Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 03 January 2020

Fri Jan 3 04:57:14 CAT 2020

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 03 January  2020

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*  South Africa's rand firms slightly on trade deal optimism

*  Uber Eats goes local to find its niche in South African food fight

*  Egypt has planted nearly 3 mln feddans of wheat - official

*  South Africa's rand weathers risks to end 2019 higher, stocks down

*  South Africa's credit growth slows to 6.6% y/y in Nov

*  Kenya's economy expands by 5.1% y/y in Q3 2019 - stats office

*  Kenyan shilling trades steady on remittance flows

*  Uganda plans to borrow nearly $2 bln to fund 2020/21 budget

*  Rio Tinto to restart South African unit in 2020 after security scare

*  US announces countrywide ban on flavoured e-cigs

*  Volkswagen in 'dieselgate' talks with motorists

*  France protests: Longest strike in decades stuck in deadlock

*  Imagination announces new Apple licence deal

*  Mukesh Ambani: Asia's richest man takes on retail giant Amazon

*  Rail fares rise by 2.7%, hitting millions of commuters

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

South Africa's rand firms slightly on trade deal optimism

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s rand firmed marginally on Thursday, with sentiment towards emerging markets broadly boosted by U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement on the signing of a trade deal with China, and on higher commodity prices.

By 0645 GMT, the rand strengthened 0.08% to 14.0050 per dollar from its previous close of 14.0160, its recent rally slowing as investors re-assessed positions in the new year.

Trump said on Tuesday the Phase 1 trade deal with China would be signed on Jan. 15 at the White House, spurring demand for currencies of economies reliant on exports to the world’s two mega economies.

The Chinese central bank’s decision on Wednesday to cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves, a move set to boost economic activity, also cheered emerging market sentiment.

“The rand’s appreciation has been well-correlated with improving sentiment to China, as trade negotiations with the U.S. finally seem to be turning the corner, supporting sentiment in commodity market,” economists at ETM Analytics said in a note.

Bonds traded slightly weaker, with the yield on the benchmark 2026 government paper up 1.5 basis points to 8.27%.

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

Uber Eats goes local to find its niche in South African food fight

SOWETO, South Africa (Reuters) - A stone’s throw from Nelson Mandela’s former home in South Africa’s Soweto township, Dumile Badela’s restaurant is now more hectic and lucrative than ever, thanks to Uber Eats, his hungriest customer yet.

Having already dominated Africa’s ride-hailing sector, Uber is trying to conquer the food delivery market by leveraging its massive fleet of drivers in the continent’s most developed economy and tracking popular food choices and destinations.

The prize is big. The country’s online food delivery industry was worth 10.49 billion rand ($713 million) in 2019, according to data portal Statista. And with growth pegged at nearly 14% annually, it will hit 17.6 billion rand by 2023.

Surprisingly perhaps, Uber got off to a tricky start.

An initial focus on high-end restaurants proved to be a mistake in a country perpetually on the verge of recession. The San Francisco-based app is now targeting traditional, local fare.

In May, it launched in Soweto, where it works with around 20 partners and is adding more local foods to its 480,000 menu items, dispatching dishes like stewed tripe, caterpillars, cow heels and sheep’s head to mostly middle-class customers who crave a taste of home.

“I’d say Uber Eats has improved our sales by about 15% to 20%. But I’m targeting even more, up to 50%,” Badela says. “There’s huge opportunity.”

It could be a win-win; Uber posted a $1.16 billion third-quarter loss and Uber Eats is the company’s fastest-growing business, contributing more than 10% of its quarterly revenue of $3.8 billion.

TAKING ON MR D

Uber isn’t alone in wanting a large piece of the South African pie.

Launched in the early 1990s as a call-and-deliver service, South Africa’s Mr D Food - part of Naspers-controlled e-commerce firm Take-a-Lot - is the established player.

