Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 19 February 2020

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 19 February 2020

 


 

 


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ü  Anglo American Platinum chief Chris Griffith to step down

ü  Bitcoin What They Are, Who They Are For, How They Are Used And Their
Advantages

ü  DStv announces price hikes for 2020Two of its packages remain unchanged.

ü  Elon Musk says AI development should be better regulated, even at Tesla

ü  Jaguar Land Rover unveils ‘autonomy ready’ electric car concept

ü  Tesla's Elon Musk swipes at Porsche-buying Bill Gates

ü  Volocopter and Grab to study the feasibility of deploying air taxi
services in Southeast Asia

ü  Soros calls for Zuckerberg and Sandberg to leave Facebook

ü  ‘Don’t be late to the party’ — bitcoin rose 170% the last time this
signal flashed

ü  The coronavirus is slamming the US travel industry, with experts
predicting it will wipe out more than $10 billion in spending from Chinese
visitors

ü  Can Vodafone survive in India?

ü  LendingClub buys Radius Bank for $185 million in first fintech takeover
of a regulated US bank

ü  Alphabet takes the wind out of its Makani energy kites

ü  South Africa's Eskom needs cash injection to avoid debt crisis - CEO

ü  South Africa's Kumba Iron annual earnings rise on higher ore rates

ü  Portugal's Galp says joint stake unaffected by dos Santos probes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

Anglo American Platinum chief Chris Griffith to step down

Anglo American Platinum’s chief executive Chris Griffith is to step down
after more than seven years at the helm.

 

The 30-year company veteran was widely seen as a potential leadership
contender to run Anglo American, its parent group, but will now “pursue
other career opportunities”.

 

Mark Cutifani, Anglo American’s present chief executive, has said he will
step down after completing construction of the Quellaveco copper mine in
Peru, which is targeted for 2022.

 

As chief executive of Amplats, Mr Griffith sold off some of the company’s
lossmaking mines and helped pursue new markets for platinum in hydrogen fuel
cell applications. He also cut tens of thousands of jobs in 2013 in the face
of low prices for platinum.

 

“Chris played a key role in turning around the company in the last five-six
years and the news of his departure might weigh on market sentiment,” said
analysts at Citi.

 

News of his departure came as Amplats reported a doubling of annual profits
due to surging prices for palladium and rhodium — precious metals used in
catalytic converters.

 

Prices for palladium rose 50 per cent last year due to increased demand from
carmakers in China that are preparing to meet stricter air pollution
standards.

 

The price surge helped Amplat’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation
and amortisation to more than double to R30bn ($2bn) in 2019, and allowed it
to declare a special dividend of R25 a share — the first since 2001.

 

Amplats said demand for palladium from the car industry would outstrip
supply growth over the next year.

 

It forecast a deficit in the market of 1.9m ounces of palladium this year
and 70,000 ounces of rhodium. It added that carmakers were requiring ever
more palladium per catalyst to meet air pollution standards, which will
offset a global decline in car sales over the next few years.

 

In addition, sales of hybrid cars are set to rise from 3m cars to 19m by
2026, which will support demand for palladium, it forecast.

 

Shares in Amplats rose 4 per cent in Johannesburg. Anglo American reports
earnings results on Thursday.

--ft.com

 

 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


Bitcoin What They Are, Who They Are For, How They Are Used And Their
Advantages

Bitcoin is the best known virtual currency in the world.  Bitcoin allows you
to purchase real goods and services, using a virtual currency, ensuring the
validity of transactions with a complicated encryption system. The transfer
of virtual money takes place using peer-to-peer technology. This new tool is
taking on a growing worldwide reputation and is attracting the attention of
the financial world. Thanks to some peculiar characteristics, such as the
non-controllability by international monetary entities and the circulation
in an anonymous and non-traceable manner. This means that everyone can know
that a particular Bitcoin (or a portion of Bitcoin) belongs to a specific
wallet; be careful, this does not mean that you know exactly who owns how
many Bitcoin, because this technology is completely anonymous.

 

How Bitcoin works:  Bitcoin can be purchased in cash on the numerous
specialized sites like Bitcoin Era, Register on the site . Once the wallet
is opened you will receive an alphanumeric string to be communicated to the
counterparty that must perform the credit. The buyer will enter this code
using the dedicated software, and within a few seconds the credit will be
credited to the seller.

 

 

What can be bought with Bitcoin: In many countries virtual currency has
taken hold and it is possible to pay the bill for the pub, restaurant or
café in Bitcoin. In many cities the growth of this new type of payment has
been slower and at the moment there are few activities to accept this type
of payment. On the internet there are many sites where you can buy products,
especially high tech.

 

Bitcoin: advantages and risks: The use of Bitcoin allows you to send and
receive payments worldwide instantly and with a significantly lower
transaction cost than traditional methods and, given the negligence of the
transaction cost. It could also be used in transactions very low amount,
using the mobile phone. However, the market is not yet mature and the
counterparty risk is far from low.

