Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 07 September 2020

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 07 September 2020

 


 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

 


 

 

ü  Crime agency under fire over bank signature forgery

ü  Coronavirus: More train services restored as schools reopen

ü  Mystery seeds: Amazon bans foreign plant sales in US

ü  HS2 rail project work begins with pledge of 22,000 jobs

ü  MTN takes challenges against Ghana market regulator to Supreme Court

ü  China’s exports boomed in August, as trade surplus with the US widened by
27 per cent

ü  SoftBank falls 6% as Nasdaq ‘whale’ strategy unnerves traders

ü  Asian markets mixed as China export data offsets impact of Wall Street’s
retreat

ü  Exxon ditches its South African exploration projects

ü  Oil drops more than $1 after Saudi price cuts, demand optimism fades

ü  Asian shares on fragile footing amid elevated valuations, oil skids

ü  First Abu Dhabi Bank to restart talks on Bank Audi's Egypt unit -sources

ü  Malawi's economy to shrink 1.9% in 2020, president says

ü  South African franchise restaurant chain Spur to further defer interim
dividend payment

 

 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

Crime agency under fire over bank signature forgery

The National Crime Agency is facing criticism for failing to investigate
reports alleging that banks forged signatures and fabricated evidence in
court actions to repossess homes.

 

MPs urged the NCA a year ago to investigate the matter following a BBC News
investigation.

 

The NCA has received at least 19 boxes of evidence relating to 362
incidents.

 

But anti-corruption campaigners and MPs say victims haven't been contacted
and no investigation has been started.

 

The NCA says it is making a "thorough assessment" of the material submitted
to determine whether a criminal investigation was necessary.

 

"We are continuing to assess the material, including additional information
supplied in May 2020," said an NCA spokesman.

 

"Together with partners in the FCA and SFO, we are making a thorough
assessment to determine whether there are grounds for a criminal or
regulatory investigation."

 

Government-owned bank 'forging signatures' in repossession cases

MPs call for inquiry into alleged forgery of signatures

In July 2019, an investigation by the BBC set out evidence of signature
forgery on court documents used by banks and their representatives to
repossess.

 

Handwriting experts confirmed that in many cases sent to the NCA, signatures
used over the same name could not have been signed by the same person; and
that the same signature had been signed over different names.

 

Following the BBC investigation, the Treasury Committee urged the NCA to
investigate the matter.

 

MPs say the extensive documentation submitted to the NCA supports
allegations, denied by the banks, that evidence has been fabricated or
concealed in court actions to recover personal and business debts.

 

But anti-corruption campaigners say not a single complainant has been
contacted by the NCA among hundreds of victims.

 

'We have been to hell and back'

In one example, Anna Britton, 49, from Portishead, was forced to sell her
home and move back with her two daughters to her parents' two-bed flat after
a dispute with a bank over business debts.

 

The three had to share a room and were homeless for more than three years.
Anna says the trauma led to her then-12-year-old daughter becoming severely
anorexic.

 

"We have been to hell and back. When I realised that I'd been put through
that using a fabricated document, you think - you gave me 12 weeks to sell
my house. You sold my furniture, you sold my clothes, you sold my children's
teddies. You left us with one bag each of clothing. You've destroyed every
hope and dream we had.

 

"I've watched my daughter being tube-fed. She was hospitalised for three
months, her heart rate was at 33, her sugar levels dangerously low - we
almost lost her. She's now 14 and still recovering from what she's been
through."

 

As the bank pursued the business debts through the courts, it relied on a
personal guarantee document which Anna says she never signed. Personal
guarantees allow banks to pursue individuals' personal assets, including
their family homes, to repay debts owed by a business.

 

No original was produced of the personal guarantee document. Instead the
bank's lawyers produced what they said was a photocopy of the original
document, showing a £47,000 personal guarantee dated 26 October 2012,
appearing to bear her signature.

 

Ms Britton says the signature must have been photocopied and pasted on from
other paperwork. The document was purportedly witnessed by her financial
adviser.

 

However, after the judgment against her had been given, the financial
adviser confirmed that he had stopped working for her by that date - and had
flown to Spain on 21 October for a two-week holiday. Flight tickets proved
that he could not have been present on the date the document was signed.

 

Like many defendants in bank disputes, Anna couldn't afford legal
representation and instead represented herself, eventually losing her case
against the bank's highly-paid team of solicitors and barristers.