Some two million South Africans have downloaded its app. It boasts 700,000 active monthly users, and over the past 12 months processed 1.5 billion rand in food orders.

Uber Eats said it’s recorded 2.1 million app downloads since its 2016 launch, but declined to give figures for food sales.

Between them, the two companies have captured around 80%-90% of South Africa’s food-hailing market, according to research firm Insight Surveys.

They’ll soon be joined by Bolt, the ride-hailing firm formerly known as Taxify, which is Uber’s main competition in Africa. The Estonian company plans to launch its food delivery service in South Africa early next year.

“There is space for three, possibly four key market players, as the market is still in its infancy and will continue to show rapid growth in the future,” said Yashvir Maharaj, research director at Insight Surveys.

LOCAL FLAVOUR

Uber is using data from its rides service to monitor popular food destinations and is tracking popular food searches on the Uber Eats app to gauge what people are craving.

In South Africa, it has found that Soweto and other traditionally black townships have a reservoir of middle-class consumers who may move further afield and crave a taste of home.

“Now that we’re in Soweto we want to take those experiences and expand them to other townships, and go even deeper into Soweto,” Dave Kitley, Uber Eats’ General Manager for South Africa, told Reuters.

“We’re thinking a lot about migration ... When they move, their taste buds move with them.”

That’s something George Makume, the Soweto-raised owner of So Cafe, understands.

Three years ago, he opened his restaurant in the middle-class suburb of Roodepoort, 25 kilometres (16 miles) west of Soweto, noticing a lack of traditional food options despite a growing number of black professionals moving to the area.

“People grew up with this kind of food, but it’s difficult to find unless you travel 20 or 30 kilometres to Soweto,” he said.

Among his best-sellers are skopo - sheep’s head steam-cooked or grilled on an open fire - followed by “Mogodu Mondays” - a 2-for-1 special of spicy tripe and maize porridge.

Since partnering with Uber Eats, and more recently Mr D Food, Makume said his weekday sales have jumped 30%-40%.

Back at Badela’s restaurant where evening prep is under way, he says there’s plenty of business to go around.

“I’m not the only one in Soweto offering this kind of food. There are many places,” he says. “So if I succeed, the guys selling amanqina (pig trotters), namaotwana (chicken feet) and skopo will say ‘Yo! I can do it as well.’”

That’s a potential boon for black communities, where unemployment typically outstrips the nationwide average of nearly 30%.

($1 = 14.7075 rand)

Egypt has planted nearly 3 mln feddans of wheat - official

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt will have planted 3 million feddans (1.26 million hectares) of wheat within the next two to three days and still aims to plant a total of 3.5 million feddans this season, an Agriculture Ministry official said on Wednesday.

The previously announced target is part of efforts by Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, to increase the area used for growing strategic crops and improve food security, said Abbas al-Shennawi, head of services and follow-up at the ministry.

Egypt harvested 8.5 million tonnes of domestic wheat from around 3.16 million feddans last season. Its current planting season began in mid-November.

South Africa's rand weathers risks to end 2019 higher, stocks down

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s rand advanced on Tuesday, holding on to gains from previous sessions triggered by a global investor hunt for high yields and optimism over a breakthrough in trade standoff between China and the United States.

At 1230 GMT, the rand was up 0.4% at 14.0650 after an overnight close of 14.1200.

The rand has gained about 5% since mid-December, despite a raft of data releases showing a weak economy and nationwide blackouts by state power company Eskom, with investors willing to overlook the negatives and pocket the high yield.

The currency has hovered around a five-month best against the dollar for the last week. In the previous session it crossed below 14.00 before succumbing to some profit-taking as traders wrapped up positions heading into the end of the year.

With local markets closing early and volumes already slim, the rand is set to trade between 14.00 and 14.20 for the rest of the week.

Bonds were steady, with the yield on the benchmark 2026 debt at 8.245%.