 

 

Investors are also entering this new market, which has shown remarkable
growth in the long run, but currently has very high volatility and very high
risk. The intermediaries that manage the exchange of Bitcoin with real
currency do not have structures of defence against hacker attacks comparable
to those of traditional banks.

 

No documents:  People of any age in any country can receive Bitcoin in
minutes. All traditional banks do not have the required ID, passport, or
address to open an account. All you need to start sending and receiving
Bitcoin is download the Bitcoin Wallet program and generate a Bitcoin
address. Thousands of different addresses can be used if needed. There is no
limit on the amount of Bitcoin addresses that can be used.

 

Appreciation value: As you can see from the Bitcoin exchange value graph
displayed on our homepage, the value of Bitcoin was initially very volatile
during the first few years, but over the last six months, Stable and
constantly increasing its value every day.

 

 

Blockchain as a solution:  Another advantage of Bitcoin is that all
transactions are recorded on the blockchain. Blockchain is a decentralized
public account book that contains a record of all previous Bitcoin
transactions. Private computer networks are linked through shared programs.
This network allows you to process Bitcoin transactions. Each computer
records transactions on a blockchain and stores them in groups called
blocks. Transactions that have already been added to the blockchain cannot
be undone. Bitcoin units in a transaction are bound until added to the
blockchain. Therefore, the system avoids transaction duplication

 

Most popular cryptocurrencies

 

Bitcoin Cash – A fork of Bitcoin, supported by some of the most important
Bitcoin mining companies and ASIC processor manufacturers in the world.
Although it is still a young currency, it has already reached the top five
in terms of market cap.

 

 

Monero – A cryptocurrency that allows personal dealings. It has one of the
most active communities in the industry, mainly due to the strong ideals of
transparency and privacy of the currency.

 

Ethereum Classic – This is the first edition of Ethereum. The division
occurred following a cyber attack against an important decentralized and
autonomous organization based on Ethereum--newsday.co.zw

 

 

 

 

DStv announces price hikes for 2020Two of its packages remain unchanged.

DSTV announces price hikes for 2020 and locks Compact subscription. DSTV
announces price hikes for 2020 and locks Compact subscription.

MultiChoice has released an updated price list for DStv subscriptions for
2020, with several packages getting an increase.

 

In a statement released on Monday, it said the updated fees will take effect
from April 1, 2020.

 

Both DStv Premium and Compact Plus subscribers will have to pay R120 more
this year, while Compact will enjoy a price freeze. DStv Access received the
lowest increase of R60 for the year.

 

DSTV price increases for 2020

 

 

 

Mark Rayner, CEO of MultiChoice South Africa, said it wants to continue
making DStv affordable and accessible to as many South Africans as possible.

 

“In 2019, DStv broadcast leading international and local shows including the
final season of Game of Thrones and the first-ever season of The Bachelor
South Africa. In addition, Deon Meyer’s record-breaking Trackers was a
game-changer for local television productions, and has now been syndicated
internationally,” the statement reads.

 

It said sports fans will be brought the Euro 2020 and Tokyo Olympics – a
suitable follow-up from last year’s ICC Cricket World Cup and the Rugby
World Cup – where the  Springboks were crowned World Champions.

 

The MultiChoice Group in its annual financial results for the year ended
March 31, 2019 showed an overall increase in DStv subscribers.

 

However, Premium subscribers declined to 20% from 22% in the previous
financial year, due to tough economic times and stiff competition from
international video streaming services.

 

Some of its video streaming competitors charge the following per month:

 

Netflix: R99 to R199

Showmax: R99

Viu: R29 – R69

Amazon Prime Video: R45 – R79--Monyweb

 

 

 

 

Elon Musk says AI development should be better regulated, even at Tesla

Tesla CEO Elon Musk wants to see all artificial intelligence better
regulated, even at his own company, he tweeted Monday (via TechCrunch). He
made the remark in response to a piece about OpenAI by MIT Technology
Review, which claimed that the AI organization, co-founded by Musk, has
shifted from its mission of developing and distributing AI safely and
equitably into a secretive company obsessed with image and driven to
constantly raise more money.

 

Musk has a history of expressing serious concerns about the negative
potential of AI. He tweeted in 2014 that it could be “more dangerous than
nukes,” and told an audience at an MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics
symposium that year that AI was “our biggest existential threat,” and
humanity needs to be extremely careful:

 

With artificial intelligence we are summoning the demon. In all those
stories where there’s the guy with the pentagram and the holy water, it’s
like yeah he’s sure he can control the demon. Didn’t work out.

 

Musk has been floating the idea for some kind of government oversight of AI
for a while, as well. He told Recode’s Kara Swisher in 2018 — the same year
he stepped down from OpenAI to avoid conflicts with the machine learning
technology used in Tesla’s autonomous vehicles — that “we ought to have a
government committee that starts off with insight, gaining insight. Spends a
year or two gaining insight about AI or other technologies that are maybe
dangerous, but especially AI.” The committee would then come up with
regulations to ensure the safest uses of AI, he said.