 

'There has to be a proper criminal investigation'

Since the Treasury committee's letter to the NCA last year, it has received
19 box files of documentary evidence accumulated by the Bank Signature
Forgery Campaign to support customers' allegations, which they say amounts
to serious, organised criminal activity which must be investigated.

 

Yet campaigners say in the year since then, the NCA has failed to contact
any of the victims to investigate their claims, ignoring calls to act from
anti-corruption campaigners including Thames Valley Police and Crime
Commissioner, Anthony Stansfeld.

 

"I find it extraordinary that the NCA has received so much detailed evidence
of forged documents and signatures by banks. They were asked by the Treasury
Committee over a year ago to investigate this but they have never even
embarked on an investigation," he told the BBC.

 

"And to talk about making an 'assessment' is an excuse they keep giving. You
can't 'assess' for 15 months. There has to be a proper criminal
investigation."

 

In a letter to the NCA last year, the Treasury committee urged the NCA to
engage personally with the online pressure group, the Bank Signature Forgery
Campaign, which has accumulated a large body of documentary evidence
suggesting forgery and fabrication by banks and their representatives in
repossession actions.

 

The campaign's founder, former KPMG partner Julian Watts, says NCA director
general Lynne Owens has repeatedly withdrawn from four pre-arranged
appointments to discuss the evidence.

 

"The NCA seems to be ignoring calls from the Treasury committee and our
local police and crime commissioner to investigate the forgery of
signatories at banks," said MP and Treasury committee member Steve Baker.

 

"These forgeries could have cost my constituents and people across the
country their homes. It's really important for faith in our institutions
that the National Crime Agency gets on and investigates these very serious
allegations.

 

"But the NCA hasn't investigated properly. That is not good enough and I'm
calling on the NCA either to investigate now - or to explain why not."

 

Asked for a statement about the evidence, the bank trade body, UK Finance
said: "Forgery is a criminal offence and banks will continue to be vigilant
against such types of fraud.

 

"We urge anyone with evidence of forgery taking place to report it to their
bank as well as the relevant authorities."--BBC

 

 

 

 

Coronavirus: More train services restored as schools reopen

More train services in England, Wales and Scotland will run from Monday as
schools reopen and people are encouraged to return to work.

 

The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators and Network Rail,
says around 90% services will be running.

 

Rail passenger numbers are now back to about one-third of pre-pandemic
levels.

 

Operators "want people to feel confident taking the train", said Rail
Delivery Group boss Jacqueline Starr.

 

"Rail companies are doing everything they can to ensure people start the
term with a smooth journey, including boosting cleaning, providing sanitiser
at stations and offering better information about busy services," she added.

 

Train operators across the country have designed the new timetable, taking
into consideration potentially busy stations and parts of routes that will
experience higher demand for travel by schoolchildren.

 

Where possible, more frequent services will be put on or extra carriages
added to create more room.

 

Staff will also be on hand to explain the rules on wearing face coverings
and maintaining social distancing to older children.

 

"Some train times will change so we're asking people to check before they
travel and plan their journeys for quieter times if possible," said Ms
Starr.

 

Over the coming weeks, rail bosses have a delicate balance to strike.

 

They want more passengers back on the network, but they don't want a flood
of commuters crowding trains and stations.

 

Up to now, passenger numbers have remained low - on average, about a third
of what it was before the pandemic.

 

The railways are not going back to where they were before the pandemic. Some
services won't return. But in places, at certain times, more capacity will
be created.

 

During the pandemic, the government has been covering the huge cost of
running the railways without passengers.

 

So there is also a financial incentive for ministers that passengers return.

 

Train companies are now working to manage passenger flows by warning people
if a particular service is busy.

 

Some modern trains, like those running on Southeastern and on Govia
Thameslink, can monitor the weight load in carriages, allowing them to
estimate the number of people on board.

 

Southeastern plans to share the data with passengers so they can avoid a
specific train.

 

The Rail Delivery Group said that reducing the timetable during the
coronavirus lockdown and then gradually increasing services again in phases
had led to improvements in punctuality.

 

In particular, train operators and Network Rail had learned lessons about
the effects of "wear and tear" on railway infrastructure, the effects
"knock-on delays" caused to intensely used routes, and the time trains take
at each station.

 

Call to return to work

At the end of August, the government launched an advertising campaign
encouraging people to go back to the workplace.

 

Business leaders have warned of damage being done to city centres as people
stay away from offices.

