buy shares in
the export-oriented companies which do well when the Rand depreciates
against the dollar.

 

The company said production from its South African gold operations during
the half-year increased by 17% 403,621 ounces, while platinum group metal
(PGM) output from South Africa was 5%higher year-on-year at 657,828 ounces.

 

By the end of July the South African PGM operations had a production run
rate of between 70% and 75%, with gold operations at around 90%.

 

Sibanye expects to release its half-year results on August, 27.

 

 

 

Kenyan central bank to hold next rate-setting meeting on Sept. 29

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The Kenyan central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee will
hold its next rate-setting gathering on Sept.29, the bank said on Friday.

 

At its last meeting in July, the bank left its benchmark lending rate
unchanged for the third time in a row at 7.0%.

 

 

 

US-China trade deal review postponed as China ramps up farm, energy
purchases

The United States and China have delayed a review of their Phase 1 trade
deal initially slated for Saturday, sources familiar with the plans told
Reuters, citing scheduling conflicts and the need to allow time for more
Chinese purchases of U.S. exports.

 

No new date for the initial six-month compliance review between U.S. Trade
Representative Robert Lighthizer, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He has been agreed, the sources said.

 

The officials were expected to hold a videoconference on Saturday, the
six-month anniversary of the trade deal’s Feb. 15 entry into force as the
coronavirus pandemic began spreading globally.

 

One source familiar with the talks said the delay was related to a
conference of senior Communist Party leaders at the seaside town of Beidaihe
on China’s northeast coast. The postponement did not reflect any substantive
problem with the trade deal, the source said, adding: “The new date has not
been finalized yet.”

 

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday repeated his view that the trade deal
was “doing very well,” but did not comment on the delayed meeting. The White
House referred queries on the talks to Lighthizer’s office, which did not
respond to a Reuters query about plans for the review.

 

Another source familiar with the plans said that U.S. officials wanted more
time to allow China to increase purchases of U.S. goods agreed in the deal,
to improve the political optics of the review.

 

China’s imports of U.S. farm and manufactured goods, energy and services are
well behind the pace needed to meet a first-year target increase of $77
billion over 2017 purchases.

 

But as China’s economy has recovered from a coronavirus lockdown earlier
this year, purchases have increased. On Friday, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture reported the sale of 126,000 tonnes of soybeans to China,
marking the eighth consecutive weekday with large sales to Chinese buyers.

 

U.S. oil traders, shipbrokers and Chinese importers also told Reuters that
Chinese state-owned oil firms have tentatively booked tankers to carry at
least 20 million barrels of U.S. crude for August and September, indicating
a ramp-up in energy purchases.

 

Trump administration officials have signaled that they are satisfied with
the pace of purchases in recent weeks and have no plans to abandon the trade
deal, which also includes some increased access for U.S. financial services
firms in China, strengthened intellectual property protections and removal
of some agricultural trade barriers.

 

Delaying the meeting, even briefly, could allow China to complete more
purchases, which would help Lighthizer persuade Trump to stick to the deal.

 

Signs of Chinese compliance could also help blunt criticism from Democratic
presidential candidate Joe Biden, who last week said the agreement that
Trump has called a historic win is “failing.”

 

“I think Trump is a little afraid that this triumph of his will be hung
around his neck, but more purchases and a bit of a delay would clearly
help,” said Mary Lovely, a senior fellow with the Peterson Institute for
International Economics.

 

“But he does own it, so they’re going to have to put the best face on it,”
she said of the Phase 1 deal.

 

The trade agreement has emerged as a lone source of stability amid
significant strain in the U.S.-China relationship over the coronavirus
pandemic, human rights crackdowns and U.S. sanctions on Chinese companies
and phone apps.--cnbc

 

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 

As silver trades near seven-year highs, here’s why investors continue to
pile in

In recent weeks, the silver price has rallied to hit its highest level since
2013. Here, CNBC looks at why investors have been flocking to the precious
metal and what’s driving its drastic moves. 

 

Gold has traditionally been investors’ favorite safe-haven, and is somewhere
to turn when bonds offer flat or negative returns and stock markets are
choppy. This has certainly been the case during the coronavirus crisis, when
the gold price has hit record highs. 