 

Musk added at the time that he did not think such a committee would actually
happen.--theverge.com

 

 

 

Jaguar Land Rover unveils ‘autonomy ready’ electric car concept

Project Vector will initially be based at the National Automotive Innovation
Centre at the University of Warwick in England.

The last few years have seen a number of major carmakers make big plays in
the electric vehicle sector.

 

 

Jaguar Land Rover unveiled an ambitious concept vehicle Tuesday, with the
British automaker saying it aimed to launch on-road trials next year.

 

In a statement, the company described the Project Vector concept vehicle as
being “autonomy ready” and electric, adding that its interior enabled a
range of seating configurations. The setups allow for private or shared use,
as well as for commercial applications like “last mile deliveries.”

 

The car is four-meters long and has been designed for use in urban
environments. Despite describing the vehicle as “autonomy-ready”, the
company released few details on what this meant.

 

Project Vector will initially be based at the National Automotive Innovation
Centre at the University of Warwick in England. Among other things, the
scheme will work with local authorities on the development of a pilot
mobility service which is slated to start toward the end of 2021.

 

“Through this project, we are collaborating with the brightest minds in
academia, supply chain and digital services, to create connected, integrated
mobility systems — the fundamental building blocks for Destination Zero,”
Ralf Speth, the CEO of Jaguar Land Rover, said in a statement.

 

Destination Zero refers to Jaguar Land Rover’s overarching aim for zero
accidents, zero congestion and zero emissions.

 

Speaking to CNBC on Tuesday, Speth added that Project Vector represented an
opportunity to, among other things, “create a totally new way of mobility:
public but also individual transport based on zero emissions.”

 

On the subject of the U.K. government’s plans to end the sale of new diesel
and petrol, or gasoline, cars by the year 2035, Speth said it was a
political decision and went on to emphasize the importance of
infrastructure.

 

“That means we have to make sure also that the charging opportunities are
far higher, denser,” he added, stressing the importance of “rapid charging
opportunities” as well.

 

 

An electric future?

The last few years have seen a number of major carmakers make big plays in
the electric vehicle sector.

 

In November 2019, the Volkswagen Group officially started series production
of its ID.3 electric car, with the German carmaker planning to launch
“almost 70 new electric models” on its platform by 2028. Elsewhere, Volvo
Cars wants 50% of the cars it sells to be fully electric by 2025.

 

New car registrations in the U.K. fell by 2.4% in 2019, according to recent
figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), with
demand for new cars at a six-year low, according to the organization’s chief
executive, Mike Hawes.

 

While the outlook is challenging, battery electric vehicle registrations
grew to 37,850 in 2019, an increase of 144% compared to 2018, when 15,510
were registered, according to the SMMT. Hybrid electric vehicle
registrations increased by 17.1% to 97,850 units.

 

Though these figures may look encouraging to advocates of these low-emission
vehicles, their prevalence in the U.K. is still small compared to gasoline
and diesel cars.

 

Electric vehicles face several challenges, not least when it comes to
perceptions surrounding range and charging infrastructure.

 

The market share for battery electric vehicles in 2019 was just 1.6%, while
hybrid electric vehicles had a 4.2% share. At the other end of the spectrum,
gasoline had a market share of 64.8%, while diesel was 25.2%.

 

Will autonomous vehicles become mainstream?

While there is excitement surrounding the development of autonomous
vehicles, their widespread adoption could still be some years off.

 

The last few years have seen a range of tests and developments take place in
the autonomous vehicle sector. Last September, the SMMT’s Hawes told
CNBC.com via email that the shift to connected and autonomous vehicles
represented “the greatest change to how we travel since the invention of the
car.”

 

“But safety is the number one priority for the automotive industry and
self-driving vehicles are still some way off because of the challenges
involved with equipping them to handle all possible driving situations,”
Hawes added.--cnbc.com

 

 

 

Tesla's Elon Musk swipes at Porsche-buying Bill Gates

Elon Musk has lashed out on Twitter after billionaire Bill Gates praised
Tesla in an interview - but admitted he had chosen a Porsche as his first
electric car.

 

Mr Musk later described his own conversations with the Microsoft founder as
"underwhelming", in a tweet.

 

He was replying to a Tesla fan who expressed surprise at Mr Gates's choice
of car because, they said, he was "really smart".

 

Many of the replies supported Mr Gates.

 

"He's only saving millions of lives around the world..." wrote one.

 

"You want to be underwhelmed... call Tesla customer service," wrote another.

 

In the YouTube interview with Marques Brownlee, which has had more than two
million views, Mr Gates expressed concern that the mileage between charges,
the length of charging time, and the "premium" cost of electric vehicles
were all factors currently deterring buyers.

 

However, he highlighted Tesla as a firm that had helped to grow the market.

 

"And certainly Tesla, if you had to name one company that's helped drive
that, it's them," he said.

 

He then said he had not chosen the brand himself.

 

"You know I just got a Porsche Taycan, which is an electric car, and I have
to say, it's a premium-priced car but yeah, it is very very cool," Mr Gates
said.