 

However, many employers have no plans to return workers to the office.

 

The BBC questioned 50 big employers ranging from banks to retailers to get a
sense of when they expected to ask employees to return to the office.

 

One of the main reasons given for the lack of a substantial return was that
firms could not see a way of accommodating large numbers of staff while
social distancing regulations were still in place.--BBC

 

 

 

Mystery seeds: Amazon bans foreign plant sales in US

Amazon says it has banned foreign sales of seeds in the US after thousands
of Americans received unsolicited packets of seeds in the mail, most from
China.

 

The online retail giant told the BBC that it will now only allow the sale of
seeds by sellers based in the US.

 

US officials said gardeners should not plant seeds of unknown origin.

 

The packages are believed to be part of a global "brushing" scam to gain
positive reviews for online selling sites.

 

Amazon's new guidelines, in effect since 3 September, also prohibit the sale
of seeds within America by non-US residents. It added that sellers may be
banned if they do not follow the new guidelines.

 

But the retailer has not confirmed if its ban will extend to other
countries.

 

News of the policy change was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

 

At least 14 plant species have been identified among the mystery packages,
including mint, lavender and roses.

 

Unsolicited seed packages are also being reported in other countries,
including the UK. Last month Scottish authorities advised people not to
handle the seeds, for fear they could damage local ecosystems.

 

In an update on 11 August, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said
experts analysing the seeds found few problems with them, and that China was
assisting with investigations.

 

But the USDA has warned people against planting the seeds, saying they could
be non-native species or carry pests and diseases.

 

So-called "brushing" scams involve sellers sending out low value items such
as seeds or rings. Each fake "sale" then generates an online review that
appears to boost the seller's legitimacy.--BBC

 

 

 

HS2 rail project work begins with pledge of 22,000 jobs

Construction work on HS2 officially begins on Friday, with companies behind
the controversial high-speed rail project expecting to create 22,000 jobs in
the next few years.

 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said HS2 would "fire up economic growth and
help to rebalance opportunity".

 

He endorsed the rail link in February, with formal government approval
granted in April despite lockdown.

 

But critics said HS2 will also cost jobs, and vowed to continue protesting.

 

HS2 is set to link London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. It is hoped the
20-year project will reduce passenger overcrowding and help rebalance the
UK's economy through investment in transport links outside London.

 

HS2 Ltd chief executive Mark Thurston said the reality of high-speed
journeys between Britain's biggest cities had moved a step closer.

 

When the project was mooted in 2009, it was expected to cost an estimated
£37.5bn and when the official price tag was set out in the 2015 Budget it
came in at just under £56bn.

 

But an official government report has since warned that it could cost more
than £100bn and be up to five years behind schedule.

 

Some critics of HS2 describe it as a "vanity project" and say the money
would be better spent on better connections between different parts of
northern England. Others, such as the Stop HS2 pressure group, say it will
cause considerable environmental damage.

 

When will HS2 open and how much will it cost?

The prime minister said HS2 was at the heart of government plans to "build
back better" and would form "the spine of our country's transport network".

 

"But HS2's transformational potential goes even further," he added. "By
creating hundreds of apprenticeships and thousands of skilled jobs, HS2 will
fire up economic growth and help to rebalance opportunity across this
country for years to come."

 

HS2's main works contractor for the West Midlands, the Balfour Beatty Vinci
Joint Venture, has said it expects to be one of the biggest recruiters in
the West Midlands over the next two years.

 

Up to 7,000 skilled jobs would be required to complete its section of the
HS2 route, it said, with women and under-25s the core focus for recruitment
and skills investment.

 

Other firms hiring include:

 

Another joint venture partner, EKFB, said it would recruit more than 4,000
people over the next two years for its section from Long Itchington Wood
site in Warwickshire south to the Chiltern tunnel portals

Skanska Costain Strabag, Balfour Beatty Vinci Systra, Align JV and Mace
Dragados JV, based in Greater London, will collectively recruit more than
10,000

HS2 Ltd itself is already directly recruiting for 500 new roles over the
next three months, with the majority based in Birmingham.

HS2 Ltd's Mr Thurston said the railway would be "transformative" for the UK.

 

"With the start of construction, the reality of high speed journeys joining
up Britain's biggest cities in the North and Midlands and using that
connectivity to help level up the country has just moved a step closer," he
added.