 

But silver has seen even bigger percentage gains in recent weeks. 

 

“It seems like silver is going for the gold medal,” said Mobeen Tahir,
associate director of research at exchange-traded product provider Wisdom
Tree. 

 

The silver spot price, it’s real-time value, reached $29 an ounce last week,
according to Reuters data. It has since pulled back slightly but still
stands at almost $27 an ounce. This represents a seven-year high and a gain
of nearly 39% since mid-July when the precious metal rally got into full
swing. 

 

Meanwhile, gold is currently trading around $1,947 an ounce and is up nearly
8% since mid-July. 

 

 

Made with Flourish

‘Trifecta’ of drivers 

Fundamentally, precious metals have been buoyed by a “trifecta of strong
drivers,” Ole Hansen, Saxo Bank’s head of commodity strategy, told CNBC over
the phone. 

 

One of these is the injection of more money into the economy by central
banks around the world, as part of attempts to stem the impact of the
coronavirus crisis.

 

Hansen said this monetary easing had created further uncertainty about the
health of the financial system, with worries about “an increased mountain
debt that needs to be addressed,” therefore boosting demand for precious
metals as a safe-haven investment. 

 

It has also resulted in real yields heading into negative territory, which
means the return investors get on bonds is equal to or below the rate of
inflation. It indicates less “opportunity cost” of investing in an asset
that doesn’t offer a return besides the fluctuation in its price, like gold
or silver. 

 

Thirdly, the weakness in the dollar over recent weeks, has also boosted
precious metals. As commodities are typically traded in dollars, a weaker
greenback often translates into a stronger commodity price. 

 

Gold with a ‘rocket attached’ 

Hansen described silver as “gold with a little bit of a rocket attached,” as
it tends to rally “higher and faster” than its pricier peer. 

 

This is due to it lower liquidity, although this can also result in a sharp
downturn and “really knock you out 
 when it corrects.” 

 

For example, in March when markets sold off in investors’ “dash for cash”
and hunt for greater liquidity, silver got “utterly hammered,” falling over
30% to trade around $12 an ounce.

 

Gold was also blighted by volatility, but it slipped only 11% to around
$1,470 an ounce. 

 

“Gold tends to be less volatile than silver given its superior market size,”
he explained, adding that the value of gold’s annual supply is estimated to
be five times larger than silver. Meanwhile, silver tends to be a byproduct
from the mining of other metals, such as copper. 

 

“On that basis, a strong rally is less likely to attract increased supply —
which could dampen the rally — compared with pure gold mining operations,”
Hansen added. 

 

But the fact that the silver price is still only halfway to its record high
of over $48 in April 2011, while gold has already topped previous records,
is helping attract investors to the former, he said. 

 

Guy Foster, head of research at wealth manager Brewin Dolphin, told CNBC’s
“Squawk Box Europe” last week that his firm had a preference for silver. 

 

The gold-silver ratio ­— the amount of silver it takes to purchase an ounce
of gold ­— makes ” silver look cheaper on that basis.” 

 

Industrial use

Foster said Brewin Dolphin’s more optimistic global economic outlook meant
the industrial demand for silver was an “added benefit.” 

 

Indeed, Tahir explained that more than half of silver’s demand comes from
industrial applications in electronics, medical equipment and solar power
generation, for example. 

 

So in addition to its correlation to gold, silver made for a “unique
combination” for investors right now, who wanted “to partake in the cyclical
recovery, of the economy, of companies, of business and 
 want to have some
sort of defensive hedges in place as well to hedge against all the risks.” 

 

“So it’s not just a tactical play right now with silver, it’s really a
strategic play at the same time,” Tahir added.

 

How to invest 

As with gold, investors can buy silver in physical bars, but this also
requires finding a way to keep it safe, pointed out Hansen. 

 

Exchange-traded funds are “by far the most preferred way of accessing these
markets right now,” he said. The funds are traded like stocks in real-time,
meaning they track movement in the underlying silver price. 