 

Prices for the model start at £83,000 in the UK ($103,000 in the US).

 

By contrast, the Tesla Model 3 starts at £42,000 ($40,000 in the US).

 

Elon Musk is no stranger to squaring up to others on Twitter.

 

In the past, he has tweeted that Mark Zuckerberg's understanding of AI is
"limited" and described Jeff Bezos' ideas about living in space as "mak[ing]
no sense".

 

In December 2019 he won a defamation case against a British cave diver whom
he had labelled "pedo guy" on Twitter.

 

The diver had helped to rescue trapped Thai schoolboys from a cave and had
rejected Mr Musk's offer of help.

 

Mr Musk has also got his own company into hot water.

 

In 2018, he tweeted that he planned to make Tesla a private company and said
he had secured funding to do so.

 

He later said he was joking but both he and the firm were ordered to pay
$20m by the US financial regulator for disclosing information that had
affected the market.

 

He then went back on Twitter to blast the regulator - the Securities and
Exchanges Commission (SEC) - describing it as the "Shortseller Enrichment
Commission".

 

As part of an agreement with the SEC he was warned not to share information
about Tesla in any form without approval, and resigned as chairman of the
firm.--BBC

 

 

 

Volocopter and Grab to study the feasibility of deploying air taxi services
in Southeast Asia

Air mobility startup Volocopter  will be working together with on-demand
transportation, food delivery and payments company Grab on a feasibility
study around air mobility in Southeast Asia. The joint study is part of a
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the two companies that covers
exploration of the potential deployment of air taxi services in some of the
cities in the region.

 

This is the first step in a partnership that could eventually result in
actually running test flights and establishing routes for air taxi service
deployment, though how far things go will likely depend on the results of
this study and the subsequent appetites of both parties involved.

 

Volocopter,  a German startup that has been building and demonstrating
vertical takeoff and landing craft powered by electricity since 2011, has
already demonstrated its aircraft in Singapore, working with local Singapore
aviation regulators. It also unveiled a “world first” full-scale air taxi
“VoloPort” last October in the city, working with partner Skyport to develop
a commercially scalable model for these urban air taxi stations.

 

Grab  seems to see Volocopter and its aerial taxi services as another
potential piece of the overall puzzle that it’s putting together across
various transportation methods. “This partnership will enable Volocopter to
further develop urban air mobility solutions that are relevant for Southeast
Asian commuters so they can decide on their preferred journey option based
on their budgets, time constraints and other needs, in a seamless way,” said
Grab Ventures CEO Chris Yeo in an emailed press release.

 

Volocopter has said Singapore could be one of the best contenders for
commercial service launch and opened offices in the region last year. Other
potential commercial launch markets include Dubai and Germany, the company
has said previously.--techcrucnh.com

 

 

 

Soros calls for Zuckerberg and Sandberg to leave Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg is in Europe this week meeting various EC executives such as
Vera Jourova, vice-president for values and transparency

Billionaire financier George Soros has written to the Financial Times,
calling for Facebook bosses Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg to leave
Facebook.

 

He argued the social media platform's refusal to remove political ads was
"helping to get Donald Trump re-elected".

 

The letter comes as Mr Zuckerberg heads to Europe to call for light-touch
government regulation.

 

His proposals have received a lukewarm response from European lawmakers.

 

Mr Zuckerberg wants regulation of harmful content on internet platforms to
be different from existing rules governing the media and telecoms firms.

 

In response, European industry commissioner Thierry Breton said it was not
"for us to adapt to this company, it's for this company to adapt to us".

 

In his short letter to the FT, Democratic party donor George Soros writes:
"Mr Zuckerberg appears to be engaged in some kind of mutual assistance
arrangement with Donald Trump that will help him to get re-elected.

 

"Facebook does not need to wait for government regulations to stop accepting
any political advertising in 2020 until after the elections on 4 November.

 

"I repeat my proposal, Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg should be removed
from control of Facebook."

 

He added that while he supports government regulation of social media
platforms, he thinks Mr Zuckerberg is "obfuscating the facts" in his
arguments for greater government control of the internet.

 

Mr Soros has been a vocal critic of Facebook and, in November 2018, the
social network admitted it had hired a PR firm to run a smear campaign
against him.

 

The firm Definers was hired to investigate the financier's links to the
Freedom from Facebook campaign, which was seeking the firm's break-up.

 

Ms Sandberg initially denied knowledge of the hiring but later clarified
that she had been told about the company but had forgotten its name.

 

Facebook v EC

Mark Zuckerberg is in Europe this week for meetings with various
commissioners.

 

Ahead of these, he told delegates at the Munich Security conference that
government regulation should fall "somewhere between" how existing media is
regulated and rules governing telecom firms.

 

The social media platform also issued a document on content regulation this
week, which lays out guidelines about how regulation around online content
could work.