 

Campaign group Stop HS2 said Boris Johnson and others who hail the creation
of 22,000 jobs are "rather less keen to mention that HS2 is projected to
permanently displace almost that many jobs".

 

Stop HS2 campaign manager Joe Rukin said: "Trying to spin HS2 as a job
creation scheme is beyond desperate. Creating 22,000 jobs works out at
almost £2m just to create a single job."

 

But speaking on the BBC's Breakfast programme, Transport Secretary Grant
Shapps disputed those figures.

 

"I can't see how there's an argument that making it easier to get about this
country is somehow going to destroy jobs, quite the opposite in fact. It's
clearly going to make the economy level up", he said.

 

"Find those left behind areas, that have found themselves too disconnected
before and join it together."

 

Stop HS2 chairwoman Penny Gaines called the project "environmentally
destructive" to wildlife: "This is why there are currently hundreds of
activists camped out along the HS2 route. We don't expect them to go away
any time soon."

 

However, the Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP), which fights for
investment in the regional economy, said such major infrastructure projects
are transformative and called for the planned extensions of HS2 to be
started as soon as possible.

 

"Increasing capacity on the North's rail network and better connecting our
towns and cities will be vital in the economic regeneration of the Northern
Powerhouse - both now and long in the future," said Henri Murison, director
of the NPP.

 

Same dispute, new arguments

This is an important symbolic move for HS2, but in the real world it changes
very little.

 

Work preparing for the new line - demolishing buildings and clearing sites
for example - has already been going on for the past three years. And in
some areas, construction work has also begun.

 

But the arguments over whether or not the railway should actually be built
are continuing to rage.

 

The government has long insisted that it will help re-balance the country's
economy, by promoting investment outside London. It now says the jobs
created by the scheme will support the post-Covid recovery.

 

But opponents claim that lockdown has undermined the case for HS2 - by
showing how easily people can work remotely, and how little business travel
is really needed.

 

Same dispute, new arguments. But now shovels are - officially - in the
ground.

 

The government has also defended itself against criticism that the new line
will no longer be needed, as people travel less as a result of the
coronavirus pandemic.

 

Mr Shapps acknowledged more people are working at home, but said the
government was looking at the country's long term transport needs:

 

"We're not building this for what happens over the next couple of years or
even the next 10 years, whilst we're building it. We're building this, as
with the west coast and the east coast main lines, for 150 years and still
going strong.

 

"I think it actually shows a lot of faith in the future of this country," he
added.—BBC

 

 

MTN takes challenges against Ghana market regulator to Supreme Court

ACCRA (Reuters) - MTN’s unit in Ghana said on Saturday that it had sought
review from the Supreme Court after a high court this week dismissed its
challenge to a move by the telecommunications regulator aimed at exposing it
to greater competition.

 

In June, the National Communications Authority (NCA) designated MTN a
significant market power, a move that requires the regulator to take
corrective action.

 

 

 

China’s exports boomed in August, as trade surplus with the US widened by 27
per cent

China’s disjointed trade recovery continued in August, with exports growing
for the third successive month, but imports continuing to disappoint.

 

Exports surged by 9.5 per cent from a year earlier, but imports fell by 2.1
per cent compared with August 2019.

While the overall trade surplus narrowed, China’s trade surplus with the
United States rose 27 per cent in August from a year earlier, South China
Morning Post calculations show.

 

Exports were better than the 7.5 per cent median growth forecast by a poll
of analysts conducted by Bloomberg, and well ahead of July’s 7.2 per cent
growth, which in itself was much higher than expected.

 

This was the highest monthly export growth figure since March 2019, when
exports surged by 14.2 per cent.

But imports shrank for the second month in a row in August from a year
earlier, and were worse than the Bloomberg median forecast of 0.2 per cent
growth. This was also down from minus 1.4 per cent in July and means China’s
imports have only grown in one month this year, June.

 

The country’s trade balance narrowed to US$58.93 billion, from US$62.33
billion in July. This shows that the gap between export growth and import
growth remains significant and poses an ongoing headache for policymakers in
Beijing.

 

The gaping trade surplus has come to be a defining factor of China’s
recovery from the coronavirus shutdown, which has been powered by exports
and investment, rather than a significant rise in consumption.

August shipments to the United States jumped 20 per cent from a year earlier
to US$44.8 billion, while imports of US goods rose by 1.8 per cent to
US$10.5 billion.

