Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 11 March 2021

[Bulls n Bears]

 <https://bullszimbabwe.com/> 

 


 

 <http://www.bullszimbabwe.com> Bullszimbabwe.com
<mailto:info at bulls.co.zw?subject=View%20and%20Comments> Views & Comments
<https://bullszimbabwe.com/category/blogs/bullish-thoughts/> Bullish
Thoughts        <http://www.twitter.com/BullsBears2010> Twitter
<https://www.facebook.com/BullsBearsZimbabwe> Facebook
<http://www.linkedin.com/pub/bulls-n-bears-zimbabwe/57/577/72> LinkedIn
<https://chat.whatsapp.com/CF6wllAfScU9Wr6dXxoQnO> WhatsApp
<mailto:info at bulls.co.zw?subject=Unsubscribe> Unsubscribe

 


 

 


Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 11 March 2021

 


 

 


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

 


 

 


ü  Biden's $1.9tn Covid relief bill passes US Congress

ü  Covid vaccines to top the agenda at 'Quad' meeting

ü  Warren Buffett finally joins exclusive $100bn club

ü  M&S to sell clothes from rival brands to boost online sales

ü  Australians to be offered half-price flights to boost local tourism

ü  Roblox: How the children's game became a $30bn bet on the Metaverse

ü  Facebook asks judge to throw out FTC anti-trust lawsuit

ü  Heathrow says airport border queues at 'unacceptable level'

ü  Tomahawk Steakhouse returns 500 workers' pay loans

ü  Lego plans hiring spree for digital growth drive

ü  Asia stocks soar as receding inflation worries bolster confidence

ü  Analysis: Riding GameStop's resurgent rally - 'not for the faint of
heart'

ü  Exclusive: BP bets on energy trading to fund strategy shift after bumper
year

ü  HSBC toughens stance on fossil fuel funding after shareholder heat

ü  From Black Forest to Cologne, German towns fear Greensill losses

ü  Nigeria: Minimum Wage Bill - Labour Threatens to Shut Down Nigeria

ü  Malawian Youth Wipe Away Unemployment Tears With Agribusiness

ü  Nigerian Stock Exchange Becomes Public Company After 11 Years in the
Works

ü  South Africa: MEC Opens Up the Way for Mining in Protected Mpumalanga
Grasslands

 

 


 <https://www.facebook.com/Hyundaizimbabwe/> 

 


 

Biden's $1.9tn Covid relief bill passes US Congress

President Joe Biden's $1.9tn (£1.4tn) relief bill to help Americans deal
with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has cleared its final hurdle in
Congress.

 

The House of Representatives approved the massive economic aid plan 220-211
on Wednesday along partisan lines, with no Republicans voting in favour.

 

Having already passed through the Senate, the relief package now heads to Mr
Biden's desk to be signed into law.

 

This sixth Covid-19 relief bill is a major legislative win for Mr Biden.

 

The bill passed with all but one House Democrat voting in favour.

 

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said the president will sign the bill
into law on Friday.

 

The bill "is about giving the backbone of this nation - the essential
workers, the working people who built this country, the people who keep this
country going - a fighting chance" Mr Biden said.

 

He later vowed to share any surplus Covid-19 vaccines globally after
ensuring that Americans are immunised. "If we have a surplus, we're going to
share it with the rest of the world," he said.

 

What's in the bill?

The final bill includes one-off direct payments worth $1,400 to be sent off
to most Americans.

 

It extends weekly jobless benefit payments of $300 until September.

 

It also allocates $350bn to state and local governments, some $130bn to
school reopening, $49bn for expanded Covid-19 testing and research, as well
as $14bn for vaccine distribution.

 

A proposal to raise the national minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 per hour
became a sticking point in the Senate and did not make it into the final
version of the bill.

 

Who supported it?

The package has been broadly popular among Americans.

 

A March Pew Research Center poll found that 70% of US adults surveyed
expressed support for the bill, including 41% of Republicans.

 

Democrats - who control both chambers of Congress by narrow margins -
largely stuck together and managed to retain most of what was initially
proposed.

 

When announcing the so-called American Rescue Plan in January, Mr Biden said
the government needed to "go big" in order to boost the flagging economy.

 

America's worst public health crisis in a century has left more than 527,000
people dead and over 29 million infected.

 

Unemployment skyrocketed over the last year, with a current rate of 6.2%,
according to the US Labor Department.

 

Who opposed it?

Republicans in Congress objected to the bill's price tag.

 

They have called for various elements of the package to be smaller and more
targeted, including suggesting stimulus cheques should not go to people who
have not lost income in the past year.

 

"House Democrats have abandoned any pretence of unity," House Republican
Leader Kevin McCarthy said on the floor ahead of the vote.

 

"After five relief bills, it is on track to be the first passed by strictly
party lines."

 

He noted it was the most expensive single bill in US history.

 

Joe Biden just notched his first legislative victory. Now that the $1.9tn
Covid relief bill has cleared Congress, the new administration will have a
firehose of money to fight the economic and social consequences of the
pandemic.

 

How effectively and efficiently Biden's team distributes that aid will go a
long way toward determining the success of its first term.

 

If the record amounts of spending boost the economy - without overheating it
- the president could reap the political benefits of a revitalised nation.
And because Democrats enacted the legislation with no help from Republicans,
it may also prove to be an effective cudgel in upcoming elections.