 

The four challenges it identifies are:

 

how can content regulation reduce harmful speech while preserving free
expression?

how should regulation enhance the accountability of internet platforms?

should regulation require internet firms to meet certain performance
targets?

should regulation define which harmful content should be prohibited on
internet platforms?

Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission's executive vice president for
digital affairs, also met Mark Zuckerberg.

 

She is due to unveil plans for how the EU will compete with the US and China
on artificial intelligence technology later this week.--bbc

 

 

 

‘Don’t be late to the party’ — bitcoin rose 170% the last time this signal
flashed

If history repeats itself (spoiler: it usually doesn’t), bitcoin could see a
huge run in the next two months, according to Cointelegraph analyst Keith
Wareing.

 

Why? Look to the cross... the “golden cross.”

 

Yes, bitcoin’s BTCUSD, +0.26% ascending 50-day moving average recently
crossed over its 200-day moving average, a rare occurrence that had other
popular crypto pundits chiming in on Twitter TWTR, +3.12%  :

 

 

As Wareing pointed out, the last time bitcoin saw this kind of bullish
action, the price shot up 170% in less than two months.

 

Meanwhile, optimism continues to bubble over among crypto bulls, like Max
Keiser, who just raised his target from $100,000 to $400,000.

 

“I first made this prediction when it was $1, I said this could go to
$100,000,” he said Monday on InfoWars. “I’m raising my official target for
the first time in eight years, I’m raising it to $400,000.”

 

At last check, bitcoin was trading at $10,116.--marketwatch.com

 

 

 

The coronavirus is slamming the US travel industry, with experts predicting
it will wipe out more than $10 billion in spending from Chinese visitors

The coronavirus is expected to cost the US travel industry more than $10
billion over the next four years, with more than half of that loss coming in
2020.

Although US airlines are working to minimize the impact, hotels, museums,
retail and dining sectors, and other businesses that rely on tourist dollars
are expected to face major economic fallout from the outbreak.

If the coronavirus continues to spread, particularly in other countries, the
impact could be significantly worse.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

 

While the vast majority of coronavirus cases have been found in China and
Asia, the US travel industry is also steeling itself to be ravaged by the
rogue virus.

 

A new report from consulting firm Tourism Economics has put some estimated
numbers to that ravaging, saying it expects the US to lose about 1.6 million
visitors from mainland China as a result of the coronavirus, translating to
a 28% drop for 2020. The report tallied expected losses from Chinese visitor
spending at $10.3 billion — more than half of which are expected occur this
year.

 

Travel and spending from Chinese visitors in America is massive, with China
being the third-largest source of overseas travel to the United States
behind the UK and Japan, according to the US Travel Association, an
industry-advocacy organization. Each Chinese visitor to the US spent an
average of $6,500 in 2018, according to the latest data available, which a
spokesperson for US Travel characterized as "among the highest of all
international visitors."

 

In 2018, Chinese travelers spent a total of $34.6 billion to the US economy,
including $17 billion in travel-specific spending. Visitors spent an average
of 12 nights in the country, and the majority were in the US for vacation or
visits to friends and family.

 

This trend appeared to continue in 2019, with data from the National Travel
and Tourism Office showing 2.5 million Chinese visitors in the first the
first 10 months of the year — accounting for roughly 7% of all overseas
visits.

 

 

Analysts looking at the possible industry impact of the coronavirus have
referred back to the 2003 SARS outbreak and 2015 MERS episode. However, the
scale and spread of the Wuhan coronavirus have both dwarfed SARS, suggesting
that the impact could be longer lasting and more severe.

 

During the SARS outbreak, the US experienced a 30% decrease in visitors from
China, and a 10% fall in travelers from the rest of Asia, according to the
Tourism Economics report. It took three years for the market to fully
recover.

 

The impact is expected to be worse than during SARS because there are more
Chinese travelers than in there were in 2003 — according to the Tourism
Economics report, visits from China to the US have grown 1,270% since 2002.
Then, the Chinese market only represented 1% of all overseas visitors to the
US and 3% of visitor spending, compared to 7% of visitors and 16% of
spending in 2019.

 

"Given the massive increase in the Chinese travel market, the impact in
absolute terms will be much larger than from the SARS crisis," the report
said.

 

While visits impacted by the current coronavirus are expected to ramp back
up in 2021, the report projects that it will take about four years to fully
recover. An expected 4.6 million hotel room nights will be lost this year —
8.1 million total through 2024 — the report said, with states and cities
around the country feeling the impact.

 

Notably, the projections do not include possible losses from other markets
in Asia. If the virus continues to spread outside of China, the impact could
be significantly worse.

 

The total impact could be enough to affect the nation's gross domestic
product: The travel and tourism industries represented 2.8% of the GDP in
2017, according to the Department of Commerce. UBS economists warned that
the virus' effect on the world economy is driving growth near negative
levels for the first quarter of 2020.

 

US airlines have largely tried to contain the damage by preemptively
suspending routes to China and reconfiguring capacity to Asia. However, this
capacity decrease will still lead to decreased revenue, and the UN's
International Civil Aviation Organization forecasted that the global airline
industry's revenue could take a $5 billion hit in just the first quarter.
Airlines from China and Hong Kong are expected to fare worst.

