Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 11 October 2020

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 11 October 2020

 


 

 


 <http://www.finsec.co.zw/> 

 


 

 


 

 

ü  Wall Street Week Ahead: U.S. earnings improvement expected, but still a
weak quarter

ü  Take Five: Banks, bottom lines, Brexit

ü  Trump steel tariffs bring job losses to swing state Michigan

ü  Freeport does a balancing act as world's biggest gold mine grapples with
COVID-19

ü  Air Canada slashes Transat buyout price by nearly 75% as COVID-19 hits
traffic

ü  Apple's new 5G iPhone may see coverage issues in U.K.: Telegraph

ü  Daimler labour chief urges lawmakers to promote car charging

ü  Audi says plant in Mexico remains open, debt dispute denied by company

ü  U.S. should try to delay IPO of China's Ant Group, Senator Rubio says

ü  Twilio to buy cloud customer data startup Segment for $3.2 billion:
Forbes

ü  Canada's struggling hospitality businesses face 'perfect storm' as
insurers flee

ü  Nigeria: Recall 2021 Proposed Budget - Atiku to Buhari

ü  Nigeria: FG is Making Efforts to Put Nigeria on World Mining Map -
Minister

ü  Nigeria: Farmers Will Reap Benefits of Our Policies - Buhari

ü  Nigeria: Gombe Governor Begs Buhari to Begin Oil Exploration in North

ü  Kenya: Jambojet Begins Intercounty Direct Flights From Mombasa to Kisumu
and Eldoret

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 <http://www.nedbank.co.zw/> 

 


 

Wall Street Week Ahead: U.S. earnings improvement expected, but still a weak
quarter

NEW YORK (Reuters) - While good business news has been in short supply,
investors may take slight comfort in coming weeks from U.S. corporate
earnings that are likely to be bad, but not as bad as they have been.

 

Analysts expect third-quarter S&P 500 earnings to have fallen 21% compared
with the year-ago quarter, a big improvement from second-quarter’s 30.6%
drop that was most likely the low point for earnings this year because of
coronavirus-fueled lockdowns, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

 

Earnings reporting will get rolling next week with results from some of the
big U.S. banks, likely impacted by near record low interest rates and the
pandemic-induced recession. JPMorgan & Co. JPM.N and Citigroup C.N both
release results on Tuesday.

 

Overall, S&P 500 quarterly results tend to beat analysts’ cautious
expectations, and they could do that even more than usual this reporting
season, strategists said. In a break from the typical trend, guidance from
U.S. companies has been more positive than negative and estimates have been
improving in recent weeks to reflect more upbeat guidance.

 

Whether that will be enough to support stocks in the weeks ahead is up for
debate.

 

“Very rarely in the last 10 years have we seen earnings estimates moving
higher after a quarterly reporting season,” said Art Hogan, chief market
strategist at National Securities in New York.

 

“That’s a very good sign. It’s a sign there’s a strong possibility this
quarterly earnings season is now going to be better than expected,” he said.
“The only problem is, now that we’ve entered the fourth quarter, a lot of
the economic indicators are plateauing.”

 

That could weigh on fourth-quarter guidance and overshadow some of the
better-than-expected results, he said.

 

Data this past Thursday on U.S. jobless claims was among the latest to
underscore the view the labor market recovery was struggling to gain
momentum, with coronavirus cases continuing to rise.

 

Earnings season comes as the nation also prepares for the Nov. 3 U.S.
presidential vote, which lands in the middle of one of the heaviest weeks of
profit reporting. That, along with focus on prospects for additional fiscal
stimulus from Washington, could overshadow earnings news.

 

Companies that have reported so far on the quarter have not seen much cheer
from investors, despite their much stronger-than-expected results, some
strategists have noted.

 

“Firms that reported Q3 already have declined 1% on average despite the big
beats, suggesting the bar is much higher for investors,” UBS strategist
Keith Parker wrote in a note.

 

U.S. stocks registered sharp gains for the third quarter, but they fell in
September in the first monthly decline since March, when the coronavirus
began its rapid spread across the United States.

 

Among the sectors, earnings from the S&P 500 energy sector .SPNY are
expected to have declined the most, with a projected 115% year-over-year
drop, based on Refinitiv's data.

 

The consumer discretionary sector .SPLRCD, which includes some of the
companies most heavily impacted by coronavirus lockdowns such as those in
retail, travel and tourism, is slated to post a 34% year-over-year decline
in earnings, Refinitiv's data showed.

 

But analysts expect earnings from the S&P 500's heavyweight sector,
technology .SPLRCT, to decline just 0.5% from a year ago in the third
quarter, the smallest decline among all sectors.

 

“Admittedly, things are better than they were at the end of June,” wrote
Tobias Levkovich, Citi’s chief U.S. equity strategist.

 

But with many uncertainties surrounding the pandemic, treatments, the U.S.
election and the economy, “forward guidance will be crucial, and we suspect
C-suites may stay guarded,” he said.

 

 

 

Take Five: Banks, bottom lines, Brexit

After U.S. Q2 results beat expectations, Q3 will show whether dire forecasts
for companies’ bottom lines were justified.

 

Most sectors will again show steep drops in earnings but it should be less
dramatic than the previous quarter; expectations are for an average 21%
decline, versus the 31% contraction of Q2, when coronavirus-linked lockdowns
decimated economic activity.

 

Energy companies are seen faring worst, with earnings down 115% from a year
ago, according to Refinitiv. Tech earnings are predicted to fall just 0.5%
percent.

