Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 20 August 2020

Thu Aug 20 05:13:23 CAT 2020

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 20 August 2020

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

ü  Mali's gold miners carry on digging despite coup, shares hit

ü  South Africa's Denel made $99 mln annual loss, ministry says

ü  S.Africa's Santam to pay $60 mln in relief to virus-hit firms within
months -CEO

ü  Eskom extends power cuts into Thursday

ü  Saudi King Salman, Nigerian president discuss oil market- SPA

ü  Zambia central bank cuts main lending rate by 125 bps to 8.0%

ü  Sierra Leone court freezes Steinmetz's Octea assets

ü  South Africa's MTN names CFO Mupita as CEO

ü  South African rand extends gains; eyes on Fed minutes

ü  Truworths flags full-year profit decline, impairs Office

ü  Apple first US company to be valued at $2tn

ü  Coronavirus-hit Qantas posts £1bn annual loss

ü  Trump attacks Goodyear for campaign clothes ban

ü  Boeing wins first 737 order since 2019 after crashes

ü  Real 'Wolf of Wall Street' offers investor knowhow

ü  Rail fares to rise 1.6% in January despite passenger slump

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

Mali's gold miners carry on digging despite coup, shares hit

JOHANNESBURG/LONDON (Reuters) - Companies mining gold in Mali said they were
operating as usual while monitoring a political crisis that caused the
country’s borders to shut and hit their share prices on Wednesday.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita resigned on Tuesday and dissolved
parliament hours after soldiers detained him at gunpoint and seized power in
a coup.

B2Gold, Resolute Mining, AngloGold Ashanti, Hummingbird Resources and Cora
Gold said operations and staff were unaffected, but traders sold shares
because of increased political risk.

Barrick Gold, the biggest miner in Mali, did not immediately reply to
requests for comment.

Resolute Mining shares fell by more than 14%, Hummingbird dropped 8%, B2Gold
fell 6%, AngloGold Ashanti lost 3% and Barrick fell 1.2%.

“I have always monitored how much exposure I have in West Africa and in each
country in the region because there is more risk and this coup reminds you
of that,” a London-based gold investor said, asking not to be named.

Gold operations in the vast, land-locked nation are located in the south and
west, hundreds of kilometres from the capital Bamako where the coup took
place. Many miners continued to operate during a 2012 coup.

However, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has ordered
the closure of land and air borders with Mali.

That complicates logistics for the mining sector, which accounted for 9.7%
of Mali’s GDP in 2019.

It was not immediately clear whether miners would be able to export their
gold - typically flown out of Mali to be refined - while air borders are
shut. Mines would also likely be unable to import supplies until borders
reopen.

B2Gold said its Fekola mine had sufficient supplies to maintain activities
through the end of the third quarter “and beyond if needed”.

Africa’s fourth-biggest producer of gold, Mali’s output rose to 71.1 tonnes
in 2019, the government has said, and the state earned revenue of 403.6
billion CFA ($734,311,051) from gold mining companies.

Analysts said future production and investment was in doubt.

“In the longer term, there are more clouds for mining investors as this is
the second coup in eight years. It will add to an already very high risk
premium that people associate with Mali,” Vincent Rouget, analyst at Control
Risks Group said.

South Africa's Denel made $99 mln annual loss, ministry says

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s state defence firm Denel made a 1.7
billion rand ($99 million) loss in the 2019/20 financial year, the ministry
that oversees the company said on Wednesday.

Denel, which makes equipment from armoured vehicles to missiles for the
South African armed forces and clients around the world, is suffering a
liquidity crisis aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It has struggled to pay salaries and has yet to publish its results for the
financial year ended in March.

A Denel spokeswoman said the company’s financial audit process was under way
and would be finalised at the end of October.

The public enterprises ministry said in a presentation to parliament that
Denel’s latest annual loss was caused by a significant decline in revenue.