 

According to a report from Hopper, the travel booking app, demand for travel
from the US to China dropped more than 58% compared to 2019 at its lowest
point so far this year. The good news for US airlines is that overall travel
demand among Americans continues to grow, although there's a shift toward
interest in domestic travel over international destinations.

 

The economic pain of the coronavirus is expected to reverberate through the
entire travel industry, as shown by the Tourism Economics report. The ban on
foreign citizens who have been in China within the previous two weeks,
combined with plummeting demand for business travel to and from the region,
presents an impending disaster for industries that rely on airlines, hotels,
museums, conference organizers, and other types of companies in the US that
rely on travel from the region.

 

The coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan, China, and was first identified
and reported in late 2019, has infected more than 73,000 people and killed
at least 1,875 around the world. Cases have been found in at least 26 other
countries.--businessinsider

 

 

 

 

Can Vodafone survive in India?

All eyes are on Vodafone’s Indian joint venture to see if it can stave off
collapse following a Supreme Court ruling that it must pay $7bn in
retroactive levies and penalties by March 17.

 

The verdict has left Vodafone Idea in a precarious position. The
cash-strapped company said on Monday that it had paid Rs25bn ($350m) in dues
and would pay a further $140m by the end of the week. 

 

That gave the country’s second-biggest mobile carrier some breathing room,
said Neil Shah, an analyst at Counterpoint Research, but “they aren’t out of
the woods yet”.

 

Here are some key questions about the dispute that is pressuring the company
and the wider Indian telecoms sector.

 

What is the issue threatening Vodafone’s India joint venture?

The dispute dates back to 1999, when New Delhi introduced a revenue-sharing
model that required companies to share with the government a percentage of
their adjusted gross revenue (AGR).

 

The companies and government disagreed over what should be calculated as
AGR. New Delhi argued that all revenues from the business, even non-telecoms
services, should be included.

 

A legal battle kicked off in 2003 and raged for more than a decade but in
October last year the Supreme Court overturned a lower-court ruling and
agreed with the government’s expansive definition. Under the new definition,
Indian telecoms companies in operation since 2003 must pay approximately
$13bn in historic levies and penalties.

 

The country’s top court last week rejected a petition from the telecoms
groups to defer payment, berating them for not settling dues sooner and
threatening company directors with contempt. Within hours the government
reinforced the Supreme Court decision with a notice ordering the telecoms
companies to pay up immediately.

 

What companies does the ruling affect?

The ruling applies to all telecoms companies operating in India since the
court saga started. Many of those companies have gone bankrupt or
consolidated, leaving three major players in India — Bharti Airtel, Vodafone
Idea and Reliance Jio — as well as state-run BSNL. As the oldest operators,
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have to pay the bulk of the fees: $3bn and
$7bn respectively.

 

But under the new interpretation of AGR, any company that has held a
telecoms licence since the court case started, even if it is not a mobile
operator, is also liable to pay dues to the government. 

 

That includes even Oil India, India’s second-largest national exploration
and production company, which holdsa “national long-distance service
licence” to establish a system for managing its pipelines. 

 

Oil India said it leased spare bandwidth capacity to other telecoms
operators for cumulative revenue of $200k. However, the government is
seeking payment on total reported revenue, including sales of crude oil — a
sum that amounts to $6.7bn, nearly double the company’s net worth. 

 

Oil India and the other affected non-telecoms groups are expected to
petition the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal over the
issue in the coming weeks. 

 

What has been the impact so far?

The ruling has dealt a blow to a sector bruised by a price war with upstart
Reliance Jio, a mobile network launched in 2016 backed by Asia’s richest
man, Mukesh Ambani.

 

 

India’s telecoms sector is still reeling from the launch of Mukesh Ambani’s
low-cost Reliance Jio © Bloomberg

Jio has grown rapidly by offering free calls and data packages at prices
that made India’s fees some of the cheapest in the world. Because it is only
three years old Jio owed only $2m in retrospective dues, an amount it has
already paid.

 

The price war heaped pressure on Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, which were
already weighed down by India’s costly spectrum fees. Bharti Airtel had made
provision for the ruling and was able recently to raise funds. On February
17, the company said it had paid $1.4bn towards its AGR dues. 

 

But Vodafone Idea, saddled with about $14bn in net debt, has warned that the
ruling threatens its survival. Vodafone Group and local partner Aditya Birla
Group have effectively ruled out a fresh infusion of capital, leaving the
company with few options.

 

What are the wider implications of this deal?

In 2016, Vodafone Group injected more than $7bn into its Indian entity, one
of the country’s largest foreign direct investments. The retrospective tax
demand has cast serious doubt on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise to
end “tax terrorism” and the dispute has become a symbol of New Delhi’s
indifference to foreign investment.

 

The AGR ruling added to a long line of other retrospective tax cases that
have caused nightmares for multinational companies. Vodafone Idea is still
fighting a $2bn tax case in connection with its acquisition of Hutchison
Telecom in 2009.