 

Banks -- Citi and JPMorgan report on Tuesday -- may see earnings slip 19% on
average but there is hope that after two quarters of hefty provisioning
against bad loans, potential loan losses have mostly been covered.

 

Bets on a spending boost from any incoming administration -- Democrat or
Republican -- has seen record shorts build up in long-dated Treasury futures
and a jump in long yields has pushed the gap between five-year and 30-year
borrowing costs to the widest since 2016.

 

Curve steepening isn’t bad news if it signals higher growth and inflation,
yet for an economy recovering from recession, too quick a move is a threat
and a headache for the Fed.

 

It hasn’t committed to capping yields or buying bonds of any particular
maturity. But further steepening might test its patience. Fed research
suggests bond holdings may need to rise another $3.5 trillion to boost the
economy. Policymakers speaking in coming days will certainly be quizzed on
that.

 

With a UK-imposed Oct. 15 deadline for a post-Brexit EU trade deal upon us,
there are signs a bare-bones agreement is taking shape. But is the endgame
really in sight?

 

Negotiators warn of a huge amount of textual work even if a deal is struck.
Another report suggests the EU is preparing for negotiations to last until
mid-November. Several sticking points still remain.

 

The EU’s Oct. 15-16 summit will evaluate the progress. Sterling is on the
rise meanwhile, but even if a deal is struck, the ebb and flow of Britain’s
new relationship with the EU may continue to hold markets hostage.

 

China returns to work on Monday after a week of rest and, hopefully,
recreation.

 

Policymakers and investors will have fresh trade and credit data to weigh up
in coming days. But they will also scour railway bookings, box office sales
and petrol usage to gauge how consumers spent during vacation. With
consumption is still a soft spot in an otherwise remarkable post-COVID
rebound, a spending leap could offer a second wind for the economy.

 

One early indicator might be traffic. Back at last year’s levels for the
first time since the outbreak, it’s a hint that Chinese travellers are out
and about, but preferring private transport.

 

Each year, up to 10,000 policymakers, business people, NGOs and journalists
congregate in downtown Washington for the semi-annual IMF/World Bank
shindigs. This year, meetings are virtual but there is still pressing
business at hand.

 

More than 100 countries have requested IMF help; demand for support could
reach $100 billion. One issue is a possible extension of the G20’s Debt
Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) for poor countries. Extending that by
six months would provide another $6.4 billion of relief, rising to $11.4
billion if it runs to end-2021.

 

But amid warnings 100 million people could fall into extreme poverty, World
Bank President David Malpass wants banks and investors to also provide
relief to DSSI countries. He may face opposition, with many arguing of
defaults that could bar countries from borrowing for years to come.

 

 

 

Trump steel tariffs bring job losses to swing state Michigan

CHICAGO(Reuters) - President Donald Trump promised a new dawn for the
struggling U.S. steel industry in 2016, and the lure of new jobs in
Midwestern states including Michigan helped him eke out a surprise election
win.

 

 

Four years later, Great Lakes Works - once among the state’s largest steel
plants - has shut down steelmaking operations and put 1,250 workers out of a
job. A year before the June layoffs, plant owner United States Steel Corp
called off a plan to invest $600 million in upgrades amid deteriorating
market conditions.

 

Trump’s strategy centered on shielding U.S. steel mills from foreign
competition with a 25% tariff imposed in March 2018. He also promised to
boost steel demand through major investments in roads, bridges and other
infrastructure.

 

But higher steel prices resulting from the tariffs dented demand from the
Michigan-based U.S. auto industry and other steel consumers. And the Trump
administration has never followed through on an infrastructure plan.

 

Michigan’s heavy reliance on the steel and auto industries puts Trump’s
trade policy in sharp focus ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election in
this battleground state. Democrats say they aim to recapture the votes of
blue-collar workers they lost to Trump four years ago - one key factor in
his victory over Hillary Clinton. Trump won Michigan by less than one
percent of the statewide vote total. The competition for the votes of
often-unionized manufacturing workers - who historically have voted
Democratic - will be just as fierce in the battleground states of Wisconsin
and Pennsylvania, political analysts say.

 

Biden leads Trump in Michigan by 8 percentage points, according to a
Reuters/Ipsos state opinion poll of likely voters conducted from Sept. 29 -
Oct. 6, widening his lead from a few weeks earlier.

 

Nationally, the steel industry has been shedding jobs for the past year -
since before the wider economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic -
and now employs 1,900 fewer workers than it did when Trump took office,
according to U.S. Labor Department data. (For a graphic on steel jobs, click
tmsnrt.rs/2SRIEaF)

 

While the tariffs failed to boost overall steel employment, economists say
they created higher costs for major steel consumers - killing jobs at
companies including Detroit-based automakers General Motors Co and Ford
Motor Co. Nationally, steel and aluminum tariffs resulted in at least 75,000
job losses in metal-using industries by the end of last year, according to
an analysis by Lydia Cox, a Ph.D. candidate in economics at Harvard
University, and Kadee Russ, an economics professor at the University of
California, Davis. In all, they estimated, the trade war had caused a net
loss of 175,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs by mid-2019.

 

In Michigan, steelmakers have served layoff notices to nearly 2,000 workers
since the tariff took effect, according to a Reuters analysis of the notices
steel companies filed with the state. The state’s primary metals
manufacturing industry, which includes iron and steel mills, employed about
7,300 fewer workers in August than in March 2018, when Trump announced metal
tariffs, according to data from Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

 

The steel-industry setbacks account for just a fraction of the job losses in
Michigan’s manufacturing sector - which now employs 55,100 fewer workers
than it did when Trump took office in January 2017, U.S. Labor Department
data shows. The state’s automotive industry accounted for 35% of the
manufacturing job losses, according to the St. Louis Fed.