Denel needs to find funds soon to honour a court ruling that it must pay
outstanding salaries and meet statutory obligations, such as paying into its
employee pension fund.

Its former chief executive told Reuters last month that Denel may not
survive the next few months unless the government lets it use some promised
bailout funds to generate revenue rather than repay debt.

But the finance ministry says it cannot amend Denel’s bailout terms before
the October budget.

If such an amendment is made, funds could only flow early next year, it said
in a statement to Reuters earlier this week.

The public enterprises ministry added on Wednesday that it had appointed
Rand Merchant Bank as an adviser to ensure it chooses the best funding
option for South African Airways (SAA), which is under a local form of
bankruptcy protection.

SAA creditors have approved a restructuring plan for the state airline, but
it cannot be implemented until the government finds the requisite funds.

($1 = 17.2588 rand)

S.Africa's Santam to pay $60 mln in relief to virus-hit firms within months
-CEO

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African insurer Santam aims to pay out around
$60 million in relief within months to clients hit by the pandemic, its CEO
said on Monday, amid criticism of the sector’s handling of policies that
companies thought would cover them.

Many small South African businesses in the hospitality and tourism sector in
particular are at risk of collapse after insurers - along with the global
insurance industry more broadly - said business interruption policies did
not cover the impact of coronavirus lockdowns.

Legal battles over the matter are ongoing in both South Africa and beyond,
but locally many restaurants, hotels and other tourism businesses remain
closed or operating at vastly reduced capacity, and may not survive in the
meantime.

Regulator the Financial Services Conduct Authority (FSCA) said last week
that the main South African insurers involved would offer clients relief
payments to help see them through, though some businesses or their law firms
raised concerns including about how long it would take to pay out the money.

Santam, which has offered 1 billion rand ($60.78 million) in relief to
clients, aims to start processing payments next week and have the money paid
out entirely within months, CEO Lize Lambrechts told Reuters in an
interview.

“We’re doing this because we think it’s the right thing to do,” she said,
adding the sum represented a significant amount for Santam and the aim was
to get the most money to the most vulnerable firms.

Santam, South Africa’s largest short-term insurer, and its peers have
suffered a significant blow to their reputations over the dispute. RMB
Attorneys, which represents a number of affected clients, said the relief
was purely an attempt by insurers to claw back lost trust.

“This... behaviour should have been displayed from the outset and not only
when the potential catastrophic reputational damage to the insurers was
triggered when their loyal clients were miserably let down,” it said in a
letter to the FSCA, adding insurers should be settling claims instead.

($1 = 16.4518 rand)

Eskom extends power cuts into Thursday

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s troubled power utility Eskom said on
Wednesday it would extend scheduled blackouts into Thursday as breakdowns
continued to weigh on the system.

The ‘stage 2’ power cuts, known locally as loadshedding and already in their
second day, would be implemented from 0700 GMT to 2000 GMT on Thursday,
Eskom said in a statement posted on Twitter, adding that constraints on the
power system were likely to persist for the rest of the week.

Saudi King Salman, Nigerian president discuss oil market- SPA

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Nigerian
President Muhammadu Buhari discussed efforts taken to stabilise and
rebalance global oil markets in a telephone call, Saudi state news agency
SPA reported on Wednesday.

The two leaders “stressed the importance of compliance, by all participants,
to the OPEC+ agreement and the agreed upon compensation mechanism,” SPA
reported.

A ministerial panel of key OPEC+ oil producers, headed by Saudi Arabia, is
holding a virtual meeting later on Wednesday to review the oil market and
the group’s compliance with the current oil supply cut pact.

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

Zambia central bank cuts main lending rate by 125 bps to 8.0%

LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambia’s central bank cut its benchmark lending rate by
125 basis points to 8.0% to safeguard financial sector stability and protect
livelihoods in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it said in a statement on
Wednesday.

The bank added that inflation was expected to steadily decline and reach the
upper bound of its 6%-8% target range by the end of its forecast horizon.