Data from the central bank earlier showed growth in private- sector credit in slowed to 6.60% year-on-year in November from 7.28% in October, underling the weak consumer activity likely to keep economic growth constrained in 2020.

Stocks ended 2019 lower along with other emerging markets after investors booked profits following recent gains on optimism over a U.S.-China trade deal.

Demand for riskier assets has grown as trade tensions between the United States and China eased and uncertainty around Brexit declined.

The JSE Top-40 Index down 1.13% at 50,816 points, while the All-Share Index slipped 1.07% to 57,084 points.

Shares in telecoms giant MTN dipped slightly after it was sued by military veterans in the United States, who accuse several firms of paying protection money to militant Islamist groups in Afghanistan.

MTN said on Monday it was reviewing allegations raised in the U.S. complaint.

Its Johannesburg listed shares were down 1.3% percent to 82.49 rand.

South Africa's credit growth slows to 6.6% y/y in Nov

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Growth in private sector credit in South Africa slowed to 6.60% year-on-year in November from 7.28% in the previous month, central bank data showed on Tuesday.

Expansion in the broadly defined M3 measure of money supply quickened, to 7.35% in November from 7.28% in October.

Kenya's economy expands by 5.1% y/y in Q3 2019 - stats office

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya’s economy expanded more slowly year-on-year in the third quarter of this year than in the same period last year, the statistics office said on Tuesday.

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said the economy grew 5.1% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2019, compared with 6.4% in the same period in 2018.

Kenyan shilling trades steady on remittance flows

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling held steady on Tuesday on the back of inflows of hard currency from remittances by Kenyan workers abroad, traders said.

At 1116 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 101.25/45 per dollar, the same as Monday’s close. Markets will remain closed on Jan. 1 for a public holiday.

Uganda plans to borrow nearly $2 bln to fund 2020/21 budget

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda said it plans to borrow 6.9 trillion shillings ($1.89 billion) from external lenders in the 2020/2021 (July-June) fiscal year to partly finance its budget, which could come under pressure as veteran leader Yoweri Museveni seeks re-election.

REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY.

A finance ministry budget paper seen by Reuters on Monday showed the funds will be in “form of concessional and non-concessional” credit.

The paper did not indicate how much was borrowed in the previous financial year. It also did not indicate from whom the money would be borrowed, but in recent years China has become one of Uganda’s top external lenders.

Museveni, in power since 1986, is widely expected to seek re-election early in 2021. He is expected to face a formidable challenge from pop star-turned-lawmaker Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi.

Public spending typically surges in election periods in Uganda, which has some times triggered pressure on consumer prices and the local currency.

The paper said economic growth in 2020/2021 would be 6.2%, driven by higher productivity in manufacturing and agriculture and “public and private sector investment as well as regional and domestic trade.”

Uganda’s mounting public debt has been fuelling concern. The International Monetary Fund has urged authorities to rein in borrowing.

Some opposition critics have also accused government of front-loading debt before an expected windfall from oil sales. Uganda hopes to commence crude oil production in 2022.

This month, the government said it was planning to borrow 600 million euros ($661 million) from international banks to plug a hole in its 2019/2020 budget after domestic revenue collections fell short by 9%.

The shortfall was caused by delays in implementing some planned tax-generating measures, according to the finance ministry.

($1 = 3,657.0000 Ugandan shillings)

Rio Tinto to restart South African unit in 2020 after security scare

(Reuters) - Global miner Rio Tinto said on Monday full operations at its South African unit Richard Bay Minerals (RBM) will resume in early January after cutting back because of security concerns for its workers.

Rio said regular production by RBM, which produces ilmenite ore for titanium from mineral sand deposits, will be reached in early 2020, and that it was contacting customers who were earlier told about disruptions to their supply.

“A phased restart is now in progress across the operation,” Rio Tinto said in a statement.

There have been a number of violent incidents at mines across South Africa, including robberies, that have raised questions about the lack of security and the threats they pose to the industry.