 

Whether such statistics will change swing-state voters’ minds remains to be
seen. Bill Wischman, a financial manager at a Ford manufacturing facility in
Plymouth, Michigan, says Trump has done more to protect U.S. manufacturing
than any of his predecessors.

 

“He has given a whole-hearted effort,” said Wischman, 51, a Republican who
voted for Trump in 2016.

 

Bob Kemper, grievance committee chairman at Great Lakes Works’ chapter of
the United Steelworkers (USW) Union, put the blame squarely on Trump for the
job losses.

 

“I don’t see any policy that helped us,” said Kemper, who is backing Biden.
“We are losing our damn jobs here.”

 

The 1.2 million-member United Steelworkers (USW) Union, which represents
U.S. manufacturing workers in many industries, supported Clinton in the last
election and will again back the Democrat this time. Kemper acknowledged
that many of his co-workers voted for Trump in 2016 but says that support
has diminished along with the fortunes of Michigan’s steel industry.

 

Trump made similar 2016 campaign promises to revive the ailing coal industry
by rolling back environmental regulations. But that industry’s employment
has dropped 9% since 2016, to about 46,000, as 66 coal plants - nearly a
fifth of the U.S. total - have closed. The economic losses come despite the
administration’s moves to ease restrictions including limits on carbon
emissions and dumping coal waste into streams.

 

The Republican party in Michigan did not respond to requests for comment.
White House Trade and Manufacturing Policy Director Peter Navarro did not
answer questions from Reuters on the data showing job losses in steel and
manufacturing.

 

When U.S. Steel idled Great Lakes Works, which primarily serves the
automotive industry, it cited weak demand, lower steel prices and a new
corporate strategy to invest in more cost-efficient technology. In May,
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc said it was closing its hot strip steel mill and some
other operations in the Detroit area and laying off 343 workers. It cited
“rapidly deteriorating business conditions.”

 

A Cleveland-Cliffs spokeswoman did not answer questions about the impact of
Trump’s trade policy on its business.

 

U.S. Steel defends Trump’s tariffs. Company spokeswoman Meghan Cox said the
policy helps “ensure the strength of America’s steelmaking capacity during
this pandemic.”

 

The firm’s shares have plunged about 82% since the beginning of March 2018 -
the month Trump announced steel tariffs - compared with a 28% increase in
the S&P 500 during the same period. U.S. steel prices are now 33% below
their peak in May 2018 but remain 21% higher than the global market price
because of tariffs - a gap that hurts the competitiveness of U.S. companies
who fashion products from domestic steel.

 

“No matter what the tariff is, you cannot sell something if there is limited
demand,” said Ned Hill, a professor of economic development at the Ohio
State University.

 

‘THRIVING’ ENTERPRISE

 

Trump said at a Pennsylvania rally in August last year - as steel companies
were grappling with falling demand and prices - that his tariff has turned a
“dead” business into a “thriving” enterprise.

 

The tariffs did initially benefit companies including U.S. Steel and Nucor
by limiting competition and boosting prices. In late 2018, U.S. Steel
workers secured a cumulative 14% wage increase over a four-year period.

 

The tariffs also led to investment, said Jeff Ferry, chief economist at the
Coalition for a Prosperous America, a bipartisan trade group. Older
coal-fired plants such as Great Lakes Works closed because of outdated
technology, he said.

 

“We are not doing this to save individual jobs” in the short term, Ferry
said of the tariffs. “If you grow the industries, in the long term,
headcount will grow.”

 

That’s little comfort to the workers laid off from Great Lakes Works, who
have found it harder to get new jobs amid the pandemic, Kemper said. The
twin cities of Ecorse and River Rouge - which depended heavily on tax
revenue from the plant - are also hurting, the cities’ mayors said. Ecorse
used to collect up to $6 million in property taxes from the mill - or half
its revenue, said Mayor Lamar Indwell, a Democrat.

 

Many Democrats have supported steel tariffs. The Biden campaign did not
respond to a request for comment on its steel trade policy. In a statement
to USW in May, Biden said steel tariffs would remain until a global solution
to limit excess production - largely in China - can be negotiated.

 

USW also supports tariffs but says the Trump administration undermined the
policy by granting requests from steel-using U.S. manufacturers to exempt
their imports - eliminating the advantage for domestic steel.

 

TARIFF HITS MICHIGAN AUTO FIRMS

The tariffs had a profound impact on steel consumers, industry experts say.
All three Detroit automakers - General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler
Automobiles NV - have closed a plant in Michigan since January 2018,
according to Kristin Dziczek, vice president of industry, labor and
economics at the Center for Automotive Research. Both General Motors and
Ford reported $1 billion each in increased steel cost in 2018.

 

GM declined to comment on the tariffs’ impact. A Ford spokeswoman said the
automaker faced higher raw material costs in 2018 because it buys 95% of its
steel from domestic suppliers. While raw steel prices have since come down,
Ford’s manufacturing costs are still elevated because of U.S. tariffs on
Chinese-made auto parts, she said. Retaliatory tariffs from China have also
cut Ford’s vehicle exports to that country.

 

Companies further down the auto supply chain have also felt the impact of
Trump’s trade policy.

 

Jeff Aznavorian, head of Michigan-based Clips & Clamps Industries, buys
steel from U.S. mills to make metal and tool parts for Japanese and
Detroit-based automakers. He said his company has lost contracts worth up to
$3.6 million in the past two years. Competitors making parts in Canada and
Mexico now have an advantage, he said, because steel costs have been lower
in those countries.