 

China reported a trade surplus of US$34.2 billion with the US in August, up
27 per cent from a year earlier. This was also wider than the US$32.46
reported in July.

 

The sluggish pickup in imports comes despite efforts made by China to meet
the terms of the phase one trade deal and in a month when there were
near-daily large purchases of soybeans and corn.

 

“It has really picked up since the start of July,” said Darin Friedrichs,
commodity analyst at StoneX in Shanghai, who pointed to “fast-paced”
purchases of both soybeans and corn. “So while we’re not on track to reach
the dollar value goals, the purchases of bulk commodities have increased
pretty dramatically in the past two months.”

Even so, Reuters reported last week that while US exports of soybeans to
China have increased, sales between January and July 2020 were the lowest
since 2004, and while August’s volumes have bounced back with an 18 per cent
rise year on year, they are the lowest since 2008 if last year was excluded.

 

China has opened multiple fronts on an increasingly tense trade stand-off
with Australia, which is the most China-reliant economy in the world. It has
slapped bans and tariffs on barley shipments, opened anti-dumping and
countervailing duty investigations into Australian wine exports, as well as
putting partial bans on Australian beef.

 

Australia and China cooperation too valuable for 'nonsensical' decoupling

This saw China’s purchases of Australian goods plunge 26.2 per cent from a
year earlier, even as exports to Australia jumped 24.4 per cent, The Post’s
calculations show. This means China’s trade deficit with Australia narrowed
by 48.1 per cent year-on-year in August to just US$4.3 billion in August.

 

It is widely suspected that the motivation for these trade actions are
political. Australia’s government has been among the most vocal proponents
of an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, which was
first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

 

The strength in exports had been telegraphed in last week’s official
manufacturing purchasing managers’ index, in which sentiment around new
export orders rose to 49.1 in August from 48.4 in July.

 

As with previous months, exports of medical devices remained strong, growing
38.4 per cent to US$1.04 billion in August from a year earlier. Exports of
electronic goods were up 11.8 per cent to US$137.9 billion from a year
earlier, marking a continuing trend where the shipment of goods popularly
used in lockdown help buoy China’s trade economy.-scmp

 

 

 

SoftBank falls 6% as Nasdaq ‘whale’ strategy unnerves traders

Shares in SoftBank fell more than 6 per cent in Tokyo on Monday morning
after weekend revelations that the Japanese conglomerate was the mystery
“whale” that had driven US technology stocks to record highs.

 

The Financial Times reported on Sunday that the group’s trading strategy
meant it was now sitting on gains of about $4bn after founder Masayoshi Son
drove aggressive bets on equity derivatives.

 

Traders in Tokyo said the report had helped crystallise the perception among
some investors that SoftBank’s behaviour as a company increasingly resembled
that of a hedge fund, populated with former investment bankers with a
massive appetite for risk. 

 

SoftBank shares fell 5.4 per cent in the first half hour of trading before
continuing their decline later in the morning session, while the benchmark
Nikkei 225 was almost flat. Before the Monday fall, the stock had gained 33
per cent since the start of the year.

 

The slide in SoftBank shares followed two days of declines on the Nasdaq at
the end of last week.

 

It also came on the heels of warnings from Nomura’s Japan equity strategist,
Yunosuke Ikeda, that the early part of September could usher in a broader
sell-off of tech stocks in Tokyo as institutional investors return from
vacation and unload stocks left overvalued by summer options purchases by
individuals.

 

Fund managers said retail investors, which make up 30 per cent of SoftBank’s
shareholder registry, reacted particularly negatively to the company’s
latest shift in investment strategy. 

 

ExplainerUS equities

‘What just happened?’ ask bruised tech investors

 

“For institutional investors who understand how options trades work, many
don’t anticipate a major impact on SoftBank’s earnings,” said Naoki
Fujiwara, a fund manager at Tokyo-based Shinkin Asset Management. But retail
investors who back SoftBank “are worried the derivatives trades will lead to
major losses again”. 

 

SoftBank’s high-risk strategy has been built up over the past few months,
according to people with direct knowledge of the matter, during which time
the group spent about $4bn on options premiums focused on individual US tech
stocks. 

 

In total, it has taken on notional exposure of about $30bn using call
options — bets on rising stock prices that provide the right to buy stocks
at a preset price on future dates. Some of this position has been offset by
other contracts bought as hedges.

 

SoftBank has declined to comment.