Earlier in December, the Anglo-Australian miner said one of its unit’s employees was shot and that there was escalating violence against them, causing a curtailment in operations.

“I would like to thank the Government of South Africa and the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal for their support and assistance in getting us to a position where we can restart operations at RBM,” Bold Baatar, Rio’s chief executive of Energy and Minerals said in a statement.

The decision in early December also included a pause in the construction of the $463 million Zulti South project which will extend Richards Bay Minerals mine life and maintain current capacity.

Rio says it will review Zulti South after operations at RBM normalise.

US announces countrywide ban on flavoured e-cigs

The US has announced a countrywide ban on some e-cigarette flavours amid concerns about vaping among teens.

The ban applies to mint and fruit flavours that are offered in cartridge-based e-cigarettes, like the popular pods sold by Juul.

The US will continue to allow menthol and tobacco flavours, as well as fruit flavours delivered in other ways.

The action has been under consideration for more than a year, with several states passing similar rules.

South Korea, India, Brazil are among the dozens of countries that have announced sweeping vaping bans. Others, like China, have announced restrictions.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the Trump administration wanted to continue to offer adults an alternative to traditional cigarettes, while responding to concerns about growing addiction to a new product among teens.

"By prioritizing enforcement against the products that are most widely used by children, our action today seeks to strike the right public health balance," he said.

Vaping: How popular are e-cigarettes?

'Big industry'

Fifty-five people have died and more than 2,500 people have been hospitalised with injuries linked to vaping, US health regulators say.

Investigators have said they believe vitamin E acetate, which is sometimes added to marijuana vaping products, is playing a role.

Citing the crisis, President Trump said in September the US would ban all e-cigarette flavours except tobacco, but the administration loosened its position after pushback from the industry.

"We have to protect our families. At the same time, it's a big industry. We want to protect the industry," Mr Trump said this week.

Juul, the biggest e-cigarette company in the US, had already pulled its flavoured pods from the market, but Thursday's action forces competitors to make a similar move, within 30 days.

Advocates for stricter rules have said that teens will switch to menthol if other options are eliminated.

But officials said they would take steps against menthol and tobacco flavoured e-cigarettes if the Food and Drug Administration sees that their use among teens is rising.

The US also recently raised the age for purchasing tobacco products to 21. E-cigarettes are also governed by those rules.--BBC

Volkswagen in 'dieselgate' talks with motorists

Volkswagen has said it is in talks with a group of German drivers who are suing the car giant over excessive emissions from its diesel cars.

The motorists say they were affected when VW "cheated" emissions rules by installing unlawful "defeat devices" in its diesel cars.

The carmaker and the Federal Association of Consumers (VZBV) said the talks were at an early stage.

There was "no guarantee" of a settlement, they said.

"The common goal of VZBV and Volkswagen is a pragmatic solution for the benefit of the customer," they declared, adding that they had agreed to keep the talks confidential.

The class action case is among the first of its kind in Germany.

Because of a new draft law in 2018, consumer rights groups became able to represent customers taking companies to court - and to bear their costs.

VZBV, an umbrella group of consumer associations, is state-financed and represents a wide range of members, from building owners to workers to the German cycling federation.

Proceedings began in September 2019 in a local court near the VW factory, the Higher Regional Court of Brunswick. Deliberations had to be moved to a town hall, as so many attended, according to a Reuters report.

VW disclosed in 2015 that it had used illegal software to manipulate the results of diesel emissions tests.

UK drivers fight for VW 'dieselgate' compensation

US sues Volkswagen over 'massive fraud'

At the time, the company said that about 11 million cars were fitted with the "defeat device", which alerted diesel engines when they were being tested. The engine would then change its performance in order to improve the result of the test.

Since the scandal broke, the carmaker has spent more than €30bn (£25bn) in legal costs and fines.