 

More “speculative” investors can also get exposure to silver through futures
contracts or “contracts for difference,” which are types of derivative. The
value of these contracts are based on an underlying asset. 

 

However, this is a more “hands-on trader strategy,” Hansen said, which comes
with the increased risk you get with leveraged products.--cnbc

 

 

 

The clothing rental start-up Rent the Runway is closing all of its stores
for good

The coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on many retailers, pushing dozens
into bankruptcy, and it will now prompt the clothing subscription company
Rent the Runway to shut all of its stores for good. 

 

Rent the Runway told CNBC it is making the decision in order to focus its
investments on digital and adding more drop boxes for customers. 

 

Its New York City flagship will be turned into a permanent drop-off site,
while stores in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. are
shuttered. The stores had provided customers a spot to drop off their items
and swap them for the new apparel or accessories that lined the shelves. It
also offered styling services at these locations. 

 

Rent the Runway said it plans to continue to grow its network of drop box
locations. The company has partnered with WeWork, Nordstrom and West Elm so
far. 

 

“This has been an evolution over the past two to three years,” Anushka
Salinas, Rent the Runway president and chief operating officer, said in an
interview. “We always knew we wanted and will continue to have a physical
presence strategy. What we know now is the physical presence strategy is
about drop boxes.” 

 

A number of retailers have been slimming down during the pandemic, in part
to cut costs as many have fallen into a sales slump. Others are using the
opportunity to simply right-size and shift resources online. The tech
company Microsoft in late June announced plans to permanently close its 83
retail locations. Kate Spade and Coach owner Tapestry said this week it is
planning a wave of closures. The off-price chain Stein Mart also this week
filed for bankruptcy and said it is closing all of its roughly 280
locations. More than 6,000 permanent store closures have already been
announced by retailers this year, according to a tracking by Coresight
Research. 

 

Rent the Runway knew it had to make cost-cutting moves early on because of
the pandemic. Its business model, in part, revolves around women renting out
designer ball gowns and party dresses for special events like weddings,
birthdays and black-tie events — which were brought to a halt when the
pandemic hit. 

 

In March, it laid off all of its retail staff during a Zoom call, saying it
needed to “dramatically reassess” its business model, according to a Verge
report. Rent the Runway declined to say how many jobs have been eliminated. 

 

Costs were cut by 51% at the onset of the pandemic, the company said. And it
rewrote the terms with its suppliers to pivot to a revenue-sharing
consignment model, away from a wholesale model that required additional
capital upfront, without a guaranteed payback. 

 

Rent the Runway has also raised fresh financing during the coronavirus
pandemic, a person familiar with the round said. The amount of the round
could not immediately be determined. But the new funding was expected to
value the start-up below its previous $1 billion valuation and so-called
unicorn status, Bloomberg reported in May. Rent the Runway has raised
roughly $380 million in equity to date. 

 

At least for now, business seems to be creeping back, with more women
looking to get dressed up again, according to the company’s COO. 

 

“The vast majority of our subscribers didn’t cancel their accounts,” Salinas
said. “They put them on hold or just kept items at home. ... That tells me
there is optimism.” 

 

She added that, after bottoming out, business started ticking back up in
June as local lockdown restrictions across the country eased. Many Rent the
Runway subscribers are now focused on “keyboard-up dressing” (think nice
tops and jewelry, not bottoms) for Zoom calls and other video chats from
home. 

 

In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Rent the Runway
co-founder Jenn Hyman said she was hopeful business was going to bounce
back, and the company would come out of the pandemic even stronger than
before it went into it. 

 

“We repositioned the company financially and structurally to benefit coming
out of the pandemic,” Hyman said in the interview. “We don’t need people to
go back to work. We just need people to leave their home.” --cnbc

 

 

 

Hot gambling stock DraftKings falls 6% after company reports larger loss
than expected

DraftKings sank more than 5% in premarket trading Friday after it said its
loss for the second quarter widened despite strong revenues and a turnaround
in user engagement.

 

The Boston-based gambling company posted a second-quarter loss of $161.4
million, or 55 cents per share, compared to a loss of $28.11 million, or 15
cents per share, the same quarter last year. Analysts polled by Dow Jones
had expected a per-share loss of 20 cents.