 

The unilateral nature of the law's passage, however, comes at a cost.
Republicans are now dug in to their partisan trenches, and Biden's lofty
inaugural rhetoric of a new era of co-operation seems a distant memory.

 

Because of procedural maneuvres, Democrats were able to pass Biden's Covid
bill with a simple majority. Future legislative priorities will almost
certainly require some Republican support.

 

This massive relief package, which provides record amounts of support for
low-income families, is a significant accomplishment. Democrats have a lot
of work to do if they want any more such wins.

 

More than 32 million Americans have been fully vaccinated, either receiving
two jabs of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines or a single dose of the Johnson
& Johnson vaccine.

Alaska has become the first US state to expand eligibility for Covid-19
vaccines to all residents above the age of 16.

Texas lifts its statewide mask mandate and business capacity limits on
Wednesday, becoming the second state to do so after Mississippi.

Mr Biden announced Wednesday that the administration has secured 100m more
doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.--BBC

 

 

 

Covid vaccines to top the agenda at 'Quad' meeting

Supporting Covid vaccination rollouts is expected to top the agenda at a
leaders meeting of the Quad on Friday.

 

It will be the first meeting of all four Quad leaders since the US, Japan,
Australia and India first formed the group in 2007.

 

The group is often regarded as a counterweight to China’s growing
assertiveness in Asia.

 

However, the White House has indicated that traditional security concerns
might take a back seat at the meeting.

 

“We anticipate the meeting discussing a range of the crises we’re facing as
a global community — from Covid, to climate, economic cooperation,” said
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

 

The leaders are expected to announce new financing agreements to support an
increase in manufacturing capacity for vaccines in India, a senior US
administration official told Reuters.

 

The financing agreements will focus on companies and institutions in India
manufacturing vaccines for American drugmakers Novavax and Johnson &
Johnson.

 

The aim would be to reduce manufacturing backlogs, speed up vaccinations and
defeat some coronavirus mutations.

 

"The leaders will discuss regional and global issues of shared interest, and
exchange views on practical areas of cooperation towards maintaining a free,
open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region," an announcement from Indian Prime
Minister Narendra Modi's office said.

 

What is the Quad?

The Quad, which is shorthand for the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, is an
informal strategic forum for the four nations.

 

Although it was formed in 2007, it was on hiatus for nearly a decade after
Australia’s then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd withdrew Australia in 2008.

 

The group was resuscitated in late 2017 as the Trump administration ramped
up confrontation with Beijing.

 

The group has held semi-regular meetings, but this is the first time all
four national leaders have met.

 

Although the group is often regarded as an effort to contain China's growing
ambitions, official statements leading up to Friday’s meeting appear to have
said little about the country.

 

Nevertheless, Chinese state media has criticised the group.

 

The Global Times quoted Chinese experts who suggested that the Quad members
are likely to follow their own interests above the interest of the group,
rendering the alliance an “empty talk club”.

 

Even discussion of vaccines could bring the group’s interests into
competition with Chinese diplomatic initiatives.

 

China is also engaged in what some have described as vaccine diplomacy,
particularly in the Asia Pacific region.

 

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says the country has donated or will
donate vaccines to 69 developing countries in urgent need, and is exporting
vaccines to 43 countries.--BBC

 

 

 

Warren Buffett finally joins exclusive $100bn club

Warren Buffett has finally joined the exclusive $100bn (£72bn) club that
includes Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.

 

The 90-year-old is the chairman of investment firm Berkshire Hathaway, which
has seen its shares rise to a record level this year.

 

On Wednesday his net worth edged above $100bn for the first time.

 

Regarded as the world's most successful investor, Mr Buffett has given away
billions of his wealth to charity.

 

While Mr Buffett has been a fixture at the top of the world's wealth
rankings for decades, his personal fortune hasn't topped $100bn until now.

 

One reason is his sizeable charitable donations - he has given away more
than $37bn in Berkshire Hathaway stock since 2006.

 

 

Mr Buffett is a co-founder of the Giving Pledge, a campaign to encourage
billionaire philanthropy. Mackenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff
Bezos, has also signed up to the pledge and gave away more than $4bn of her
fortune in just four months last year.

 

The fifth member of the exclusive cohort is LVMH's Bernard Arnault and his
family.

 

Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerburg has just slipped out of the exclusive
ranks, according to the Forbes real-time billionaires list.

 

Mr Buffett's net worth comes almost entirely from owning about one-sixth of
Berkshire Hathaway, a roughly $600bn company.

 

Its share price is up 15% this year, surpassing $400,000 a share. The
investment firm had been struggling in recent years to find deals to spark
its growth given its sheer size.

 

The Omaha-based company is a major shareholder in Apple and other tech
stocks that have seen their values surge during the pandemic.

 

Berkshire Hathaway was a failing textile company before Mr Buffett took
control of it 1965. It now owns more than 90 businesses.--BBC

 

 

 

M&S to sell clothes from rival brands to boost online sales

M&S will start selling clothes from 11 rival brands on its website this
spring in a bid to boost its online sales.

 

Marks said the move to sell items from Hobbs, Joules, Phase Eight and White
Stuff from March was part of its ongoing "transformation programme".

 

An M&S spokesman said the move came as part of plans to "turbocharge online
growth".

 

Last year, M&S posted its first loss in its 94 years as a publicly-listed
company as Covid hit shop sales.

 

Online clothing and homeware sales were up 34% according to its latest
interim results, as losses across the business reached £87.6m in the six
months to 26 September.