It now expects gross domestic product to contract 4.2% this year, more than
an earlier forecast for a contraction of 2.6%.

Sierra Leone court freezes Steinmetz's Octea assets

FREETOWN (Reuters) - The High Court of Sierra Leone on Wednesday granted an
interim freezing order on the assets of Octea, a subsidiary of Israeli
billionaire Beny Steinmetz’s BSG Resources (BSGR) in a lawsuit over alleged
environmental damage around Octea’s diamond mine.

The lawyer for the plaintiffs had requested a freezing order, saying there
was a “clear and present risk” the defendants could expatriate funds in
order to avoid having to pay out if the court rules against them.

The lawsuit against Octea subsidiary Koidu Limited, filed in March last year
by 73 plaintiffs living around the mine, says they have suffered respiratory
infections and headaches due to the mine, and seeks $288 million in damages.

Octea will appeal the judgment on Thursday, lawyers for the plaintiffs told
Reuters.

High Court judge Justice S.O. Williams said: “This is just an interim order.
They [Octea] will come in tomorrow and the two sides will have time to argue
their own positions. At that point it’s just a matter of who is best able to
make a compelling case to the court.”

A BSGR spokesman did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the
freezing order.

The spokesman previously said BSGR would not comment until there was a legal
ruling.

South Africa's MTN names CFO Mupita as CEO

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African mobile operator MTN Group Ltd said on
Wednesday Chief Financial Officer Ralph Mupita will succeed Rob Shuter as
group president and chief executive from Sept. 1.

“Ralph’s experience as the group CFO, strong knowledge of our businesses and
markets, as well as successful background in financial services, M&A and
emerging markets, place him in an excellent position to lead the growth and
sustainability of the business going forward,” group Chairman Mcebisi Jonas
said.

Mupita has served as group CFO since April 2017 and has helped the board
develop and execute the group’s strategy of diversifying from just offering
voice and data services into offering financial and digital services and
cloud solutions.

A former CEO of Old Mutual Emerging Markets for five years, he has also
helped MTN navigate major regulatory challenges, especially in Nigeria.

Mupita welcomed his appointment saying MTN is well positioned to take
advantage of the digital acceleration shifts and opportunities across its
markets and well placed to tap the continent’s unbanked population.

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.[nL8N2B40MV]

In July he was appointed to head the enterprise unit of British broadband
and mobile operator BT from next year. [nL5N2F23RG]

Shuter, will step down from his executive responsibilities on August 31 and
support Mupita as required until the end of his fixed-term contract early
next year, MTN said.

The company said it would provide an update regarding the group CFO position
on or before September 1.

South African rand extends gains; eyes on Fed minutes

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s rand edged higher in early trade on
Wednesday, extending the previous session’s gains, on dollar weakness and
sustained optimism over a further easing of the country’s coronavirus
lockdown.

With no major domestic data releases this week, the rand is expected to
track global cues, including the release of U.S. Federal Reserve minutes.

At 0647 GMT, the rand traded at 17.2850 versus the dollar, more than 0.2%
stronger than its previous close.

Government bonds were marginally firmer, as the yield on the 2030 bond
dipped 0.5 basis point to 9.285%.

Local financial markets shrugged off the resumption of planned power cuts by
ailing state electricity utility Eskom on Tuesday. Further outages are due
on Wednesday after breakdowns at the utility’s creaking coal-fired power
station fleet.

Eskom’s struggles to power Africa’s most industrialised economy are one of
the main reasons why investors are downbeat on the growth outlook. Other
reasons include the perilous state of public finances and weak investment
dynamics.

Truworths flags full-year profit decline, impairs Office

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African retailer Truworths International Ltd
on Wednesday flagged a decline in full-year earnings of as much as 33%,
blaming the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The owner of YDE clothing stores said for the year through June 28, headline
earnings per share (HEPS) - South Africa’s main profit gauge, stripping out
some one-off items - is likely to fall 28% to 33% from the 580 cents
reported a year earlier.