 

The company’s worst-than-expected income figures came as Covid-19 continued
to derail scores of professional and college sports leagues as efforts to
contain the coronavirus force athletes and fans home.

 

Shares fell 6% in morning trading after the release of the earnings report.

 

Though the popular stock has more than tripled this year, shares have come
under pressure again in recent weeks as some college football leagues
decided to cancel their 2020 seasons. Both the Big Ten and the Pac-12, two
college football leagues, announced earlier this week that they will
postpone fall sports due to the coronavirus.

 

But CEO and co-founder Jason Robins said in a press release that the
company’s focus on delivering new and innovative offerings should lead to
healthier financial figures as sporting events slowly resume.

 

“In the second quarter, while several major sports leagues including the
NBA, MLB and the NHL remained on hiatus due to COVID-19, the Company worked
creatively to engage fans with new fantasy sports and betting products for
NASCAR, golf, UFC, and European soccer,” DraftKings said in a release
accompanying its earnings.

 

A recent addition to the public markets, DraftKings in April combined with
Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, and
gaming technology provider SBTech. The move allowed it to circumvent the
typical initial public offering process. 

 

Its second-quarter earnings report was only its second quarterly results
filing as a public company.

 

Signs of early regrowth may already be evident in the company’s top line,
which topped analysts’ expectations in the second quarter. Revenue rose to
$70.9 million from $57.4 million, ahead of the consensus Dow Jones forecast
for $66.4 million.

 

DraftKings ended the quarter with $1.2 billion in cash and no debt on its
balance sheet. The company also said it expects 2020 pro-forma revenue of
$500 million to $540 million, sales that would represent 22% to 37% growth
in the second half of the year.

 

“As sporting events began to resume, the Company saw increased engagement
with its sports-based product offerings, which contributed to sequential
monthly revenue improvement during the second quarter,” the company added.
“This positive momentum has accelerated with the return of MLB, the NBA,
WNBA, the NHL, and MLS.”--cnbc

 

 

 

Americans keep buying stuff despite the pandemic — retail sales rise for a
third straight month

Consumers spent less than expected in July as a pullback in auto sales
helped cool an economy struggling to shake off the effects of the
coronavirus pandemic.

 

Retail sales rose 1.2% for the month, against the expected increase of 2.3%
from economists surveyed by Dow Jones.

 

The news wasn’t all a letdown, however: Excluding autos, the gain was 1.9%,
ahead of the 1.2% estimate. A separate report also showed that worker
productivity rose at its fastest pace in 11 years, up 7.3% annualized for
the second quarter and well ahead of the 1.5% Reuters estimate.

 

Overall, it was the third straight monthly increase.

 

“Similar to the jobs report, retail sales stand in stark contrast to the
idea that growth in July ‘stalled’ – when in fact it continued at a robust,
if somewhat slower, pace,” Citigroup economist Andrew Hollenhorst said in a
note.

 

Considered a bellwether for an economy that gets two-thirds of its activity
from consumers, retail sales saw an 8.4% surge in June that included huge
gains in furniture and appliance sales. That June number was already strong
at 7.5% but was revised higher.

 

However, those gains cooled as a resurgence in Covid-19 cases caused
reopening activities to slow.

 

Electronics and appliance sales saw monthly sales jump 22.9% while clothing
increased 5.7% and bars and restaurants, an industry especially battered by
the coronavirus, were up 5%. 

 

Motor vehicle parts and dealers reported a 1.2% slide, bringing down the
headline number. Sporting goods and book stores saw a 5% decline while home
and garden suppliers reported a 2.9% drop.

 

In all, it still marked the third straight monthly gain for retail, which
plunged 14.7% in April then rebounded to 18.3% in May as the sharp shutdown
in March to stop the virus thawed.

 

The past three months show that “consumer spending has rocketed to record
highs,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank.
“There can’t still be a recession in the country if the consumer is spending
their hearts out like this.”