 

Aznavorian said he may move some of his business overseas.

 

“I need to be in a place where I can buy raw material at a competitive
price,” he said.

 

 

 

 

Freeport does a balancing act as world's biggest gold mine grapples with
COVID-19

SINGAPORE/HOUSTON (Reuters) - When miners at Indonesia’s giant Grasberg gold
and copper mine started testing positive for coronavirus early in the
pandemic, the mountain-top mining complex was quickly locked down with a
skeletal staff left in place to maintain production.But as months of travel
curbs dragged on, angry workers blockaded the mine for four days in August
until the operator - a unit of U.S. miner Freeport McMoRan Inc - relented
and let them resume weekly rotations out of the site via a four-hour trek by
cable car and bus to towns below.

 

Now the workers are happier, but health experts fear the greater risk of a
new outbreak.

 

The tensions expose the balancing act to maintain output at full blast,
while containing COVID-19 in mines like Grasberg, the world’s largest gold
mine and second-largest copper mine.

 

“We’ve put the priority and the health of our workers and community at the
top of our list,” Freeport McMoRan Chief Executive Richard Adkerson told
Reuters. “From the outset, we recognized that (Grasberg) was a particularly
vulnerable place due to the size of the workforce” of nearly 30,000 people.

 

While Freeport has halted some global operations due to the pandemic,
production has continued at the 14,000 foot (4,267 metre) -high Grasberg
mine despite Indonesia facing one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in
Southeast Asia.

 

In May, Freeport said it would operate with a “skeletal team” because of a
rise in coronavirus cases in the area, including at the workers’ living
quarters. Freeport said at the time it was limiting contractors and removing
“high-risk” workers but did not specify how many people would be working at
the mine.

 

But the lockdown took a psychological toll on the workers stuck above the
clouds at the site since April, some of whom said that they were unable to
attend funerals of family members.

 

“We were frustrated, we wanted to see our families. So we had to protest,”
said a worker, speaking from a dormitory shared with four others. He asked
not to be named due to fears of losing his job.

 

Workers who were kept from working the mine were also unhappy because of
lost wages.

 

RISK OF SECOND WAVE?

Grasberg is located in Papua province’s Mimika regency, which has seen a
steady rise in coronavirus cases. As of Oct. 8, there had been 1,902 cases
in a population of about 224,000, the second-most infected area in
Indonesia’s easternmost province.

 

Five people have died of COVID-19 at the mine with 724 confirmed cases as of
Sept. 29, according to Mining Industry Indonesia, the state company holding
a majority stake in Freeport Indonesia.

 

Since the protests, workers have returned to a weekly crew-change roster,
the local company PT Freeport Indonesia said, with about 400-500 workers
leaving and entering the mine daily after temperatures checks and a rapid
COVID-19 test.

 

If a rapid test is positive, this would be followed up by a Polymerase Chain
Reaction (PCR) test, which experts consider far more accurate.

 

Before the pandemic, twice as many workers would enter and leave the mine
daily, Freeport Indonesia said.

 

Adkerson said Freeport is treating its employees for coronavirus free of
charge at its own medical facilities.

 

Tri Yunis Miko Wahyono, an epidemiologist at the University of Indonesia,
said crew changes should be less frequent to limit the risk of spreading the
virus.

 

“The shortest crew change should be two weeks unless a company is willing to
pay for PCR tests for every worker every week,” he said.

 

But that strategy keeps workers on site longer, adding to potential friction
with the company.

 

“EVERYONE WANTS US TO KEEP WORKING” To help resolve the protests, Freeport
Indonesia paid workers compensation of up to 15 million rupiah ($1,010) for
working longer than usual, although it said it did not have responsibility
for contractors, who make up nearly three quarters of the 29,201 workers.

 

A Freeport contractor said by telephone he had not received any payment yet,
but the issue was being discussed with management and there were no plans
for more protests.

 

Freeport is one of Indonesia’s biggest taxpayers, with direct contributions
of more than $16 billion in taxes, royalties, dividends and other payments
between 1992 and 2015, according to company data.

 

The mine is also crucial for Freeport McMoRan, the world’s largest publicly
traded copper producer, which made a profit in the second quarter partly due
to higher production at Grasberg.Operations at the Indonesian mine are
expected to ramp up even further as it transitions from open pit to
underground mining.

 

“Everyone wants us to keep working. The government does, the community does,
it’s important for all stakeholders. Even, in the U.S., mining is considered
essential,” said Adkerson.

 

 

 

 

Air Canada slashes Transat buyout price by nearly 75% as COVID-19 hits
traffic

(Reuters) - Air Canada AC.TO has slashed its price to buy Canadian tour
operator Transat A.T. Inc TRZ.TO, with the deal now worth about C$188.7
million ($143.86 million), down from C$720 million, as COVID-19 weighs on
travel demand, the companies said in a statement on Saturday.

 

The country’s largest carrier had secured Transat shareholders’ approval for
the deal last year with an C$18.00 a share bid, to bolster its then thriving
leisure business.

 

But with the pandemic grounding flights globally, Air Canada faced
shareholder pressure to renegotiate the deal which is still pending approval
from European and Canadian regulators, Reuters reported in May.

 

Montreal-based Air Canada, like many of its global peers, has slashed
flights, suspended financial forecasts and sought government aid as the
industry deals with its worst slump.

 

Companies have been cancelling deals amid COVID-19 uncertainty, with
aircraft parts suppliers Hexcel Corp HXL.N and Woodward Inc WWD.O abandoning
their planned $6.4 billion all-stock merger in April.