The retailer also impaired the carrying value of trademarks and right-of-use
assets relating to store leases of British footwear unit Office, resulting
from the “impact of the difficult trading environment on the profitability
and liquidity of Office”.

Total non-cash impairment charges - excluded from HEPS - amounted to 131
million pounds ($173.55 million).

($1 = 0.7548 pounds)

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

Apple first US company to be valued at $2tn

Tech giant Apple has become the first US company to be valued at $2tn
(£1.5tn) on the stock market.

It reached the milestone just two years after becoming the world's first
trillion-dollar company in 2018.

Its share price hit $467.77 in mid-morning trading in the US on Wednesday to
push it over the $2tn mark.

The only other company to reach the $2tn level was state-backed Saudi Aramco
after it listed its shares last December.

But the oil giant's value has slipped back to $1.8tn since then and Apple
surpassed it to become the world's most valuable traded company at the end
of July.

Strong sales

The iPhone-maker's shares have leapt more than 50% this year, despite the
coronavirus crisis forcing it to shut retail stores and political pressure
over its links China.

In fact, its share price has doubled since its low point in March, when
panic about the coronavirus pandemic swept the markets.

Tech firms, which have been viewed as winners despite lockdowns, have seen
their stock surge in recent weeks, even though the US is in recession.

Apple posted strong third quarter figures towards the end of July, including
$59.7bn of revenue and double-digit growth in its products and services
segments.

The next most valuable US company is Amazon which is worth around $1.7tn.

Apple's rapid share price rise is "an impressive feat within a short period
of time", said Paolo Pescatore, a technology analyst at PP Foresight.

"The last few months have underlined the importance of users and households
alike to own better quality devices, connections and services and with
Apple's strong broad portfolio of devices and a growing services offering,
there are plentiful opportunities for future growth."

He said the arrival of gigabit connectivity broadband would offer Apple
"endless possibilities".

"All eyes are now on the eagerly anticipated 5G iPhone which will fuel
further consumer demand," he added.

Microsoft and Amazon follow Apple as the most valuable publicly traded US
companies, each at about $1.6tn. They are followed by Google-owner Alphabet
at just over $1tn.--BBC

Coronavirus-hit Qantas posts £1bn annual loss

Qantas has reported an annual loss of almost A$2bn (£1bn; $1.4bn) as it
deals with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Australian flag carrier's boss says trading conditions are the worst in
the airline's 100-year history.

The firm also says around 4,000 of its 6,000 planned job cuts are expected
to be finalised by the end of next month.

The global airline industry has been hit hard as travel restrictions have
been imposed around the world.

"The impact of Covid on all airlines is clear. It's devastating and it will
be a question of survival for many," Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce
said in a statement.

"Recovery will take time and it will be choppy," he added.

Mr Joyce also warned that he expects a "significant underlying loss" in the
next financial year.

Qantas said much of this year's loss was due to writing down the value of
assets and redundancy payments.

With Australia's international borders all but shut and no sign of this
changing, the Sydney-based carrier reiterated it was not anticipating
resuming international flights until July 2021 at the earliest - with a
possible exception of flights to New Zealand should trans-Tasman travel be
possible.

Job cuts

In June Qantas announced that it would lay off 6,000 of its workers as part
of its plans to survive the coronavirus pandemic.

The airline said around two thirds of those redundancies would be completed
by the end of September. The cuts equate to about a fifth of the airline's
total workforce prior to the Covid-19 crisis.

On top of the job cuts a further 20,000 Qantas workers remain temporarily
stood down.

Carriers around the world have announced billions of dollars of losses and
tens of thousands of job cuts after the near-destruction of their normal
businesses.

A promo email I received from Qantas this week was sobering. In normal times
it'd be packed with enticing destinations, but this one offered me just one
deal out of Sydney - a flight within New South Wales to Byron Bay.