 

A shutdown of Vodafone Idea could result in billions of dollars worth of
defaulted debt and thousands of job losses, with banks and the government
taking the biggest hit. State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and Punjab National
Bank are part of a group with sizeable exposure to Vodafone Idea, said
financial services company IIFL in a recent note. 

 

“Ironically, the government, despite winning the suit, could see the biggest
impact through deferred spectrum debt default,” said Motilal Oswal Financial
Services, adding that “a default of such a large scale could increase
India’s fiscal deficit by ~40 bps”.

--ft.com

 

 

 

LendingClub buys Radius Bank for $185 million in first fintech takeover of a
regulated US bank

LendingClub is paying $185 million in cash and stock for Radius Bancorp,
according to documents viewed by CNBC. Radius, a Boston-based online bank
with about $1.4 billion in assets, is among a cohort of small lenders that
have partnered with fintech firms who need the services of an FDIC-regulated
institution.

 

The move marks the first time a U.S. fintech company has acquired a bank.
Fintech firms from Robinhood to Square have applied for ways to become banks
as doing so would give them better profit margins and the ability to issue
new products like checking accounts. Last week, mobile bank Varo Money got
FDIC approval for a national bank charter, which would allow it to accept
consumer deposits.

 

LendingClub, which calls itself the biggest U.S. provider of personal loans,
had been a leader in an earlier wave of fintech firms focused on marketplace
lending, or matching borrowers with lenders. The company had the biggest
U.S. tech IPO of 2014, soaring to an $8.5 billion valuation. But it was
dealt a blow in 2016 when founder Renaud Laplanche was ousted amid
irregularities with loan practices, and its shares have never recovered.

 

Now, the fintech disruptor is poised to reinvent itself as a bank.

 

The deal will allow San Francisco-based LendingClub to offer new products to
its clients, diversify its earnings and reduce or eliminate the use of
institutional funding sources, according to the documents.

 

“What a bank charter does for LendingClub is it allows us to take what is
the leading digital loan provider online and combine it with a leading
digital deposit gatherer,” Scott Sanborn, CEO of LendingClub, said Tuesday
on CNBC. “It totally changes the earnings profile of this business.”

 

Sanborn said that the deal will help save $40 million a year in bank fees
and funding costs and will allow the company to earn a spread on loans kept
on its balance sheet, which is a core way banks earn money.

 

The transaction is expected to take 12 to 15 months to close and will reach
breakeven for the acquirer two years after that, according to LendingClub.
JPMorgan Chase advised LendingClub on the takeover.

 

As part of efforts to clear its path to becoming a regulated bank, the
company has asked its largest shareholder, Asian investment firm Shanda, to
trade its 22% stake in LendingClub for nonvoting shares.--cnbc.com

 

 

 

 

Alphabet takes the wind out of its Makani energy kites

Alphabet today announced that it is calling it quits on its efforts to build
and monetize its Makani wind energy kites. Makani, which was founded in
2006, came into Google/Alphabet seven years ago as a Google X project. Last
year, the company spun it out of X and made it a standalone Alphabet unit.
Now, Makani’s time at Alphabet as an “Other Bet” is at an end. The company
is still hoping to work with Shell, one of its earliest partners, to see how
the technology can be used in another way, though.

 

“After considering many factors, I believe that the road to commercial
viability is a much longer and riskier road than we’d hoped and that it no
longer makes sense for Makani to be an Alphabet company,” says Astro Teller,
captain of Moonshots at X and xhairman of the Makani board, in a statement.
Teller, it’s worth noting, does not oversee Alphabet’s Other Bets.

 

“While it’s tempting to say that all climate-related ideas deserve
investment, remaining clear-eyed and directing resources to the
opportunities where we think we can have the greatest impact isn’t just good
business; it’s essential when it comes to a problem as urgent as the climate
crisis,” Teller added.

 

While at X/Alphabet, the team managed to get a 20kW demonstration project
off the ground and expanded this to a unit capable of producing up to 600kW.
Still, though, Alphabet clearly didn’t see a path forward to turning Makani
into a viable (and profitable) project in the long run.

 

“Creating an entirely new kind of wind energy technology means facing
business challenges as well as engineering challenges,” writes Fort Felker,
who became the lead for Makani at X in 2015. “Despite strong technical
progress, the road to commercialization is longer and riskier than hoped, so
from today Makani’s time at Alphabet is coming to an end.”

 

Back in the day, when it first acquired Makani, Google  probably wouldn’t
have worried all that much about whether this project made good business
sense. Those freewheeling times at Google are behind us, though, and, at
this point, there is an expectation that even these forward-looking Other
Bets have to become standalone businesses in the long run.--techcrunch

 

 

 

South Africa's Eskom needs cash injection to avoid debt crisis - CEO

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa’s ailing power utility Eskom urgently
needs more cash to stabilise its ballooning debt pile with the funds coming
from a rise in tariffs or new equity, new chief executive Andre de Ruyter
told lawmakers on Tuesday.