Volkswagen has faced a flurry of legal action worldwide, including the UK, where the High Court in London has begun hearing a case brought on behalf of tens of thousands of motorists. The carmaker's current and former senior employees are facing criminal charges in Germany.

In May 2019, the company, which also owns Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Seat and Skoda, said in its annual report that it had set aside a further €1bn (£847m) in legal provisions which included this case.--BBC

France protests: Longest strike in decades stuck in deadlock

France's transport strike against pension reform has entered its 29th day, making it the longest rail workers' strike since May 1968.

Industrial action against President Emmanuel Macron's planned pension reform has hit train services hardest.

The government says the changes are necessary to make the system fairer and more sustainable, but unions say workers will lose out.

More talks are due to be held between unions and government on 7 January.

Why are French workers on a nationwide strike?

French PM outlines 'fairer' pension plan

In his New Year's Eve address on Tuesday, Mr Macron vowed not to back down on his plan to overhaul France's complex pension system that would require people to work longer.

"It would be a betrayal of our children, their children after them, who would then have to pay the price for our giving up," he said.

Union leaders have called for a day of mass protests on 9 January. A new blockade of petrol facilities, including refineries, petrol terminals and depots, is also planned on 7 January for 96 hours until 10 January.

On Thursday, France's national rail operator SNCF said it expected up to half of high-speed trains to be cancelled; only one in four inter-city trains would be running, while regional rail services would also be badly affected with half of suburban trains cancelled and only a third of trains circulating in the Paris region.

Most lines on the Paris metro were expected to be open, although disruption was expected.

A poll carried out before Christmas showed the industrial action was still supported by the majority of the public.

Families face Christmas travel misery in France

France U-turns on trains for children after outcry

Nationwide strikes against the plans have caused weeks of disruption.

Many French people hoping to spend the holidays with family and friends found themselves stranded because of cancelled trains and gridlocked roads, while hundreds of flights were also cancelled.

It has been deemed the longest strike since May 1968, a period of civil unrest across the country.

A general strike over pension reforms in France in 1995 also crippled the transport system for three weeks and drew massive popular support. In that instance, the government was forced into a U-turn.

What is the strike about?

Workers are striking over Mr Macron's plans to replace France's 42 separate pension regimes with a universal points-based system.

Unions representing millions of staff in both the public and private sectors warn the move will remove the most advantageous pensions for a number of jobs and force people to work longer or face reduced payouts when they retire.

France raised the official retirement age in the past decade from 60 to 62, but it remains one of the lowest among rich countries - in the UK, for example, the retirement age for state pensions is 66 and is due to rise to at least 67.

In November, a report commissioned by French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe concluded that, under the existing system, the country's pension deficit could be as high as €17.2bn by 2025.--BBC

Imagination announces new Apple licence deal

Apple has revived a licensing relationship with UK-based chipmaker Imagination Technologies.

Imagination said it will allow Apple to access "a wider range of Imagination's intellectual property" in exchange for fees under a new, "multi-year" deal.

It comes about three years after the iPhone maker's decision to break ties disrupted Imagination's business.

Shares plunged and the firm was eventually sold to a Chinese-backed investment firm.

In a statement, Imagination said the new deal would replace the "multi-year, multi-use licence agreement" that the two companies announced back in 2014. Terms were not disclosed.

Founded in 1985, Imagination had been hailed as one of a handful of successful home-grown technology companies.

But its survival was in question in 2017, after Apple said it would end the use of Imagination's graphics processing units (GPUs) in favour of developing the equipment in-house. At the time, the US giant accounted for about half of Imagination's revenues.

Imagination Technologies: A British technology success story

Months later, Canyon Bridge, a Chinese-backed private equity investment firm, bought Imagination for £550m, a fraction of the company's former value.

Last month, Imagination announced its latest graphics processing architecture, describing it as "the fastest GPU" ever released.

It was one of the jewels in the crown of the UK technology scene - but the history of Imagination Technologies is a cautionary tale for any business about the dangers of having all your eggs in one basket.