 

The High Street stalwart is in the middle of a wide-reaching transformation
programme, which last year saw 7,000 job cuts across stores and management.

 

Other brands set to be marketed on the M&S website online from spring
include the menswear brand Jack & Jones and lingerie firm Sloggi.

 

They will appear alongside other M&S items, while its own 'Classics' and
'Limited' ranges are being cut.

 

The firm had already been experimenting with selling other brands on its
website, such as womenswear retailer Nobody's Child, which was the first to
launch last autumn.

 

Executives hope new labels will draw in customers that might not typically
shop with M&S, as well as offering existing customers something new.

 

Neil Harrison, director of brands at M&S, said: "The exciting mix will offer
our 22 million customers products we already know they love and introduce
them to some new brands."

 

This is a big shake-up for M&S fashion.

 

New tie-ups have been coming thick and fast these last few months giving
customers more choice. Up until last year, M&S only stocked clothing from
its own collections.

 

Now it's branching out with other brands to complement its own offer - and
it's a sensible move. So too is pruning its own, sometimes confusing,
fashion ranges.

 

This pandemic has wreaked havoc for retail but it's also creating
opportunities.

 

Take Next, a business which already had lots of third-party brands on its
website pre-pandemic. On Wednesday, it took a stake in Reiss, which will
allow the chain to use Next's online infrastructure.

 

Boohoo and Asos have also been snapping up High Street brands, like Karen
Millen and Topshop, as they try to attract a broader range of shoppers.

 

There's been quite a battle for brands this last year and M&S clearly thinks
that it's now taking a big, strategic, step in the right direction.

 

Although M&S said that there could also be "future opportunities" in UK
stores for some brands, its key focus in recent months has been on
overhauling its website amid rising competition from fast fashion firms such
as Asos and Boohoo.

 

The retailer recently announced that it will launch 46 new websites in
overseas markets from Iceland to Uzbekistan in order to grow its online
business.

 

In January it also confirmed that it had bought the Jaeger fashion brand,
but not its scores of shops and concessions.

 

Steve Rowe, chief executive of M&S, has previously said his goal is to
deliver long-term transformation and build a brand that is more digital "in
a world that will never be the same again".--BBC

 

 

 

Australians to be offered half-price flights to boost local tourism

Australians will be able to buy half-price flights to a dozen domestic
holiday spots under a new scheme to boost tourism, the government has said.

 

The list of subsidised destinations includes the Gold Coast, Cairns, the
Whitsundays, Alice Springs and Broome.

 

The government said the A$1.2bn (£670m; $930m) scheme aims to revive the
local tourism sector amid the pandemic.

 

That industry has been hardest hit by border closures and travel
restrictions since early last year.

 

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the package of 800,000 cheaper airfares -
to be offered between April and July - would encourage locals to visit other
parts of the country.

 

The government's "JobKeeper" wage subsidy scheme is to finish at the end of
March, but the tourism sector - usually reliant on international visitors -
still required support, Mr Morrison said.

 

"To keep people in their jobs, we've got to put planes in the air, and we've
got to put tourists on the ground," he told reporters at Sydney Airport on
Thursday.

 

But the Labor opposition has argued the package is "selective" and mainly
benefits airlines, pointing out there is no direct funding for tourism and
hotel operators.

 

Australia began its vaccine rollout scheme last month and has reported zero
locally acquired cases in the past fortnight.

 

For a year now, the nation has closed its borders to international arrivals
barring returning nationals and some exempted cases.

 

Since the pandemic began, Australia has reported about 29,000 cases and 909
deaths - numbers far lower than many other nations.

 

Despite this success, many Australians have been reticent to make travel
plans beyond their home state because of uncertainty over border closures.

 

Small outbreaks have often led to restrictions on movement, leaving people
stranded or with interstate holidays cancelled.

 

Airlines and travel representatives have largely welcomed the new subsidy
scheme.

 

However some have questioned the destinations chosen, given some are already
big tourism drawcards.

 

Labor has also noted the majority of them lie in seats with many swinging
voters. Australia could see a general election called as early as this year.

 

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese argued it was typical of the Australian
government to focus on the "electoral map" rather than "which areas needs
support most".

 

Others online criticised the government for funding local holidays while
tens and thousands of Australians remain stranded overseas.--BBC

 

 

 

Roblox: How the children's game became a $30bn bet on the Metaverse

David Baszucki, is about to become a very rich man, as his video-game
platform, Roblox, floats on the New York Stock Exchange, valued at a cool
$30bn (£21.6bn).

 

Already, he has bigger ambitions for the game, which he hopes can become the
centre of the so-called Metaverse - an online world not just for gaming but
for work and learning, too.

 

But what is the appeal of a title whose audience mainly consists of the
under-12s?

 

And can its future lie beyond games?

 

Gaming marketplace

Roblox is already the world's largest user-generated games site. Players use
core building components to create and share online worlds that anyone can
explore.

 

It is free to play, relying on purchases paid for in currency known as
robux.

 

Game-makers earn robux, which can be converted back into cash.

 

More than 1,250 developers earned at least $10,000 in robux in 2020. More
than 300 earned $100,000 or more.

 

The versatility of Roblox is a huge part of its success, thinks Louise
Shorthouse, a senior games analyst at Ampere Research.

 

"It is not just a game, it is a platform to create games," she explains.