 

While SoftBank’s huge derivatives bet on selected US stocks has worked for
now, leaving the Japanese group with large albeit as yet unrealised profits,
a continued pullback in equity markets could erode returns. 

 

Meanwhile, analysts in SoftBank’s home market warned of the heightened
sensitivity in certain parts of the Tokyo Stock Exchange to a broader rout
of US technology stocks.

 

Over the summer, Japanese retail investors have piled into tech and game
stocks, pushing the smaller-cap Mothers market to a two-year high. Analysts
say many of those names could now be vulnerable.-ft

 

 

 

Asian markets mixed as China export data offsets impact of Wall Street’s
retreat

 

Asian markets were mixed in early trading Monday, following a sharp selloff
on Wall Street last week.

 

Japan’s Nikkei 225 NIK, -0.22% dipped 0.3% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index
HSI, +0.02% gained 0.1%. The Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -0.15% declined 0.2%
while the smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite 399106, -0.25% retreated 0.2%.
South Korea’s Kospi 180721, +0.73% rose 0.7%, while benchmark indexes in
Taiwan Y9999, +0.19% , Singapore STI, +0.14% and Indonesia JAKIDX, -0.05%
were mixed. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 XJO, +0.09% were little changed.

 

Stocks in Hong Kong and mainland China improved after the release of data
that showed China’s August exports were stronger than expected from the
prior year, after another strong increase in July.

 

Shares of Chinese chip maker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.
981, -19.91% tumbled about 20% in Hong Kong trading after a Wall Street
Journal report that the Trump administration is considering placing export
restrictions against it, as it has with fellow chip maker Huawei
Technologies.

 

U.S. markets are closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday. Last week, the
tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite COMP, -1.26% saw a 3.3% weekly decline, its
largest since March, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.56%
fell 1.8% and the S&P 500 SPX, -0.81% lost 2.3%.

 

“We view the latest selloff as a bout of profit-taking after a strong run,”
said Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management,
in a note Friday.

 

“Stocks have had a nervy start to trading Monday after the massive two-day
slide for global equities since June left investors on edge,” Stephen Innes,
chief global markets strategist at AxiCorp, wrote in a note Monday. “In the
short-term, more so with U.S. markets closed today, it should remain an
extremely choppy affair, with bounces likely being sold by design.”

 

In energy trading, U.S. benchmark crude CLV20, -1.08% fell to $39.34 a
barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent
crude BRNX20, -0.91% , the international standard, slipped to $42.30 a
barrel.

 

The dollar USDJPY, +0.02% inched up to 106.29 Japanese yen from 106.24 yen
Friday.  -marketwatch

 

 

 

Exxon ditches its South African exploration projects

Exxon Mobil, the world's largest listed oil and gas company, has given up
its rights to continue exploring oil and gas off South Africa.

 

The company had been exploring off the coast of KwaZulu-Natal, and also owns
rights in blocks close to the Brulpadda find, off the coast of Mossel Bay.

 

A spokesperson from the US giant confirmed to Business Insider SA that Exxon
closed its local venture office in late-July. While Exxon didn’t want to
confirm the details, Energy Voice reported that it is giving up three
exploration licences.

 

“This decision is consistent with our strategy to evaluate our upstream
portfolio and opportunities for growth, restructuring or divestment, or exit
depending on fit with strategic business objectives,” an Exxon Mobil
spokesperson told Business Insider.

 

In July, Exxon Mobil suffered a $1.1 billion quarterly loss due to much
weaker energy demand amid the pandemic. It is planning large spending cuts,
including layoffs across the world, Business Insider first reported. 

 

While it decided to give up on exploration projects in South Africa, the
decision does not impact the company’s downstream and chemical business in
South Africa, the spokesperson said.

 

“Future investment opportunities in South Africa will be evaluated as they
arise.”

 

Before leaving the country in 1986 amid apartheid, the company was active in
South Africa for many years – it built the country’s first lubricants
blending plant in 1955.

 

It returned in the 2000s, and Engen was first awarded the rights to market
Exxon Mobil’s lubricants in the region.

 

In 2012, Exxon Mobil announced that it would become an operator of the
Tugela South Exploration Right, which spans more than 9,000 square
kilometres from Durban to Richards Bay.

 

At the time, this was seen as a risk as no big discoveries had been made in
that area.