 

The future of the economy, and specifically the health of the consumer,
remains a question. Extended unemployment benefits which had given displaced
workers $600 a week on top of their normal benefits expired July 31, and
Congress appears still sharply divided over what the next rescue package
will look like.

 

“Given continued high unemployment, retail sales in August and in the fall
will rely to a large degree on the timing and extent of more government
assistance,” said Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit
Union.

 

Even with GDP down 32.9% in the second quarter as calculated over an
annualized basis, consumers were still responsible for 67% of spending.
Unemployment has been falling but is still at 10.2%, while Thursday’s
jobless claims report also showed a slowly mending picture but with 28.3
million Americans still collecting benefits.--cnbc

 

 

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 

5 things to know before the stock market opens on Friday

1. S&P 500 struggles to overtake record high

For most of this week, investors have watched the S&P 500 flirt with and
briefly top its record close from Feb. 19, but a new record seems unlikely
this week as the market is on pace for an opening loss. 

 

The S&P 500 closed Thursday just 0.6% below its all-time intraday high set
on Feb. 19. The broader market index is about 13 points below its record
closing high of 3,386.15.

 

The S&P 500 futures dipped 0.1% in premarket trading on Friday, while Dow
Jones Industrial Average futures fell 100 points.

 

 

 

2. Stimulus stalemate could drag on for weeks

The coronavirus relief bill keeps stalling as Congress and the White House
again made no progress toward an agreement. It could take weeks for
lawmakers to even agree on another aid package as no talks are scheduled and
2020 political conventions will consume the major parties for the next two
weeks. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she will not restart discussions
until Republicans increase their aid offer by $1 trillion, which the GOP
won’t compromise. 

 

3. Two Tesla upgrades

Tesla received two upgrades from Wall Street in less than 24 hours after
shares surged on its announcement of a stock split.

 

Adam Jonas, a widely followed analyst from Morgan Stanley, upgraded the
electric car maker to equal weight from underweight Thursday evening. The
upgrade comes just two months after he issued his underweight rating on
Tesla. But the increasing prospects of Tesla building an electric-vehicle
battery supply business has made the analyst more constructive on the stock.

 

This morning, Bank of America analyst also hiked the rating on Tesla. Shares
of Tesla have soared 11.5% week to date.

 

4. U.S. and China to review phase one trade deal

Top U.S. and Chinese trade officials — U.S. Trade Representative Robert
Lighthizer and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He — are scheduled to hold a video
call on Saturday to review its progress on the phase-one trade deal the two
sides reached in January.

 

The call comes as China’s promised purchases of U.S. exports are behind
schedule, while tensions between the two countries have risen. Last week,
the Trump administration sanctioned on 11 individuals, including Hong Kong
leader Carrie Lam for “implementing Beijing’s policies of suppression of
freedom and democratic processes.” President Donald Trump also banned
transactions with popular Chinese app TikTok if its parent ByteDance does
not reach a deal to divest it in 45 days. 

 

5. Michael Rubin’s Fanatics now valued at $6.2 billion

Michael Rubin’s e-commerce company Fanatics has increased its value to $6.2
billion, up from $4.5 billion, after raising a $350 million Series E funding
round, a person familiar with the company’s transactions told CNBC.

 

The company, which grossed $2.5 billion in 2019, plans to use the new
funding to accelerate its E-commerce strategy,  through additional rights
acquisition and mergers and acquisitions. The funding round is the last
financing as a private company, and it is believed Fanatics’ next
announcement will be an IPO although no timetable has been decided.--cnbc

 

 

 

Coronavirus: How music played on in lockdown

You can't stop the music, as one old disco song says - but one way or
another, coronavirus has come pretty close.

 

At the height of the pandemic, with record shops shut and labels struggling,
the flow of new album releases slowed to a trickle.

 

Now the industry is starting to pick up the rhythm again but shoppers are
still reluctant to visit the High Street for new LPs and CDs.

 

In lockdown, we have learnt to order more albums online and the way we use
music streaming services has changed as well.

 

And while live music can resume in England from this weekend, it is likely
to be on a restricted basis, as social distancing measures mean fewer paying
customers will be allowed into venues.

 

So how have different sectors of the music business coped?