 

"It is a bit of a marketplace where you can pick and choose whether you play
an adventure game, a shooter or a puzzle. And a lot of it is free to play,
which is good for children."

 

It is available on a variety of devices, from PCs and Xbox to apps on
iPhones and Android devices, allowing users to play each other regardless of
which machine they are using.

 

There's pent-up demand for PlayStation and Nintendo Switch releases, too, so
potentially, it has lots of further room to grow.

 

Lockdown provided a huge boost to Roblox, as children, physically cut off
from their friends, flocked to it.

 

Not only could they play games with their mates, they could visit virtual
theme parks, attend concerts, birthday parties and chat to others.

 

Daily active users jumped 85% in 2020 and it now has 37 million globally.

 

Three in four US children aged between nine and 12 are on it, as is one in
two UK-based 10-year-olds.

 

And as of January, the number who played it at least once a month was just
shy of 200 million, according to tracking site RTrack, marking a 67%
increase on the same month a year earlier.

 

One of the most remarkable things about Roblox is the amount of time people
spend there - an average of two hours 36 minutes per day.

 

But with its huge growth in numbers and popularity, come issues. Scammers
and hackers lurk, ready to steal kids' hard-earned robux, and there have
also been reports of attempts to groom children.

 

Metaverse meet-ups

Mr Baszucki's plans don't stop at gaming. He hopes Roblox can become part of
that Metaverse, a series of interconnected digital worlds where people hang
out, work and learn.

 

The term was coined in Neal Stephenson's 1992 science-fiction novel Snow
Crash, where it served as a virtual-reality-based successor to the internet.

 

Similar ideas have been around for a long time - gamers and game makers in
particular have long dreamt of virtual worlds where they could live out
their lives, and lockdown gave everyone a glimpse of such a life.

 

"The idea was amplified by the pandemic," said Ms Shorthouse.

 

"And even as we come out of it, online socialising is still going to be
popular.

 

"It is about making a game into something more - a social space and
entertainment venue."

 

Writing in Wired at the beginning of the year, Mr Baszucki said: "We will
see a shift in the way people play, work, learn or simply hang out in 2021.
Some of these connections will move into the Metaverse, a digital place
where people seamlessly get together and interact in millions of 3D virtual
experiences."

 

Massive immersive virtual events will become the norm, he added, and push
the boundaries of interactivity, changing the nature of live experiences.

 

It is, he writes, "arguably as big a shift in online communications as the
telephone or the internet".

 

Pixelated parties

Grand plans indeed, and a space that rival gaming platform Fortnite is also
determined to get a slice of.

 

In September, developer Epic Games announced a three-week-long concert
series that took place on the game's Party Royale island.

 

Nate Nanzer, Fortnite's head of global partnerships, said at the time he
hoped it would become a "tour stop" for other bands.

 

As part of that, Epic built a studio space in Los Angeles, with a large LED
wall and floor and remotely operated robocams. The hope for the future is to
add mixed and augmented-reality effects to it.

 

Roblox has been hosting its own parties - in November American rapper Lil
Nas performed a virtual concern which was attended 33 million times - and
the firm held an event for its own staff at Christmas, complete with
nightclub and bar.

 

Despite the experimentation, Ms Shorthouse thinks gaming will remain at its
core.

 

"It is so strong in that space and a lot of people have stakes in it, with
developers making a lot of money."--BBC

 

 

Facebook has asked a US judge to dismiss anti-trust charges levelled against
the company.

 

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 45 other states sued Facebook for
alleged anti-competitive behaviour in December.

 

The lawsuit requested the breaking up of the company, which also owns
Instagram and WhatsApp.

 

On Wednesday, Facebook described the complaint as "nonsensical" and asked
the judge to throw the case out.

 

In a statement, Facebook said the case "ignores the reality of the dynamic,
intensely competitive high-tech industry in which Facebook operates".

 

The FTC has until 7 April to respond.

 

Facebook purchased Instagram for $1bn (£718m) in 2012 and WhatsApp for $19bn
(£13.6bn) in 2014 - which the FTC claims was done to "eliminate threats to
its monopoly".

 

It was revealed in 2019 that Facebook owns four of the most downloaded apps
of the decade: Facebook, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram.

 

However, the FTC's actions surprised many by requesting the break-up of the
social network, which, if it were to happen, would be a landmark decision
against Big Tech.

 

The FTC also wants Facebook to notify officials of any acquisition of more
than $10m (£7.2m).

 

Facebook's motion says the lawsuit fails to back up the claims that the
social media giant is a monopoly, anti-competitive or in violation of the
law.

 

New York Attorney General Letitia James responded, saying that Facebook was
"wrong on the law and wrong on our complaint".

 

"We are confident in our case, which is why almost every state in this
nation has joined our bipartisan lawsuit to end Facebook's illegal conduct."

 

Too much power

Facebook is not the only tech company facing anti-trust lawsuits in the US.

 

Google was hit with a lawsuit in October alleging the company has a monopoly
over search results and online advertising.

 

In July, the bosses of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google appeared before a
Judiciary Committee to defend their companies against these claims.

 

Democrat Congressman David Cicilline, the committee chairman, said, "Some
[Big Tech firms] need to be broken up and all need to be properly
regulated."

 

Regulators are looking to limit the power of Big Tech to create more
competitive markets for smaller companies.

 

And it's not just US regulators who are concerned.

 

The European Commission is investigating whether Apple and Facebook have
violated EU competition rules.