 

It also bought stakes in the Outeniqua Basin off the south coast of South
Africa, close to the Brulpadda find which Total now believes can deliver 1
billion barrels of gas condensate.--businessinsider.com

 

 

 

Oil drops more than $1 after Saudi price cuts, demand optimism fades

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices dropped more than $1 a barrel on Monday,
hitting their lowest since July, after Saudi Arabia made the deepest monthly
price cuts for supply to Asia in five months as optimism about demand
recovery cooled amid the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Brent crude LCOc1 was at $41.75 a barrel, down 91 cents or 2.1% by 0000 GMT,
after it earlier slid to $41.51, its lowest since July 30.

 

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 skidded 91 cents, or 2.3%, to $38.86
a barrel. Front-month prices initially hit a low of $38.55 a barrel, a level
not seen since July 10.

 

The world remained awash with crude and fuel supplies despite OPEC+ supply
cuts and government efforts to stimulate the global economy and oil demand,
forcing refiners to rein in output and producers to make deep price cuts
again.

 

“With the Labour Day (holiday) in the U.S. officially marking the end of the
summer driving season, investors are also facing up to the fact that demand
has been lacklustre, while inventories remain at elevated levels,” ANZ
analysts said in a note.

 

The world’s top oil exporter Saudi Arabia cut the October official selling
price for Arab Light crude it sells to Asia by the biggest margin since May.
Asia is Saudi Arabia’s largest market by region.

 

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies
including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, eased production cuts from August
to 7.7 million barrels per day after global oil prices improved from
historic coronavirus-linked lows.

 

The recovery in oil prices has also encouraged some U.S. drillers to return
to the wells.

 

U.S. energy firms last week added oil and natural gas rigs for the second
time in the past three weeks, according to a weekly report by Baker Hughes
Co (BKR.N) on Friday.

 

 

 

Asian shares on fragile footing amid elevated valuations, oil skids

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian shares were on the defensive on Monday as investors
grappled with sky-high valuations against the backdrop of a global economy
in the grip of a deep coronavirus-induced recession while oil prices dropped
sharply.

 

Chinese stocks started lower while shares of Hong Kong-listed Semiconductor
Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) plunged to the lowest since June 16
on fears the firm could be added to a U.S. trade blacklist.

 

China’s blue-chip index slipped 0.3%.

 

Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.2% with SoftBank coming under heavy selling following
media reports it has spent at least $4 billion buying call options on listed
U.S. technology stocks.

 

Australian shares, which had opened in the red, reversed losses to be up
0.1, while South Korea added 0.7%.

 

That left MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan up a
tad after two straight days of losses toppled it from a 2-1/2-year peak last
week.

 

World shares hit a record high last week as central bank stimulus drove
asset valuations to heady levels. The rally has since cooled as tech stocks
sold off while worries over patchy economic recovery dogged investors.

 

Also weighing on the outlook, data showed China imports fell 2.1% in August
from a year earlier, confounding expectations for a 0.1% increase, in a sign
of sluggish domestic demand. Exports jumped by a larger-than-expected 9.5%.

 

E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 slipped 0.1% and Nasdaq futures slid 0.7%.
U.S. markets will be closed on Monday for the Labour Day holiday.

 

Nasdaq futures were dragged lower by the exclusion of Tesla from a group of
companies that were being added to the S&P 500.

 

Analysts at Jefferies expect the equities market correction to extend
further.

 

“Our risk indices have begun to turn from their euphoria highs,” Jefferies
said.

 

“It is not unthinkable that global equities are set to churn in a range for
a while as some of the orphan sectors/countries are refranchised while the
richly valued sectors pause or unwind,” it added.

 

“On the balance of probabilities, last week’s correction has further room to
go.”

 

Jefferies said it was switching its weighting on MSCI All World index to
“tactically bearish” in the short term.

 

It noted that a gauge of volatility has nudged higher in the past three
months alongside a steepening in the U.S. 10-year to 5-year Treasury yield
curve as well as the 30-year to 5-year curve.

 

“We wonder how much moves in both would upset the equity market,” Jefferries
said.

 

Later this week, investors will look for data on U.S. inflation with both
producer and consumer prices expected to remain mostly steady.

 

“With slack in the labour market and broader economy to remain for years,
it’s hard to see where sustainably higher inflation will come from,” Brown
Brothers Harriman said in a note.

 

“That said, the bottom line is that U.S. rates will stay lower for longer.
Full stop.”