 

Under revised terms of the deal, Air Canada said it will acquire all shares
of Transat for C$5 per share, representing a premium of about 30.5% to
Transat’s last close on Friday.

 

“Air Canada intends to complete its acquisition of Transat, at a reduced
price and on modified terms,” said Calin Rovinescu, the carrier’s chief
executive officer, in a statement.

 

“Consummating the initial deal at $18.00 was not an option that was viable
given the full set of circumstances the Corporation is facing,” Jean-Yves
Leblanc, chair of the special committee of the board of Transat said in a
statement.

 

As part of the deal, Transat has also secured a new C$250 million short-term
loan facility, Transat said.

 

 

 

Apple's new 5G iPhone may see coverage issues in U.K.: Telegraph

(Reuters) - Apple Inc's new 5G iPhone may see coverage issues in the United
Kingdom, The Telegraph newspaper reported bit.ly/33KGEXG late on Saturday,
citing industry insiders.

 

The iPhone, which Apple is due to launch on Tuesday, may not connect to the
700MHz 5G band, the newspaper reported. Lower spectrum bands such as 700MHz
are used to extend the coverage of phone networks, allowing signals to reach
more remote areas and extend far beyond antennas.

 

 

 

 

 

Daimler labour chief urges lawmakers to promote car charging

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - European lawmakers should promote electric car
charging infrastructure as aggressively as they seek to lower carbon dioxide
emissions, Michael Brecht, works council chief at German carmaker Daimler,
told Reuters.

 

Carmakers have warned that European Commission proposals to cut average new
car emissions in 2030 by 50% below 2021 levels threaten manufacturing jobs,
which are heavily dependent on assembling combustion engine cars.

 

Overall demand for cars could suffer if ownership of electric vehicles was
not made more attractive with more readily available charging networks,
Brecht said.

 

“The political establishment should not decide on a green deal to tighten
carbon dioxide emission limits unconditionally,” Brecht told Reuters. “There
has to be a master plan for ramping up charging infrastructure. There are
lots of small initiatives but there is nobody bringing it all together.”

 

Earlier this week, the European Parliament voted in favour of a legally
binding target for the European Union to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by
60% by 2030.

 

“Fundamentally its a good strategy, but ramping up electric mobility is
problematic. We will not end up with the same number of employees,” Brecht
warned.

 

Brecht said the carmaker has reviewed its strategy to free up resources to
retool its factories and retrain workers to build low emission cars.

 

 

 

 

Audi says plant in Mexico remains open, debt dispute denied by company

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A Mexican auto plant belonging to German carmaker
Audi NSUG.DE remains open and did not close following a dispute over unpaid
bills that the firm denies, as was reported by local media, an official with
the company told Reuters on Saturday.

 

The plant is located in the central state of Puebla. Media had reported
officials from the local municipality shut the facility on Friday after
several hours of failed talks to resolve a dispute over an alleged 90
million pesos ($4.3 million) in outstanding debts on items including local
property taxes and water bills.

 

“There was never any closure,” said Christine Kuhlmeyer, a communications
official with Audi Mexico.

 

“We comply on time with our obligations,” she added.

 

Asked about the figures circulating in local media about the allegation of
unpaid debts, Kuhlmeyer said she could not comment on any specific amounts,
but said plant representatives would be talking with state authorities on
Monday.

 

“There were efforts like what’s been reported in the news, but they weren’t
able to close the plant,” she said. Friday night and Saturday morning work
shifts were not interrupted, she added.

 

Audi is the luxury car unit of Europe's biggest carmaker, Volkswagen
VOWG_p.DE.

 

($1 = 21.1370 Mexican pesos)

 

 

 

U.S. should try to delay IPO of China's Ant Group, Senator Rubio says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator Marco Rubio, who has successfully urged the
Trump administration to pursue investigations of Chinese companies, called
on Friday for the U.S. government to consider options to delay an initial
public offering of China’s Ant Group, the fintech arm of Chinese e-commerce
giant Alibaba.

 

“It’s outrageous that Wall Street is rewarding the Chinese Communist Party’s
blatant crackdown on Hong Kong’s freedom and autonomy by orchestrating Ant
Group’s IPO on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges,” Rubio, a
Republican, said in a statement to Reuters.

 

“The Administration should take a serious look at the options available to
delay Ant Group’s IPO,” he added.

 

The Hong Kong leg of the IPO, part of a dual listing in Shanghai and Hong
Kong, is being sponsored by China International Capital Corp, Citigroup,
JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley. Credit Suisse is working as a joint global
coordinator. Goldman Sachs is also involved.

 

Ant declined to comment on Rubio’s remarks, but said its business was
primarily in China and it is excited about growth prospects there.

 

It was not immediately clear how the U.S. government could postpone the
listing of a Chinese company abroad. But Rubio’s remarks are a sign of
growing pressure among China hardliners in Congress, within the
administration and elsewhere, for President Donald Trump to sanction Ant
before it lists later this month.

 

Some fear the offering, worth up to $30 billion, could expose scores of U.S.
investors to fraud. Others fear it could give the Chinese government access
to sensitive banking data belonging to U.S. citizens.

 

“These digital payment systems are the source of well-founded national
security concerns, and the Trump administration should move to protect
American users’ sensitive financial data as quickly as possible,” Republican
Representative Jim Banks said in a statement when asked whether the
administration should impose sanctions on the company.