 

They also charged Amazon for abusing EU competition rules in November.

 

And in the UK, Apple is under investigation for anti-competitive
behaviour.--BBC

 

 

 

Heathrow says airport border queues at 'unacceptable level'

Heathrow Airport regularly sees queues of three hours and sometimes six
hours at border control, according to Emma Gilthorpe, its chief operating
officer.

 

Earlier this month, passengers complained of waiting up to seven hours,
which one said was "inhumane".

 

But Border Force said many passengers were arriving without having bought
mandatory Covid testing packages.

 

The enforcement body added that people should only be travelling for limited
reasons.

 

Separately, hundreds of Heathrow passport control are set to take industrial
action.

 

Queue issues

Unions representing Border Force officials said the delays were partly
caused by Covid restrictions requiring immigration officials to work in a
bubble of 10.

 

They said this prevented more staff being deployed if the border was
particularly busy.

 

But Nick Jariwalla, director of Border Force at Heathrow, said: "We are in a
global health pandemic - it is illegal to go on holiday and people should
only be travelling for very limited reasons.

 

"Unfortunately, a large number of passengers are continuing to arrive
without having purchased their mandatory testing packages for the second and
eighth days of quarantine in the UK.

 

"This causes delays as passengers may receive a fine or be subject to other
enforcement action."

 

Mr Jariwalla said all arriving passengers had to purchase the testing
package before leaving the airport.

 

"We make absolutely no apologies for this," he added. "Every essential check
stops the spread of coronavirus in the UK.

 

"These people should not have been allowed to travel without their testing
packages and we are following up with regulators and carriers to ensure the
law is enforced."

 

'Unacceptable queues'

Speaking to the Home Affairs Select Committee, Ms Gilthorpe said that
pre-Covid, the queues for EU arrivals were supposed to be 25 minutes, and 45
minutes for non-EU arrivals.

 

While she said she expected the length of waiting to go up during the
pandemic, Ms Gilthorpe said the levels the airport was currently seeing were
"unacceptable".

 

While Ms Gilthorpe said the measures in place for quarantine hotels were
running relatively smoothly, with a small number of passengers, she said the
same could not be said for the border.

 

"We are seeing significant pressure on the border and we are seeing very
long queues, and that is a worry," she said.

 

Although Ms Gilthorpe said she knew additional resources had been
introduced, the issues were caused by "the level of complexity of the
processes and the way resource is being deployed".

 

International arrivals must now provide proof of a negative Covid test taken
72 hours before departure to England and a passenger locator form which
contains details of either a purchased hotel quarantine stay, or two test
kits for at home quarantine.

 

She told the committee: "It is deeply frustrating as the operator of the
airport when you have a queue full of people and you only have two desks
open.

 

"It is rare to see all the desks manned and we have to find our way to how
we make that happen so we can get that flow."

 

Heathrow's self-service e-gates at passport control are currently closed.

 

Airport rivals

 

Ms Gilthorpe said she hoped that by the summer, the gates would also be able
to scan passenger locator forms and pre-departure testing results, but that
had not yet been integrated into the system.

 

The Heathrow executive also warned that if the long queues continued after
international travel is permitted. it could risk the country's economic
resurgence.

 

"Heathrow is Britain's hub airport, it is the front door. We have to get our
economy moving and we have to make sure we are capable of receiving people,"
she said.

 

"If you have a poor experience at the border, there's a risk you won't come
back again. That traffic will go to Charles De Gaulle [airport in Paris], it
will go to Frankfurt and we will miss out on that economic resurgence," she
said.

 

Union action

The queue delays come as staff in the PCS union served notice of industrial
action over rosters they describe as "unworkable".

 

This will involve a month of action short of a strike by hundreds of staff,
including working to rule and an overtime ban.

 

The roster changes include ending the ability of staff to swap and request
certain shifts, the union said.

 

In February, staff voted for strike action over the changes, the union
said.--BBC

 

 

 

Tomahawk Steakhouse returns 500 workers' pay loans

A restaurant chain which asked furloughed staff to loan it 10% of their
wages, amid claims of potential sackings, has paid the money back.

 

Tomahawk Steakhouse asked 500 workers to lend some of their pay to cover
pension and national insurance contributions. All the workers agreed.

 

The firm denied the claim staff might lose their jobs, but said all staff
had got their money back plus 20% extra.

 

The GMB union said the return of the cash was a "massive win" for workers.

 

In a letter to staff seen by the BBC, Tomahawk, which has restaurants in
York, Middlesbrough, Beverley, Newcastle, Durham and Hoxton, east London,
said it had a "short-term cash flow issue and it requires your help and
support".

 

At the time of the company's request the GMB claimed staff who refused were
told their "suitability for the role will have to be reviewed".

Staff agreed to the request. Tomahawk says that money has now been returned
with the 20% addition.

 

'Critical time'

A spokeswoman for Tomahawk said: "As part of the voluntary agreement signed
by all of our staff, we promised that any monies loaned would be returned as
soon as we were financially able.

 

"Following the budget announcement last week, we are delighted to have been
able to swiftly honour that promise this week.

 

"All staff have now received the loaned amount, along with an additional
20%, as a thank you for supporting the business at this critical time."

 

Neil Derrick

image captionGMB regional secretary Neil Derrick said it was an "abuse of
the furlough scheme"

GMB regional secretary Neil Derrick said: "This was always an outrageous
exploitation of both the furlough scheme and low paid, young workers.