 

In commodities, oil prices dropped more than $1 a barrel, hitting their
lowest since July, after Saudi Arabia made the deepest monthly price cuts
for supply to Asia in five months.

 

Fading optimism about demand recovery amid the coronavirus pandemic also
hung heavy. U.S. crude fell 1% to $39.36 a barrel. Brent crude skidded 0.8%
to $42.30.

 

 

Policy meetings at the Bank of Canada on Wednesday and the European Central
Bank the following day were also on investors’ radar, with both expected to
keep policy steady.

 

Action in the forex market was muted.

 

In currencies, the dollar was flat against the yen at 106.28 ahead of a
heavy week of macroeconomic data with figures on household spending, current
account and gross domestic product due on Tuesday.

 

The euro held at $1.1838 while the British pound was 0.3% weaker at $1.3241
ahead of a new round of Brexit talks with the European Union on Monday.

 

 

 

First Abu Dhabi Bank to restart talks on Bank Audi's Egypt unit -sources

CAIRO/DUBAI (Reuters) - First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) plans to restart talks to
buy the Egyptian business of Lebanon’s Bank Audi, two sources familiar with
the matter said.

 

FAB, the United Arab Emirates’ biggest lender, will have an internal meeting
this week to decide on a way to resume negotiations and put in a final bid,
said one of the sources, declining to be named as the matter is not public.

 

A second source said FAB planned to restart negotiations within two weeks.

 

FAB declined to comment. A spokesperson for Bank Audi said it had not been
contacted by FAB regarding the matter.

 

FAB put talks on hold in May due to difficult market conditions triggered by
the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

A source familiar with the matter said then that the deal was worth around
$700 million.

 

Gulf lenders are keen to expand their market share in Egypt, the Arab
world’s most populous country. Some Lebanese lenders are trying to sell
assets to fulfil a requirement from Lebanon’s central bank to increase their
equity.

 

Emirates NBD, Dubai’s largest lender, is currently in talks to buy the
Egyptian unit of Lebanon’s Blom Bank.

 

 

 

Malawi's economy to shrink 1.9% in 2020, president says

LILONGWE (Reuters) - Malawi’s economy will contract 1.9% this year because
of instability caused by a presidential election re-run and the COVID-19
pandemic, President

Lazarus Chakwera said in a state of the nation address on Friday.

 

Chakwera unseated former leader Peter Mutharika in a June 23 re-run election
after the 2019 polls were overturned by a court, citing irregularities.

 

The power transition was cheered by pro-democracy activists and many of the
southern African country’s 18 million citizens.

 

Addressing lawmakers in parliament, Chakwera said public debt had risen to
4.1 trillion Malawi kwacha ($5.53 billion), or 59% of gross domestic
product.

 

He repeated promises to crack down on corruption, saying it was holding back
economic growth.

 

“The success of Malawi’s economy going forward, ... we will not tolerate
corruption nor will we interfere in the affairs of institutions fighting
corruption, we will observe the rule of law in order to provide
predictability of the political and economic environment,” he said.

 

($1 = 741.1100 kwacha)

 

 

 

South African franchise restaurant chain Spur to further defer interim
dividend payment

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African franchise restaurant chain Spur
Corporation said on Thursday it will further defer payment of its 2020
interim dividend in order to preserve cash during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Spur, with more than 600 restaurants across South Africa, the rest of
Africa, Mauritius, Australasia and the Middle East, had notified
shareholders at the beginning of the nationwide lockdown in March that it
would defer payment until Oct. 5.

 

Since the reopening of its restaurants and easing of some restrictions, Spur
said it is confident that the group’s current cash reserves will be
sufficient for the foreseeable future as trading recovers.

 

However, paying the dividend would significantly reduce the group’s
available cash reserves and would result in a cash deficit should more
stringent trading restrictions be re-imposed price drop price drop or
current restrictions be extended over the long term.

 

Spur will make a further announcement regarding payment after it reassess
the solvency and liquidity test before it publishes its interim results in
March 2021, it said.

 

The solvency and liquidity test requires the board to consider all
reasonably foreseeable financial circumstances of the company at the time of
making the assessment.

 

Following the total prohibition of restaurant trading in April, Spur’s
franchised restaurant sales declined by 85.7% for May and by 79.0% for June,
as restaurants were restricted to deliveries only in May and to deliveries
and takeaways in June.

 

Trading has steadily improved since the beginning of May, although still
significantly down on pre-lockdown levels, it said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


 


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.

 


 

 


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