 

The record label

"It's been challenging, to say the least," says Adam Velasco, managing
director of Cherry Red Records, an independent label that is one of the
biggest companies in the music reissue market.

 

Physical albums are big sellers for the label and its box sets are highly
prized by collectors.

 

At the start of the pandemic, distributors and warehouses around the world
were closing down, forcing the company to cut back on new releases.

 

"There was no point in planning things for May and June. Who knew where we
were going to be?" he says. "But we just did the best we could to engage
with our fan base."

 

That meant offering discounts, flash sales and other special offers through
the Cherry Red website.

 

It also meant responding to customers "of a certain age" who rang in to say
that they were not on the internet and didn't know where to buy physical
albums while record shops were shut.

 

But the effort paid off, with the label's big sellers under lockdown
including the Residents' new album, Metal, Meat & Bone, plus deluxe reissues
from artists such as Be Bop Deluxe and Laura Branigan.

 

Cherry Red resumed its release schedule in July, earlier than many of its
competitors. "We were confident that we were getting to our fans and people
were hungry to buy new releases," says Mr Velasco.

 

The record shops

Before the pandemic struck, music retailer Rough Trade was selling more
records than ever, with like-for-like 2019 UK sales up 25% overall.

 

Its model of staging in-store gigs, with admission free to those who bought
the band's album, had proved a successful way of selling physical releases
in the age of streaming.

 

But then Rough Trade Retail had to close its four UK shops and director
Stephen Godfroy says, "We will need a strong second-half recovery if we
expect to end the year with sales matching 2019."

 

Now the shops are open again, although with fewer people in them. At the
same time, the retailer has seen online sales rise so much that it had to
set up a dedicated online fulfilment warehouse.

 

"In essence, we've been forced to become an online-led business in just a
matter of weeks," says Mr Godfroy.

 

Another independent record shop, Banquet Records in Kingston, has taken a
different approach.

 

Rather than reopen the premises completely, the shop is directing customers
to its website and offering a click-and-collect service from its car park.

 

Jon Tolley, who runs the business, says that having to restrict customers'
browsing in his "small and dingy" shop felt "too regimented and not what
we're about".

 

"We're still serving people, just differently," he told the BBC.

 

The streaming service

Digital music, naturally, is not prone to the same distribution and sales
problems that have plagued vinyl and CD sellers.

 

But according to streaming service Deezer, the way people use its service
has fluctuated considerably during the pandemic.

 

 

Music consumption in the UK dipped when lockdown was first announced, the
service said, but had risen again by the end of May.

 

In the meantime, however, a few things had changed.

 

While confined to their homes, Deezer users were no longer streaming during
the popular "commute time" of 06:00 to 07:00, but were beginning their daily
listening at 09:00 to 10:00.

 

Users were also streaming through TVs, game consoles and smart speakers
instead of mobile devices, although those are now enjoying renewed
popularity.

 

"By June, listening had really bounced back in the UK. Overall music streams
were 63% higher in June than they were during March and the peak of the
pandemic," a Deezer spokeswoman said.

 

Deezer said that users' music choices also reflected the public mood, with
some spikes in listening corresponding to government announcements.

 

"When lockdown first started, Deezer saw big increases of streams for
'calm', 'feel good' and 'happy hits' playlists in the UK and across the
world," the service said.

 

So what's next?

Despite the easing of lockdown measures this weekend in England, many music
fans may still be wary of going to gigs.

 

The places that host concerts are struggling to stay afloat, despite an
injection of government money for up to 150 small music venues in England.

 

Banquet Records used to stage 200 gigs a year at local Kingston venues, but
says it has given up hopes of doing so before the end of 2020.

 

With far fewer opportunities to play live, the crisis is hurting artists,
who rely on income from touring and merchandise sales, says Cherry Red's
Adam Velasco.

 

"We're trying to keep their spirits up and thinking of releases to help
them," he adds.

 

Rough Trade Retail's Stephen Godfroy says footfall remains "significantly
lower" than before lockdown, with sales down accordingly.