 

"The cash should never have been taken in the first place as no employee can
afford a further reduction in their take home pay - especially when it's to
cover their employer's own obligations.

 

"Tomahawk's bullying behaviour was rightly condemned across the board. Their
U-turn is a massive win for workers."--BBC

 

 

 

Lego plans hiring spree for digital growth drive

Danish toy giant Lego plans to recruit hundreds of computer experts in the
UK, Denmark and China to expand its digital games and online sales
operation.

 

In 2020, the company saw its fastest sales growth in five years, helped by
locked-down families buying bigger Lego sets they could make together.

 

But a new Super Mario set, which blends physical bricks with online games,
has been one of the biggest launches ever.

 

Boss Niels Christiansen told the BBC Lego would speed up its digital plans.

 

The company has just released Lego VIDIYO, a partnership with Universal
Music, which allows children to make their own music videos with special
effects and filters.

 

"For the past two years we've made large-scale investments in initiatives
designed to support long-term growth," the Lego chief executive said.

 

"We are accelerating our digital transformation. This is a big investment
area for customers and suppliers," he said.

 

Store expansion

He told the BBC that every 2.77 seconds "someone uploads a Lego creation to
our digital platforms that they have created and want to share. The Lego
community is based on the brick, but this shows there is no limit to where
we can take this."

 

While the Lego brick will always be at the heart of the business, he said:
"Today's children are growing up in a digital world and they effortlessly
blend online and physical play."

 

The digital expansion will mean recruiting more computer games and website
specialists over the next couple of years, said Mr Christiansen, who praised
the UK's expertise in this sector. "We go where the talent is available.
Where we find the best talent is in UK and Denmark. I think the number will
be in the hundreds.

 

"We have a solid digital foundation, but must move faster. The past year has
shown the importance of having an agile, responsive business built on strong
digital foundations," Mr Christiansen said.

 

In addition to its 17 stores - and another due to open in Edinburgh soon -
Lego has two UK offices and employs almost 750 people.

 

Despite store closures across the world due to the pandemic, and temporary
production shutdowns at factories in China and Mexico, Lego saw a 19% jump
in profits to 12.9bn Danish kroner (£1.5bn) for 2020. Revenues rose 13% to
43.7bn kroner (£5bn). Sales growth in all Lego's markets was in the
double-digits.

 

Plastic alternative

Mr Christiansen said there had been an increase in sales of bigger, more
complicated Lego sets. "Instead of buying Lego sets for kids, families were
buying big sets and building them together," he said. And the growth in
interest for adult Lego sets continues, he added.

 

A strong seller in 2020 - and a favourite of Mr Christiansen - was a complex
Lamborghini car. However, his number one favourite is the traditional
build-what-you-want box of bricks, which consistently remains in Lego's top
ten best sellers each year.

 

Despite the pandemic, Lego continued with store openings - with another 134
new shops, including 91 in China, expanding the chain to 678. Lego plans to
open another 120 sites in 2021, with 80 in China where development of the
brand had not been as fast as in Europe and the US.

 

Mr Christiansen said bricks and mortar remained key to Lego's growth, in
large part because "the shops are not about getting the product across the
counter".

 

He said: "The stores are much more a brand-builder and experience outlet. A
lot of the new stores will be in China. It makes a big, big difference if
there is a store in town for creating awareness of the brand."

 

The company, founded in 1932 and still family-owned, is trying to find
alternatives to plastic for its bricks. Lego said it could not give a figure
for how many were made each year.

 

Mr Christiansen said Lego is investing heavily in researching new materials,
but has already introduced more bio-based elements into the manufacturing.
The plan remains to introduce a sustainable product by 2030.

 

Finding a quality, long-lasting material was not as easy as people might
think.

 

"Lego sets will be used for 40, 50 years. They will still work even though
they might have been lying in the basement until brought out for the
grandchildren.

 

"That lasting quality needs to stay there even when we sustainably source.
We cannot just go out and buy that material. We are actually trying to
develop it," he said.--BBC

 

 

 

Asia stocks soar as receding inflation worries bolster confidence

TOKYO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Asian stocks extended their rebound from a
two-month low on Thursday after a report on U.S. consumer prices calmed
concerns about inflation and lifted the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a
record close.

 

An index of regional stocks excluding Japan rose 1.7%, led by a 2.3% surge
in South Korea’s Kospi, and was on track for its first three-day advance in
three weeks.

 

China’s Shanghai Composite rallied 1.9%, helped by strong local lending
data, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.5%. E-mini futures for the U.S.
S&P500 rose 0.5%.

 

Relative calm in the Treasuries market also helped risk sentiment, with the
benchmark yield settling at around 1.5% after shooting to a one-year high
above 1.6% last week as investors worried about the U.S. economic recovery
running too hot.

 

“The market took a bit of relief from this consolidation in rates,” said
Masahiko Loo, a Tokyo-based portfolio manager at AllianceBernstein.

 

“The vaccine optimism is still there. People are coming back into the
workforce. If you add everything up -- and the bond market is not being
disruptive -- it’s providing more incentive for investors to buy equities.”

 

Europe looked set to continue the global rally with Euro Stoxx 50 futures
0.2% higher after the index touched a more than one-year top on Wednesday.

 

The European Central Bank sets its policy on Thursday and is likely to
signal faster money printing to keep a lid on borrowing costs, although it
will stop short of adding firepower to its already aggressive
pandemic-fighting package.