Being a supplier to Apple was the route to riches in the good times. At its peak in 2012, Imagination was valued at more than £2bn. But when the US tech giant went cool on the relationship, everything began to fall apart.

Apple had already started poaching key staff and then a warning in 2017 that it was going to phase out its use of the UK firm's technology sent the shares tumbling. Soon after, it was sold to the Chinese-linked private equity fund Canyon Bridge for little more than a quarter of that 2012 valuation.

Parts of the business have been sold, the workforce has been halved to 850, and Imagination now has a broader range of customers. And now it has settled its differences with Apple, amid speculation that the Californian giant preferred a deal to a court battle over the patented Imagination technology that may still be present in the iPhone and other products.

But with the much bigger chip designer ARM in the hands of Japan's Softbank since 2016, and Autonomy sold to HP in a disastrous deal in 2011, the last decade has not been a cheerful period for anyone hoping to see a UK-owned tech business take on the world.--BBC

Mukesh Ambani: Asia's richest man takes on retail giant Amazon

A conglomerate run by Asia's richest man has started a service that aims to compete with Amazon in India.

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries said it had been inviting people to sign up to its grocery delivery service.

The company is aiming to use its massive mobile phone customer base as a springboard for the business.

The new e-commerce venture could become a major challenger to India's existing online retail giants.

Two subsidiaries of Mr Ambani's business empire, Reliance Retail and Reliance Jio, said they had soft-launched the venture, called JioMart.

JioMart says it offers "free and express delivery" for a list of grocery goods, which currently numbers some 50,000 items.

Unlike its rivals, JioMart will connect local stores to customers via an app rather than providing and delivering the goods itself.

India's online grocery market is in its infancy - currently estimated to be worth around $870m a year, with just 0.15% of the population using such services.

However, analysts predict the sector could see annual sales of around $14.5bn by 2023.

Grocery delivery has long been tipped as the next frontier in the battle for business in India.

A staggering number of internet and smartphone users - plus an unorganised grocery delivery sector - make it a promising market for app-based services.

Some of the world's largest and best-known technology companies, including Walmart and Amazon, are hoping to cash in too.

This should be a cakewalk for Reliance - it already has hundreds of millions of subscribers to its telecoms network, and operates its own grocery stores as well as retail stores for international brands.

Plus it has the advantage of being an Indian company. Amazon and Walmart have been held back from expanding in this space by government laws aimed at protecting domestic business.

There are Indian competitors operating in the market already - Big Basket and Grofers are the most well-known.

But they've had to put the brakes on expanding or tweak their business models to meet the challenges of operating in India, such as poor infrastructure, unreliable mobile networks and strict labour laws.

Reliance has a reputation for disrupting markets it starts businesses in, be it power, oil, retail or telecoms. Its foray into e-commerce is unlikely to be any different.

India's e-commerce market is currently dominated by Amazon and Flipkart, which is owned by Walmart.

Both companies suffered a setback last year when the Indian government introduced new laws that restrict foreign-owned online retailers from selling goods from their own subsidiaries.

This helped give Indian companies, which are not affected by the new rules, an edge over their foreign rivals.

Why did Walmart buy India's Flipkart?

Why Amazon and Flipkart will spend $3bn in India

India's richest man buys toy chain Hamleys

Mr Ambani, who is the chairman of Reliance Industries, has an estimated fortune of more than $60bn (£45bn).

The group's core business is oil refining but it also has major investments in other sectors including retail and telecoms.

Reliance Retail owns grocery stores in India, runs outlets for global brands, including Hugo Boss and Burberry, and in 2019 bought the British toy shop Hamleys.

Reliance Jio is India's second-largest telecom operator, with more than 360 million subscribers.--BBC

Rail fares rise by 2.7%, hitting millions of commuters

Millions of commuters will have to pay an average of 2.7% more for train tickets from today.