An airline struggling during this pandemic is barely news - but Qantas has a
particular set of problems.

Unlike pretty much anywhere else in the world, Australia's government has
banned its citizens and permanent residents from leaving the country. You
can apply for an exemption, but few are given. So that has killed the
international business.

Likewise no visitors are allowed in - and even Aussies are struggling to
return amid tight caps on the number of people who can be in mandatory hotel
quarantine. The few overseas flights that you spot in the empty skies only
have a handful of passengers on board - and Qantas has stayed out of this
market.

Domestic travel is where Qantas really thrived. Those Sydney-Melbourne
flights were a cash cow. But pretty much every state and territory has shut
its borders to everyone else, so the options for travelling are slim. In the
capital Canberra, the airport has so few passengers coming in and out now
that it closes on Saturdays, with concerns this is just the start.

Qantas is a brand many Australians love. And among those who can still
afford to, there's pent up demand to fly again as soon as possible.

But it feels it'll be a very long time until those promo emails are
chock-a-block once more.--BBC

Trump attacks Goodyear for campaign clothes ban

US President Donald Trump has called for a boycott of American tyre company
Goodyear, stoking a controversy over political expression in the workplace.

The attack followed reports the firm had forbidden staff from wearing Trump
campaign gear, while allowing "Black Lives Matter" and gay rights attire.

Goodyear said its rules forbid activism that falls "outside the scope of
racial justice and equity issues".

The tyre-maker said its goal was an "inclusive, respectful workplace".

The firm's shares slumped as much as 6% following the president's attack but
later regained ground.

Goodyear is the largest tyre company in North America. Its branded tyres
were on 24% of new vehicles in the United States in 2018, according to Tyre
Business, an industry publication.

It drew the president's ire after a report from a Kansas news outlet, based
on a slide from a presentation, which had been shared by an employee.

The slide outlined what was "acceptable" and "unacceptable", with gear
bearing the Trump campaign slogan "Make America Great Again" and "All Lives
Matter" statements in the latter category.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump was concerned that
the company allowed attire supporting the "Black Lives Matter" movement and
other issues related to equality, but not the "Blue Lives Matter" group
backing police officers, or Make America Great Again.

"As far as I'm concerned, 'Blue Lives Matter' is an equity issue. There have
been police officers across this country that have been targeted because
they wear the badge," she told a briefing. "Goodyear needs to come out to
clarify their policy."

Goodyear defended its stance on Wednesday, but said the slide in question
had not been prepared at headquarters. It also said it did not indicate an
"anti-police" policy.

"Goodyear has always wholeheartedly supported both equality and law
enforcement and will continue to do so," it said. "These are not mutually
exclusive."

Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, who represents Ohio, the midwestern state
where Goodyear is based, said the president's call for a boycott was
"despicable".

Goodyear is not the first company to find itself caught in the crosshairs of
America's heated battles over politics and race.

Amazon last month was sued by employees who said the company had
discriminated against them by punishing them for wearing Black Lives Matter
gear in a selective enforcement of its dress code.

Democratic lawmakers also called for a boycott of Goya Foods, a
Hispanic-owned food company known for its canned beans, after its chief
executive expressed support for the president.

Earlier consumer campaigns have pressured companies to cut ties with the
National Rifle Association and leave business councils advising the Trump
administration.

Mr Trump has also frequently used Twitter to express his unhappiness with
companies such as Amazon and General Motors.

In his tweet about Goodyear on Wednesday, he appeared to allude to the
consumer boycotts championed by Democrats, saying "two can play that game".

"Don't buy GOODYEAR TYRES - They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS. Get better
tyres for far less!" he urged.--BBC

Boeing wins first 737 order since 2019 after crashes

Boeing has received its first order for 737 MAX planes since regulators
grounded the jets after two fatal crashes.