 

Britain’s FTSE futures rose about 0.4%. MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the
globe gained 0.28%.

 

The U.S. Labor Department said its consumer price index rose 0.4% in
February, in line with expectations, after a 0.3% increase in January. Core
CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy components, edged up 0.1%, just
shy of the 0.2% estimate.

 

While analysts largely expect a hike in inflation as vaccine rollouts lead
to a reopening of the economy, worries persist that additional stimulus in
the form of a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package set to be signed by
U.S. President Joe Biden could overheat the economy.

 

Investors will now eye an auction of 30-year debt on Thursday, seeking to
cover massive shorts. A weak seven-year auction in late February helped fuel
inflation concerns and sent yields higher.

 

“Rises in U.S. bond yields appear to have subsided a bit after the 10-year
yield has reached 1.5%, even though many investors remain cautious before
the Fed’s policy meeting,” said Naoya Oshikubo, senior economist at Sumitomo
Mitsui Trust Asset Management.

 

“The Fed has ratcheted up its rhetoric on bond yields lately. The reality
is, the economy is in a K-shaped recovery, with the service sector still in
difficult conditions and the Fed would probably not want to let real
interest rates rise.”

 

The dollar remained weaker following the economic data.

 

The dollar index was almost unchanged at 91.813, following a 0.2% drop
overnight.

 

The euro stood at $1.19265 while the safe-haven yen eased to 108.685 per
dollar.

 

Oil prices resumed their climb following two days of declines, after the
Energy Information Administration reported a bigger-than-expected storage
build.

 

U.S. crude futures stood at $64.97 per barrel, up 53 cents or 0.81%. Brent
crude futures were at $68.45 per barrel, up 55 cents or 0.8%.

 

 

Analysis: Riding GameStop's resurgent rally - 'not for the faint of heart'

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Joe Youngblood, who works in digital marketing in
Dallas, Texas, bought his first share of GameStop at $98 in early February
and found his investment cut in half in a matter of days. After a wild ride,
he is now up more than 200% and expects the video game retailer to initiate
a much-awaited turnaround of its business.

 

"I am kicking myself for not buying more when it dropped below $50,” said
Youngblood. “After research I believe GameStop has a good chance to pull it
off.”

 

The latest resurgence in GameStop shares has reinvigorated true believers.
Still, many analysts point to the rally in beaten-down “meme stocks”
championed in forums such as Reddit’s WallStreetBets as evidence for
speculative excess in stimulus-fueled markets.

 

“I think this is a cult stock,” said Michael Pachter, managing director of
equity research at Wedbush Securities. “The rally is because of demand from
the Reddit Raiders, and it’s not clear it will be sustainable as the stock
rises to ever higher levels.”

 

GameStop shares closed on Wednesday up 7% at $265 after hitting a session
peak of $348.50, which was 800% above last month’s low. Among the factors
driving the stock are bets on improving fundamentals and hopes for another
short squeeze like the one in late January, which drove prices as high as
$483. Many GameStop investors also hope Americans will plow money from their
coming stimulus checks into the stock.

 

Some expect GameStop to take advantage of the new rally by launching a share
offering to pay down debt. Its earnings report, scheduled for March 23,
could clear the way.

 

GameStop did not reply to a request for comment on its stock price.

 

ICE CREAM

Analysts who cover GameStop have a median price target of $12.50 on the
stock. Wednesday’s closing price was 21 times higher than that.

 

GameStop bulls say the fundamental picture is changing. Many cheered moves
to tap Ryan Cohen, a shareholder and co-founder of online pet products
retailer Chewy Inc , to spearhead a committee guiding GameStop’s transition
to e-commerce.

 

Hopeful investors have interpreted Cohen’s cryptic tweets, including a
picture of an ice cream cone, as signs he is pushing the retail chain away
from its brick-and-mortar model. Still, Pachter said even the most
successful transition would not justify such a stratospheric stock price.

 

 

For the quarter ended Oct. 31, GameStop reported here a net loss of $18.8
million and a loss per share of 29 cents. To justify a trading price of
$235, it would need to earn between $10 and $12 a share annually on a
sustainable basis, Pachter said. He expects the company to earn $1 a share
for the fiscal year ending in January 2022.

 

“We don’t know what Ryan Cohen proposes to change, but those numbers sound
unattainable in the short term,” he said.

 

Other analysts were slightly more optimistic.

 

“Before, when the stock rallied there was really no legitimate, fundamental
reason,” said David Keller, chief market strategist at Stockcharts.com, a
technical analysis and charting platform targeted at retail investors. “Now
all of a sudden this feels more like a growth stock.”

 

Some GameStop bulls believe improving fundamentals and a climbing stock
price will put bearish investors into another “short squeeze,” forcing them
to unwind bets against the company. When this happened in January, GameStop
surged by 1,600%. It pared most of those gains in February.

 

Analysts said a short squeeze is likely accelerating the latest rally.
Investors short GameStop shares have incurred over $1.3 billion in losses
over the last couple of days.

 

But the number of GameStop shares sold short has dropped since early January
to its lowest level in at least three years, according to S3 Partners.

 

“The stock can go up from just buyers but it likely won’t go up quite as
quickly,” said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives at
the Schwab Center for Financial Research.

 

That did not stop Eric Diaz, an operations manager in Tampa, Florida, who
added more GameStop shares at $100 apiece to the 10 he has been holding
since January. After the most recent runup, Diaz said he sold all but two of
his GameStop shares.