 

Ant is China’s dominant mobile payments company, offering loans, payments,
insurance and asset management services via mobile apps. Based in the
eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, Ant is 33% owned by Alibaba Group Holding
Ltd and controlled by Alibaba founder Jack Ma.

 

Ant’s Alipay payment platform, like Tencent’s WeChat’s platform, is used
primarily by Chinese citizens with accounts in renminbi. Most of its U.S.
interactions are with merchants accepting payment from Chinese travelers and
businesses in the country.

 

An anti-China advocacy group known as the Committee on the Present Danger:
China, whose membership includes hedge fund manager Kyle Bass and former
Trump strategist Steve Bannon, penned a letter to Trump last month calling
for the company to be added to a trade black list and the IPO to be delayed.

 

“We believe that the IPO should, at a minimum, be delayed to ensure
that...disclosures are faithfully done and properly evaluated as,
regrettably, a sizeable portion of the IPO proceeds will almost surely end
up in the investment portfolios of millions of retail American investors,”
the group said in the letter, dated Sept. 14.

 

The company could become the latest victim of a years-long technology battle
between Beijing and Washington that saw the Trump administration lash out at
such Chinese companies as telecoms giant Huawei and surveillance camera
maker Hikvision over everything from intellectual property theft, to
breaches of sanctions and human rights abuses.

 

Rubio was the first to publicly call for a probe into popular Chinese-owned
social media app TikTok by a powerful national security committee, which did
review it. The Trump administration ultimately banned the app, but a
court-imposed injunction pending review has kept the ban from going into
effect.

 

 

 

Twilio to buy cloud customer data startup Segment for $3.2 billion: Forbes

(Reuters) - Cloud communications platform provider Twilio Inc TWLO.N plans
to buy customer data infrastructure company Segment for $3.2 billion, Forbes
reported on Friday.

 

The deal, which had not been finalized as of Friday afternoon, was expected
to be at least partially based on Twilio stock, the report added, citing two
sources it did not name.

 

San Francisco-based Segment has recently been open to acquisition offers,
according to the report.

 

Twilio declined to comment to Reuters. Segment was not immediately available
for comment outside regular business hours.

 

Segment raised $175 million in a Series D funding round in April 2019. The
startup said in September that it worked with more than 20,000 businesses
including Intuit, FOX and Levi’s, employing more than 550 people.

 

Cloud companies have seen a surge in demand this year as more businesses use
their services to meet the demands of the switch to work from home due to
the coronavirus outbreak.

 

“Twilio is a beneficiary of pandemic-catalyzed digital transformation
acceleration,” brokerage JP Morgan said in a note this month.

 

Last week, Twilio estimated third-quarter sales above its previous forecast,
as the switch to remote working and learning boosted demand for cloud
services.

 

 

 

 

Canada's struggling hospitality businesses face 'perfect storm' as insurers
flee

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian hospitality businesses, already reeling from
the downturn sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, are facing yet another
existential threat as insurance companies spike premiums or exit the space,
citing losses and the sector’s risks.

 

Even before COVID-19, insurers globally were scaling back from riskier
businesses to improve performance. The pandemic’s profit hits have
accelerated the trend and led underwriters to exit from, or raise premiums
in, select categories.

 

Hospitality businesses, particularly those needing coverage for accidents
caused by alcohol-impaired clients, were already seen as higher risk, said
Karen Ritchie, vice president at Baird MacGregor Insurance Brokers and
president of the Toronto Insurance Council. The coronavirus exacerbated
that.

 

“It’s a perfect storm,” she said.

 

Many hospitality companies were already operating on razor-thin margins
before pandemic-driven lockdowns. An inability to access affordable
insurance could spell the end for them, given they are barely managing to
hang on amid distancing restrictions.

 

While these businesses carry the same risks as elsewhere, the Canadian
hospitality industry has faced a bigger hit due to a much smaller insurance
market dominated by Lloyd’s syndicates, Ritchie said. Far more domestic
insurers cover the space in countries like the United States, spreading out
risk, she said.

 

Lloyd’s is a marketplace that comprises various specialist insurers, or
syndicates, who write policies.

 

Lloyd's business volumes fell 8.6% in the first half of 2020, reflecting an
intentional reduction by several syndicates exposed to poorly performing
business segments, the group said in a statement here.

 

The Lloyd’s market lost 438 million pounds ($569 million), versus a 2.3
billion pound profit a year earlier, primarily driven by coronavirus-driven
losses.

 

‘I WOULD CLOSE’

 

Erik Joyal, co-owner of Ascari Hospitality Group in Toronto, was told last
month that his Hi-Lo Bar’s policy would not be renewed as his insurer, part
of Lloyd’s, was moving away from restaurants and bars.

 

His broker found a policy through another insurer at more than three times
his current C$9,000 annual premium, even though the restaurant had never
filed a claim.

 

“I would close the business before I signed on to that,” said Joyal, who is
continuing to search for an affordable policy.

 

Insurers, like other businesses, need profits, said Pete Karageorgos,
director of consumer and industry relations at the Insurance Bureau of
Canada.

 

And there is still capacity and affordable coverage available for businesses
that can show measures to minimize risks, he added.

 

Arron Barberian said his Harry’s Steak House in Toronto was dropped by his
insurance company, Groupone Insurance Services, although he paid premiums
when the business was shut.

 

Groupone declined to comment.

 

Barberian found a policy through Intact Financial Corp, which insures his
other Toronto restaurant, Barberian’s Steak House. While cheaper, it offers
slim, possibly inadequate, coverage, he said.

 

Intact’s underwriting criteria for restaurants haven’t changed, and it
continues to renew policies and write new ones, a spokeswoman said by email.