The US plane-maker said Polish airline Enter Air had placed an order for up
to four of the planes.

Enter Air said the review the 737 has undergone since the crashes in 2019
would produce "the best aircraft in the world for many years to come".

The jet's recertification is still hanging in the balance.

Enter Air, the largest operator of charter flights in Poland, started in
2010 with a single 737 plane.

It has 22 Next Generation 737s, and should it purchase all four aircraft
outlined in the new contract, its 737 Max fleet will rise to 10 planes,
Boeing said.

Ihssane Mounir, Boeing's senior vice president of Commercial Sales and
Marketing, said it was "humbled by Enter Air's commitment to the Boeing 737
family".

The two companies also said they had reached a settlement that revised the
delivery of pending orders and provided Enter Air with compensation for
costs stemming from the 737 grounding.

Plunge in demand

Regulators grounded the 737 Max worldwide in March 2019, following two fatal
crashes. US lawmakers investigating the firm last year accused it of
concealing information about the plane from regulators during the approval
process.

The company has said it hopes to receive approval to return the planes to
the skies early next year, but it has also announced plans to scale back its
production schedule.

As well as the crashes and grounding of its Max fleet, Boeing has also been
hit by the effect of the coronavirus crisis on air travel.

This year, customers have cancelled more than 400 orders for the jet.

In the first six months of the year, Boeing delivered nine 737 planes to
customers, compared to more than 100 in the same period in 2019.--BBC

Real 'Wolf of Wall Street' offers investor knowhow

This may sound like the plot of a bad Hollywood movie: A criminal
stockbroker shares life lessons with newcomers just entering the business.

It's actually real life.

Jordan Belfort, the man whose rise and fall in the financial world inspired
the "The Wolf of Wall Street" film, has signed up as a coach on the US
investment advice website RagingBull.

The site - which itself has faced criticism over its marketing tactics - is
geared toward amateur investors and has gained popularity amid a boom in
amateur investing.

"We thought it would be beneficial for the rookies to learn from his
experiences to become more successful traders in the long run," chief
executive Jeff Bishop said in a press release announcing the offerings from
the "infamous" former investor.

Who is Jordan Belfort?

Mr Belfort made his fortune as a New York stockbroker in the 1980s and
1990s, working on major deals such as the public listing of the Steve Madden
shoe company.

In 1999 he pleaded guilty to fraud after manipulating stock prices and
cheating investors of some $200m (£150m). He later spent 22 months in prison
for his crimes and was barred from the industry.

Mr Belfort has since reinvented himself as a coach, inspirational speaker
and author, whose memoir "The Wolf of Wall Street" was turned into a film by
Martin Scorsese starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

In the RagingBull announcement, Mr Belfort said investors should "take
advantage of my lessons and learn what to avoid and more importantly, how to
capitalise on opportunities".

His sessions will offer insights into topics such as "what it takes to be a
trader" and "how to learn from your mistakes".

'Learn from your mistakes'

"He will not be giving advice on specific stocks, companies, or investment
strategies," the firm said.

RagingBull, which launched in 2011 and describes itself as an "education"
company, is not overseen by financial regulators who monitor investment
firms.

In addition to free content, which includes Mr Belfort's material, it
charges for some of its services, with annual costs of $49 to $2,000. The
firm said it has millions of email subscribers and more than 120,000 people
have paid for its trading services.

Mr Belfort has previously been a guest on the firm's podcasts. Mr Bishop
said the former trader had "expressed that he felt like he had a lot of
wisdom to share from his previous life experiences. We found a way to give
him that platform, for free for anyone interested in learning from him."

"It's a win for our members to get an inside look into the mind of a man who
grew a firm to thousands of traders, was convicted, and then again built his
latest ventures," he said.

RagingBull has been hit with dozens of complaints to the Better Business
Bureau, a consumer watchdog site, asking for refunds.