 

Eskom, which supplies 90% of South Africa’s power but has struggled to meet
demand, had a bid for a big electricity tariff increase rejected by a court
this month.

 

Eskom’s urgent application to the court for a tariff increase involved
hiking rates by 16.6% from April 2020 and a further 16.7% from April 2021.

 

It said its proposed urgent rate hike followed an error by the regulator
Nersa, which in 2019 set Eskom’s tariff rises at 9.4% for 2019/20, 8.1% for
2020/21 and 5.2% for 2021/22.

 

“The issue of Eskom debt has to be addressed to make Eskom sustainable,” de
Ruyter told parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts.

 

The utility has debt of about 450 billion rand ($31.4 billion), mostly
backed by the government, and is struggling to service the interest on its
borrowing due to falling revenues. Its access to capital markets has also
been constrained by years of mismanagement.

 

“The money is going to have to come from somewhere. Either it comes from a
tariff increase or it comes from an equity injection. It (the debt) doesn’t
just disappear. In fact it creates a very significant risk to the
sovereign,” said de Ruyter.

 

In July, the government allocated Eskom 59 billion rand over two years to
service its debt, on top of the 10-year, 230 billion rand injection it
provided months before that.

 

The utility has been forced to impose several rounds of severe power cuts in
the past year that have dragged economic growth lower and increased the risk
of credit downgrades, especially from Moody’s, the last agency that gives
South Africa an investment grade rating.

 

 

 

South Africa's Kumba Iron annual earnings rise on higher ore rates

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s Kumba Iron Ore on Tuesday posted a
rise in annual earnings, underpinned by higher iron ore prices and currency
gains from a weaker rand exchange rate to the dollar.

 

The company, a unit of Anglo American, reported headline earnings per share
(HEPS) of 50.88 rand for the year ended Dec. 31, compared with 30.28 rand a
year earlier.

 

HEPS is the primary profit measure in South Africa that strips out certain
one-off items.

 

Total revenue for the year rose 41% to 64.3 billion rand ($4.28 billion),
compared with 45.7 billion rand a year earlier.

 

The miner said its annual revenue was driven by higher ore prices, stronger
market premiums and currency gains despite lower sales volumes amid weaker
domestic offtake.

 

“Our financial performance reflects the benefits of higher iron ore prices,
improved efficiencies and further cost savings ahead of our target, which
have cushioned the impact of the operational challenges experienced during
the period,” said Kumba Chief Executive Themba Mkhwanazi.

 

Production, however, dropped 2% to 42.4 million tonnes, compared with 43.1
million tonnes in the year-ago period due to the impact from plant
maintenance and equipment-related issues in the first half.

 

The company said it expects to produce between 41.5 million tonnes and 42.5
million tonnes of iron ore in 2020, and declared a final cash dividend of
15.99 rand per share bringing the total dividend to 46.78 rand per share.

 

($1 = 15.0248 rand)

 

($1 = 15.0409 rand)

 

 

 

Portugal's Galp says joint stake unaffected by dos Santos probes

LONDON (Reuters) - The chief executive of Portugal’s Galp Energia said on
Tuesday a joint stake in the oil company held partly by Isabel dos Santos
had not been affected by judicial investigations into alleged corruption by
the Angolan billionaire.

 

Last month, Angola named dos Santos as a formal suspect over allegations of
mismanagement and misappropriation of funds during her time as chairwoman of
state oil company Sonangol.

 

Portugal’s public prosecutor said last week it had ordered the seizure of
her Portuguese bank accounts after the country’s market watchdog said it had
launched inquiries into firms where she holds stakes.

 

“The lady is not our shareholder. Our shareholder is Amorim Energia, a fully
family-controlled company. We are quite distant from that discussion, thank
God” CEO Carlos Gomes da Silva told Reuters on the sidelines of an investor
presentation on Tuesday.

 

In a partnership with Sonangol and Portugal’s wealthy Amorim family, dos
Santos bought a third of Galp in 2005 using large amounts of commercial
debt.

 

Da Silva said Galp had not been affected by freezes put on dos Santos’s bank
accounts or by probes into her partnerships with Portuguese companies.

 

He added that there had been no sign that Sonangol would take full control
of dos Santos’s stake, and said there were no plans for Galp to buy stakes
in the Angolan energy firm in a partial privatisation planned to take place
within two years.

 

Dos Santos told Reuters in an interview last month that efforts to split the
joint stake she shared with Sonangol in Galp Energia had been scuppered by a
freeze on her assets by Angola at the end of 2019.

 

Dos Santos, the daughter of former Angolan president Jose Eduardo dos Santos
who ended his nearly four-decade grip on power in 2017, has repeatedly
denied any wrongdoing.

 

Buoyed by high oil prices in the last decade, Angolan businesses bought up
sizeable assets in former colonial master Portugal, with dos Santos
acquiring stakes in several Portuguese firms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 


 

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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opinions expressed and recommendations made are subject to change without
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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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