 

A Nova Scotia hotel owner, who said he was quoted a 50% increase in premiums
to renew his policy, also found more affordable coverage through Intact.

 

Even so, the owner, who declined to be identified as he is negotiating the
return of some premiums paid during the shut-down, said he is bracing for
thousands of dollars in additional expenses, as a change in insurers is
accompanied by an inspection and, often, demands for changes.

 

His previous insurer, Wawanesa Insurance, attributed the premium increase to
higher fire and storm-related losses even before the pandemic.

 

Despite limited ability to operate, "many bars and restaurants here still
had contractual obligations and real risk that needed to be insured and
insurance had to be maintained," said Andrew Clark, chief executive of
mortgage broker ALIGNED Insurance.

 

“The unfortunate reality is that the insurance companies aren’t willing to
insure some businesses right now and they don’t really have many other
options than to close,” Clark said.

 

 

 

 

Nigeria: Recall 2021 Proposed Budget - Atiku to Buhari

A former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has asked President Muhammadu
Buhari to recall the 2021 budget proposal he presented to the National
Assembly on Thursday, saying it contravenes Fiscal Responsibility Act.

 

Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the People's Democratic Party (PDP)
in the 2019 general election, in a statement on Friday night said the
President should recall the budget and recalibrate it to reflect the
provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007, and the current
economic realities of the nation.

 

He argued that doing otherwise would not only be unpatriotic but
catastrophic for the nation's economy.

 

"The budget deficit in the proposal is 5.21 trillion.

 

"This amount is just over 3.5% of Nigeria's 2019 GDP.

 

"This is contrary to the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007, which provides
in Part II, Section 12, subsection 1 that: 'Aggregate Expenditure and the
Aggregate amount appropriated by the National Assembly for each financial
year shall not be more than the estimated aggregate revenue plus a deficit,
not exceeding three per cent of the estimated Gross Domestic Product or any
sustainable percentage as may be determined by the national Assembly for
each financial year'."- Daily Trust.

 

 

 

 

Nigeria: FG is Making Efforts to Put Nigeria on World Mining Map - Minister

Mr Olamilekan Adegbite, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development says the
ministry is making efforts to put Nigerian mining sector back on the world
mining map.

 

Adegbite made this known during Pre-event of the 5th edition of the Nigeria
Mining Week on Friday in Abuja.

 

The Nigeria mining week digital event will hold from Oct. 12 to Oct. 16.

 

The annual gathering is aimed at providing support for the development of
the local workforce and the mechanisation of the industry and to facilitate
dialogue between private and public sector across the value chain.

Adegbite said that the ministry had been showcasing the potential of the
sector to the world to bring back its lost glory.

 

"I have been on few roadshows ever since I assumed office to promote the
sector's potential; the world now recognises Nigeria as a mining country,"
he said.

 

He said that the upcoming mining week would avail audiences all over the
world the opportunity to connect to the event virtually and bid for cadastre
to exploit available minerals.

 

He said that no fewer than 2,000 participants from all over the world would
participate in this year's mining week online, adding that there would be
interaction, workshops, question and answer and among others during the
event.

 

He said that this year's mining week would have been a special event, adding
that it was earlier planned to hold at the conference centre.

 

He said that the ministry had put in place enough measures to ensure the
event would be hitch free, calling on all interested participants to equip
gadgets such as computers and phones with enough bandwidth to connect to the
event.

 

On Zamfara government buying gold from its local miners, the minister said
that the plan was quite commendable and it was in right direction.

 

"The governor discovered that bandits were buying the minerals from
artisanal miners; the artisanal miners were selling gold to bandits at a
cheap rate, which the bandits were enjoying.

 

"I met with the governor to correct the impression that the gold does not
belong to the state as the governor portrait it but it belongs to the
Federal Government.

 

"All mineral resources in Nigeria belong to the Federal Government; mineral
resources in the country are on the exclusive list.

 

 

"Anybody, private company can buy any mineral they want, people are free to
buy mineral of their choice at any mineral buying centres established across
the country as far they meet the criteria attached."

 

Alhaji Kabir Kankara, the President, Miners Association of Nigeria (MAN)
said that the programme that started five years ago was to showcase and
promote the abundant minerals available in Nigeria to the world.

 

Kankara said there was nothing like diversification agenda on Nigerian
economy through the mining sector five years ago but the mining week events
had been able to connect Nigeria to other mining countries.

 

"We have learnt a lot through this programme from South Africa on mining and
from other mining countries; we are making headway to level up with other
mining countries."

 

Habeeb Jaiyeola, the Head, PriceWater Coopers (PwC) in Nigeria said that the
mining week had promoted the country's minerals since the inceptions of the
mining week event, adding that it had connected Nigeria to other mining
destination countries.

 

He said that since the mining week started, many countries had developed
interest to investing in the Nigerian mining industry.-Vanguard.

 

 

 

Nigeria: Farmers Will Reap Benefits of Our Policies - Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that Nigerian farmers stand to reap the
benefits of his government's reforms as he continues to accord the highest
priority to agriculture.

 

Malam Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and
Publicity, in a statement in Abuja on Friday, said Buhari stated this at a
meeting with Katsina State Elders Forum in Abuja.

 

The president, who described agriculture as the country's largest employer
of labour and engine of growth, said his administration would continue to
take steps to enhance output and productivity.

 

"This will be achieved by ensuring the availability of cheap agricultural
credits, farm inputs, fertiliser and the introduction of latest
technologies," the statement quoted Buhari as saying.