There are also some unfavourable reviews of the site on consumer websites
such as Trustpilot, with complaints centring around the quality of the
advice and the difficulty of unsubscribing from the service.

However, there are also some favourable reviews of some of the services.

RagingBull said it has resolved many of the complaints, which it attributed
to not being prepared for a surge in interest as the ranks of amateur
traders increased during the shutdowns.

"Covid took us by surprise," Mr Bishop said. "We adjusted to this demand,
hired 20 additional staff on the support team, and have since resolved
almost all BBB complaints."

He also defended the firm's investment record.

"At RagingBull, we're giving full access to our trades, good and bad. If a
member only spends a week with us, they may only see bad trades. Stick with
us for some time and measure a trader's success in a year, not in a week or
a day," he said.--BBC

Rail fares to rise 1.6% in January despite passenger slump

Many railway season ticket holders and commuters will see a 1.6% rise in
fares from January despite a slump in passenger demand.

About half of rail fares are pegged to July's Retail Price Index, which
defied forecasts and rose from 1.1% in June.

The government said any fare increases will be the lowest for four years,
but passenger groups called for reductions.

Scotland will delay changing its fares as it considers reviewing its system
to make it more affordable.

The changes will affect mainly English and Welsh commuters. In Northern
Ireland, fares are set by state-owned operator Translink, and don't use RPI.

Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris said: "We expect any rail fare rise to be
the lowest in four years come January and any increase will go straight to
ensuring crucial investment in our railways.

"Taxpayers have been very generous in their support to keep trains running
throughout the coronavirus pandemic, and whilst it's only fair that
passengers also contribute to maintaining and improving the services they
use, a lower rise will help ensure the system returns to strength."

Passenger watchdog Transport Focus chief executive Anthony Smith said a
system that fits "the way we live and travel now" is needed, and not "season
tickets designed for city gents in the last century".

Robert Nisbet, of the Rail Delivery Group, which represents the train
operating companies, told the BBC's Today programme that the government is
ultimately in charge of the price increases and that the industry would like
broader reform of fares to make flexible travel easier.

The rail rise compares to 2.8% last year and is the lowest since 2015,
according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which means a smaller
price increase for travellers than last year.

But figures from the government's Office of Rail and Road show passenger
numbers in January to March fell 11.4% compared to the prior year.

Passenger slump

Those figures only partially cover the scale of the drop in rail journeys
taken, as travel restrictions only started on 16 March and lockdown on 23
March.

Figures for April to June, due out in October, are likely to be much
starker.

When lockdown was announced, the government said passenger numbers had
dropped by 70% since the pandemic began.

To stop those firms from going under, the government then suspended all rail
franchise agreements, which govern how many trains run each hour and
restrict how much the companies that run them can charge for tickets and
scrapped payments to government.

Currently, the network is being financially managed by the government and
the companies are receiving a flat fee.

Lost profits and franchises

While generally profitable ventures, some train operating companies have had
a difficult few years. South Western Railway's operating company posted a
£137m loss for the 2019 financial year, which it blamed on strikes and
unreliable infrastructure.

The loss put the franchise at risk, it said.

Abellio ScotRail, which runs Scotland's services, posted a £10m loss for the
15 months to March 2019.

And Northern was stripped of its franchise in January following months of
chaos when new timetables were brought in.

Using RPI to manage rail fares has faced criticism for some time. The ONS
dumped the measure as a national statistic, favouring consumer price
inflation (CPI), which is usually lower.

The UK Statistics Authority recommended in 2019 that the publication of the
RPI should be stopped and that, in the meantime, it should use the same data
sources used to calculate CPIH, an inflation measure that includes some
housing costs.

The UK Statistics Authority and the Treasury are consulting on how to fix
RPI.

The ONS monitors the prices of a selection of goods and services commonly
bought by British households. In CPI terms, what cost £100 last year should
cost £101 today.--BBC

INVESTORS DIARY 2020

Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

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
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
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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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