 

But he is looking ahead to this year's much-postponed Record Store Day,
which will now take place on three separate dates: 29 August, 26 September
and 24 October.

 

And as other labels catch up with Cherry Red and revert to normal schedules,
October promises to be "an absolutely rammed month for new releases", Mr
Godfroy says. So there's something for music fans to look forward to.--bbc

 

 

 

Sequoia leads $5m funding in Indian education loan startup

BENGALURU -- Mumbai-based fintech startup Eduvanz said Thursday it had
raised $5 million in its series A funding round, which was led by Sequoia
Capital India with participation from existing investor Unitus Ventures.

 

The latest round takes total funding in the provider of online loans for
education to around $6.7 million.

 

The fresh funding will be utilized to create new credit products, artificial
intelligence-based risk management and easier collection tools to support
borrowers. It will also use the money to increase the team strength to
expand in tier two and three cities in India.

 

Apart from Eduvanz, there is a clutch of companies in India providing loans
online for education, including Credenc, which raised $2.5 million from
Omidyar Network and Better Capital last year, as well as Credelia and
Shiksha Finance.

 

Eduvanz received a non-banking financial company license from the Reserve
Bank of India in 2017 that allows it to offer financial products and
services to customers.

 

Founded in 2016 by Varun Chopra and Raheel Shah, Eduvanz provides loans in
collaboration with educational institutes via its app that lets users apply
for a loan, receive updates on the approval process, and can also used for
repayments. The company said that students now expect a smoother and faster
lending experience and do not want to make multiple visits to banks.

 

"By combining innovative student-centric loan solutions, robust
risk-assessment with cutting edge digital lending technology, Eduvanz is
enabling higher enrollment for learners across colleges, universities,
certification partners, institutes and schools," said Chopra, CEO, in a
statement.

 

It has partnered with more than 300 educational institutes to identify
students looking for a loan and claims to have helped over 10,000 borrowers.
It said it had deployed more than 1.5 billion rupees ($20 million) in loans.

 

According to the company, most students cannot get loans as banks rely on
their credit scores for approval. Moreover, banks and non-banking financial
companies are less-likely to approve loans to students who opt for
non-traditional courses such as coding, design, data science and
scriptwriting.

 

As of last year, the education loan market in the country had shrunk by 25%.
The number of students who received education loans fell to 250,000 from
330,400 students as of March 31, 2015.

 

"By 2022, we need 700 million skilled workers. However, only 10% of the
total workforce receives any formal skill training," Chopra said.

 

The company said its decision to approve an education loan went beyond the
credit score. Eduvanz uses parameters like social media and education
scores, as well as using parents or guardians as guarantors as required.

 

Its customers range from salaried or self-employed individuals looking to
learn new skills or increase their knowledge, college students seeking new
certified skills, and parents looking for flexible fee payment solutions for
the K12 segment (which covers education from kindergarten to the 12th grade,
or around the age of 18) for their children.

 

KrASIA is a digital media platform focused on technology-driven businesses
and trends across the Asia-Pacific region. KrASIA belongs to 36Kr Global, of
which 36Kr is a minority investor. Nikkei has a minority stake in
36Kr.--asia.nikkie

 

 

 

Trump says looking at pressuring other Chinese companies after Bytedance

BEDMINSTER, N.J. (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he
could exert pressure on more Chinese companies such as technology giant
Alibaba (BABA.N) after he moved to ban TikTok.

 

Asked at a news conference whether there were other particular China-owned
companies he was considering a ban on, such as Alibaba, Trump replied:
“Well, we’re looking at other things, yes.”

 

Trump has been piling pressure on Chinese-owned companies, such as by vowing
to ban short-video app TikTok from the United States. The United States
ordered its Chinese owner ByteDance on Friday to divest the U.S. operations
of TikTok within 90 days, the latest effort to ramp up pressure over
concerns about the safety of the personal data it handles.

 

Trump, who has made changing the U.S.-China trade relationship a central
theme of his presidency, has been sharply critical of China while also
praising its purchases of agriculture products such as soybeans and corn as
part of a trade agreement reached late last year.