The rise, announced by industry body the Rail Delivery Group in November, is lower than the 3.1% increase at the start of last year.

Train companies say it is the third year in a row that average fares have been held below RPI - the inflation measure on which rises are based.

But many commuters face an increase of more than £100 for annual passes.

In Wales, fares have bucked the trend of rising prices in England and Scotland, with an average fall of 1% this year.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the government was committed to "putting passengers first", by funding trials for flexible fares, for example.

He said he planned to tackle the "fragmented" system and had begun the process to end the franchise for the rail service Northern, whose performance was "completely unacceptable".

A final decision on the Northern franchise is expected in a "matter of weeks", according to BBC transport correspondent Tom Burridge, as passengers said they would be "very happy" to see it end.

Mr Shapps told BBC Breakfast that the fare increases enabled investment in the railways that would yield improvements. "You can judge me on this at the end of the year," he said.

"These changes are going to take time but I think people will see things moving in the right direction."

But Labour's shadow transport secretary, Andy McDonald, said the rise showed passengers were "once again paying more for less under the Tories".

Independent watchdog Transport Focus says fewer than half of train journeys (47%) are rated as satisfactory value for money by passengers.

The watchdog's director, David Sidebottom, said: "After a year of pretty poor performance in some areas, passengers just want a consistent day-to-day service they can rely on and a better chance of getting a seat."

He encouraged passengers to claim compensation for eligible delays in order to "offset" the cost of fare rises.

However, Robert Nisbet, director of nations and regions for Rail Delivery Group, said rail companies were investing in improving journeys while holding fare increases below inflation.

He said 2020 will see 1,000 extra weekly services and 1,000 more carriages added to Britain's rail fleet.

"There is a record level of investment going into the railway at the moment," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"For people who do suffer from poor punctuality in areas of the country, that could be for a variety of different reasons, we apologise. We are looking at trying to make punctuality much better across the board," he said.

Official statistics show that just over one in three trains failed to arrive on time in July, August and September 2019, although that figure was an improvement on the previous year.

Passenger complaints

About 40% of annual rail price rises are regulated by governments in England, Scotland and Wales. They are pegged to the Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation measure for the previous July. Other fare rises are decided by train companies.

RPI inflation was 2.8% last year.

But RPI inflation is generally higher than the most widely watched measure of inflation, the Consumer Prices Index (CPI).

Are UK train fares the highest in Europe?

Where does your train fare go?

Passenger groups have repeatedly called for the system to be changed since RPI inflation was abandoned by the UK Statistics Authority as a national statistic in 2013.

Emily Yates, a freelance writer from Brighton who co-founded the Association of British Commuters, said the annual rises feel like "Groundhog Day" and a "complete charade".

"Every year, we ask for a fares freeze, the government says no, and the rail industry defends the decision," she said.

Protests will be held against the fare increase on Thursday, including a demonstration outside London King's Cross station.

The rallies come as the Trades Union Congress (TUC) releases research suggesting fares have risen by twice as much as wages in the last 10 years.

The TUC said someone earning an average salary in the UK would have to spend 16% of their wages for a season ticket from Chelmsford to London (£511 a month), but similar commutes would cost 2% of the average salary in France, and 4% in Germany and Belgium.--BBC

INVESTORS DIARY 2020

Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

Companies under Cautionary

Bindura Nickel Corporation

Padenga Holdings

Delta Corporation

Meikles Limited

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Cellphone:      <tel:%2B263%2077%20344%201674> +263 719 441 674

Alt. Email:              <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> info at bulls.co.zw 

Website:                <http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bulls.co.zw&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNH8LYgdY55h-XKseuM8Kpr-JKdfhQ> www.bulls.co.zw

Blog:                      <http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bulls.co.zw%2Fblog&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFoIy6F9IXAiYnSoPSgWDYsr8Sqtw> www.bulls.co.zw/blog

Twitter:                 @bullsbears2010

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Skype:                  Bulls.Bears 

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