 

 

Buhari said the choice of practicing farmers as ministers in charge of
agriculture, first Chief Audu Ogbe and now, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, was a
reflection of his strong wish to protect the interest of farmers and the
attainment of national food self-sufficiency.

 

He agreed to look into the request of the elders for the expansion of
existing irrigation schemes at Zobe and Sabke dams to enhance employment and
profitability in agriculture.

 

He maintained that a situation in which 60 per cent of the state is
productive in rain-fed agriculture for three to four months, and idle for
the rest of the year, was unacceptable.

 

The president told the meeting that he had charged his ministers of
agriculture to work with the states to rediscover the lost animal grazing
routes and reserves as a means to ending the frequent outbreak of violence
between farmers and herders.

 

 

He also pressed the necessity of educating school-age children, declaring
that "once the opportunity of early education is lost, it often turns out
very difficult for them to make up.

 

"This is the best preparation we can give to them. We destroy their lives by
denying children education," he pointed out.

 

Buhari also broached the issue of armed banditry and kidnapping that had
bedevilled Katsina and other northwestern states, and said that the
situation was being tackled the same way the farmer-herders attacks were
subdued.

 

The leader of the delegation, Alhaji Aliyu Saulawa, who represented Alhaji
Ahmadu Kurfi, Chairman of the forum, commended the president for returning
peace to most parts of the state and for the various infrastructure
projects, especially the Kano-Jigawa-Katsina-Maradi rail link.

 

They welcomed the recent decision by government to elongate the service of
teachers and improve their conditions of service.-Vanguard.

 

 

 

Nigeria: Gombe Governor Begs Buhari to Begin Oil Exploration in North

Abuja — Gombe State Governor, Inuwa Yahaya, yesterday, at a closed-door with
President Muhammadu Buhari, appealed to him to prevail on the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and the Department of Petroleum
Resources, DPR, to begin oil and gas exploration in the Gongola basin.

 

The Governor also urged the President to come to the aid of the state in
order to resettle the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, as a result of the
Boko Haram onslaught and the ravaging flood that has affected two local
government areas in the state, displacing people and creating gully erosion.

 

 

Speaking with State House correspondents after the meeting, Governor Yahaya
said that oil and gas exploration in the area would trigger economic
activities and create jobs for the states in the region.

 

According to him, "With the discovery of oil and gas in Gombe and Bauchi
states, and specifically, in the whole of Gongola Basin, we seek to get the
support or the federal government, so the pressure will be mounted on the
Nigerian National Petroleum cooperation NNPC and the DPR for them to see to
the fact that the exploitation oil and gas deposit that is available in
Gombe and in fact the wider Gongola Bsin is encouraged so that economic
activities will be triggered, our people will have jobs and the Gombe will
join the league of oil producing states."

 

The Governor said that one of the reasons for the meeting with the president
was to show his solidarity over the way he (Buhari) has handed the COVID-19
pandemic, which he assured, would soon be a thing of the past.

 

He said, "My mission to Mr. President is to show solidarity and compliments
from the people of Gombe, especially from the way and manner he has been
able to shoulder the big responsibility of managing this country, especially
during the pandemic. We are even going out of the pandemic very
soon.-Vanguard.

 

 

 

 

Kenya: Jambojet Begins Intercounty Direct Flights From Mombasa to Kisumu and
Eldoret

Nairobi — Regional low-cost carrier Jambojet has commenced direct flights
from Mombasa to Kisumu and Eldoret.

 

The inaugural flight started last week with an introductory fare of Sh8,900
one way.

 

Speaking during the official launch at the Kisumu International Airport,
Jambojet Acting Managing Director, Karanja Ndegwa, noted that the direct
flights between Mombasa, Kisumu, and Eldoret will be key in connecting
business people and holidaymakers who wish to fly between the three
destinations with ease and convenience.

 

The direct flights will have a capacity of 73 passengers out of Mombasa and
a full capacity out of Kisumu and Eldoret routes.

 

The airline will operate the two routes every Friday and Sunday, with the
Mombasa, Kisumu, and Eldoret flight departing from Mombasa at 13.15 to
arrive in Kisumu at 15.55.

 

The flight will depart from Kisumu at 16.15 to arrive in Mombasa at 18.05.

 

Jambojet resumed operations in July after the COVID-19 break and currently
flies to all its local destinations namely Malindi, Ukunda, Mombasa, Kisumu,
and Eldoret from its hub in Nairobi.

 

The airline has also partnered with various players in the travel industry
and launched an ongoing campaign dubbed "Now Travel Ready" to encourage
domestic travel as the Country begins its COVID-19 recovery process.-Capital
FM.

 

 

 


 


 


Invest Wisely!

Bulls n Bears 

 

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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
Faith Capital (Pvt) Ltd for general information purposes only and does not
constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or
subscribe for any securities. The information contained in this report has
been compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but no representation or
warranty is made or guarantee given as to its accuracy or completeness. All
opinions expressed and recommendations made are subject to change without
notice. Securities or financial instruments mentioned herein may not be
suitable for all investors. Securities of emerging and mid-size growth
companies typically involve a higher degree of risk and more volatility than
the securities of more established companies. Neither Faith Capital nor any
other member of Bulls ‘n Bears nor any other person, accepts any liability
whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this report or its
contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith. Recipients of this
report shall be solely responsible for making their own independent
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.

 


 

 


(c) 2020 Web: <http://www.bullszimbabwe.com>  www.bullszimbabwe.com Email:
<mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> info at bulls.co.zw Tel: +263 4 2927658 Cell: +263 77
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