 

 

 

Britain isn’t ‘recovering’, whatever the Bank may suggest

The UK is performing better than expected. That was the message from the
Bank of England’s governor, Andrew Bailey, following its latest review of
the economy.

 

It was a message he almost muttered under his breath, as if knowing that
almost anyone listening would yell back: “Oh no it isn’t!”

 

There is more tumbleweed blowing through city centre shopping districts than
there are people queuing at the tills. And about 7 million people remain on
furlough and in fear of losing their job when the £30bn job retention scheme
subsidies come to an end in October.

 

To infer from this that the economy is bubbling back to life would be highly
misleading. When the public know of so many businesses and households
struggling to cope, statements that seem to suggest the country is
recovering from a record-breaking decline in GDP are like a bad joke.

 

Officials at the Bank did not so much say the economy was bouncing back as
embarrassedly admit that their own forecast back in May had been a little
too gloomy about the short-term impact of coronavirus. In their poorly
judged assessment three months ago, they sketched out a V-shaped recovery
that also included an overly optimistic view of how the economy would
recover next year. They admitted they were wrong about that, too.

 

The number of people visiting high streets and shopping centres, which
dropped by 80% in the first weeks of the lockdown, was still down by a third
last week

Following the recalibration of its analysis, the Bank now expects what most
other forecasters have predicted. In summary, the economy is still heading
for one of the worst downturns in the developed world and will take years to
claw itself back to anything like the level of activity seen last year.

 

This outlook is emphasised by the most recent data. The number of people
visiting high streets and shopping centres, which dropped by 80% compared
with the 2019 average in the first weeks of lockdown, was still down by a
third last week.

 

The UK car industry is only crawling back from a disastrous first six months
that saw it produce the lowest number of vehicles since 1954.

 

So far, automotive firms have reported only about 11,000 job losses after
much of the industry furloughed staff. The next few months are expected to
be much uglier for job cuts.

 

Some analysts believe that one in six of the 168,000 workers directly
employed in vehicle manufacturing could lose their jobs by next year, and
many more from the 823,000 employed across the whole sector as the UK’s
largely foreign-owned car industry retrenches to home soil. Brexit will play
a part in this too.

 

More broadly, as many as a third of UK employers expect to cut jobs when the
furlough scheme ends in October. A survey by the Chartered Institute of
Personnel and Development (CIPD) and recruitment firm Adecco found that 33%
of the more than 2,000 companies, charities and public sector bodies
surveyed expected to make redundancies in the third quarter.

 

What does the Bank have to say about the gloomier outlook? Dave Ramsden, a
member of the nine-strong monetary policy committee (MPC) that Bailey
chairs, said last week he would be prepared to vote for an extra stimulus
package. This would be in addition to the £100bn the committee agreed in
June, which took the overall level of quantitative easing (QE) to £745bn.

 

Ramsden is the first Bank employee to say he is amenable to further action.
Until now, that impetus has come from the external members of the MPC – the
former City economist Michael Saunders and the academics Silvana Tenreyro
and Jonathan Haskel. Bailey, his deputies Ben Broadbent and Jon Cunliffe,
and chief economist Andy Haldane, have proved much more reticent. The fourth
external MPC member, Gertjan Vlieghe, another former City economist, has
been largely silent on the subject.

 

So far, the central bank’s actions have mirrored the government’s need for
extra borrowing. The Treasury has said it will borrow an extra £300bn this
year, and, lo and behold, that is the total of extra lending from the Bank
of England.

 

This tactic means private-sector banks cannot lend to the government but
must lend elsewhere: hopefully to good businesses temporarily damaged by
recent events. To some extent, that is the point of QE. However, as if we
had learned nothing from previous recoveries, high street banks will spurn
requests from businesses for long-term loans, instead competing more
intensely for mortgage customers, thereby boosting house prices.

 

It’s not the banks’ fault; it is in their DNA to lend to the safest and most
profitable customers. They need guidance. If the Bank cannot provide a
reliable guide to the economy, it can at least steer its QE funds in the
right direction.-theguardian

 

 

 

 


 


 


 

 


 

INVESTORS DIARY 2020

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


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
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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
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
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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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