 

“This isn’t really a rational investment,” he said. “Not for the faint of
heart.”

 

 

 

Exclusive: BP bets on energy trading to fund strategy shift after bumper
year

LONDON (Reuters) - BP’s trading arm made nearly $4 billion in 2020,
according to a copy of an internal BP presentation seen by Reuters, almost
equalling the record trading profit in 2019 despite the collapse in oil
demand caused by the pandemic.

 

Trading revenue for majors such as BP and rival Royal Dutch/Shell shielded
them from the full impact of the worst recession to hit the modern energy
industry, helping finance their shift towards a new business model in a
lower carbon economy.

 

Even with near record trading earnings, BP posted a $20.3 billion loss with
writedowns in 2020 and a $5.7 billion loss without writedowns, plunging into
the red for the first time in a decade.

 

BP, which does not publicly disclose the revenue from its trading arm, would
not confirm the content of the presentation seen by Reuters and declined to
comment for this article.

 

BP and Shell are banking on cash flow from trading to support them through
their transition and to generate profit as they focus on renewable and power
markets and become less dependent on fossil fuels.

 

BP has formally promised to cut oil and gas output, while Shell says its oil
production has peaked. Both say they are expanding trading and they still
make billions of dollars a year moving oil and gas around the world.

 

BP plans to expand power and renewables trading but many of those markets
are highly regulated and unlikely to deliver the same profit margins as oil
and gas.

 

One of the biggest trading plays in 2020 was to store oil during the
downturn, buying it at low prices and selling it later when prices
recovered.

 

It was a relatively simple game with minimal risk because the oil futures
market allowed traders with access to large storage to lock in future
profits through hedging.

 

BP made around $1.7 billion on this strategy alone in the second quarter of
2020, according to the presentation.

 

It made lower but steady earnings in the first and third quarter, while it
generated only about $250 million in the fourth quarter of 2020 after
betting on weak gas prices that soared instead, according to the
presentation.

 

RARE DISCLOSURE

BP’s 2020 result showed the big impact oil and gas trading can have on
performance.

 

BP Chief Financial Officer Murray Auchincloss told analysts in August on a
second quarter results call that there had been an “exceptionally strong
contribution from oil trading”.

 

Last year, was one of the most volatile for oil, which is generally good for
trading. Volatility is likely to become a more prominent feature of what is
an uneven transition to renewable energy worldwide.

 

Trading is likely to provide a financial buffer before investments in
renewables start to pay off.

 

“We think the power of integration from our trading organisation is awfully
good,” Auchincloss said in August, adding BP could secure returns on
investment in “double digits” with integrated trading of oil, power, natural
gas and solar energy.

 

Oil majors typically do not disclose any figures for their trading
divisions’ performances and figures emerge once every few years through
internal reports.

 

Without contributions from trading last year, BP’s results would have looked
bleaker.

 

BP had a replacement cost net loss of $18.1 billion in 2020, down from a
$3.5 billion profit in 2019, because of massive writedown due to low oil
prices.

 

Without the writedowns, underlying replacement cost loss before tax was $5.7
billion, of which BP’s production division generated a $5 billion loss and
refining a $3.1 billion profit.

 

In the BP structure, oil trading belongs to the refining division while gas
trading sits under production.

 

The internal presentation seen by Reuters combined results of oil and gas
trading under one umbrella as integrated supply and trading (IST).

 

Last year, IST made close to $4 billion in replacement cost operating profit
(RCOP), a near record amount compared to slightly over $4 billion in 2019,
according to a presentation seen by Reuters.

 

RCOP excludes tax and changes in value of inventories and is the closest
metric to the underlying replacement cost pre-tax result. BP declined to
provide company-wide RCOP metrics.

 

 

 

HSBC toughens stance on fossil fuel funding after shareholder heat

LONDON (Reuters) - HSBC will phase out its support for the coal industry in
the developed world by 2030 and in the developing world by 2040, the bank
said on Thursday, bowing to investor pressure to toughen its stance on
fossil fuel financing.

 

Investors managing some $2.4 trillion in assets who earlier this year filed
a resolution that would bind the bank to make stronger commitments, have
withdrawn the motion in a sign they have reached a compromise with Europe’s
biggest bank.

 

The new goals from HSBC also include short and medium-term targets on
aligning its financing with the goals of the landmark Paris agreement on
climate change.

 

HSBC’s announcement reinforces how the world’s biggest financial firms are
bowing to mounting public and political pressure to join the battle against
climate change, by reducing their funding of fossil fuel companies and
encouraging clients in other sectors to cut emissions.

 

As a result, campaign group ShareAction has withdrawn its motion to be voted
on at HSBC’s annual shareholder meeting on May 28, and the lender will
instead submit its own resolution with the backing of ShareAction and its
co-filers, a group of 15 major investors including Amundi <AMUN.PA and Man
Group.

 

“Today’s announcement shows that robust shareholder engagement can deliver
concrete results and sets an important precedent for the banking industry,”
said Jeanne Martin, senior campaign manager at ShareAction.

 

HSBC’s new commitments go further than those made last October when the bank
set out an ‘ambition’ to get to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, a goal
criticised by campaigners for not directly addressing HSBC’s lending to
fossil fuel firms.

 

ShareAction said it had won a significant concession from the bank in that
HSBC now explicitly states the expansion of coal-fired power is incompatible
with the goals of the Paris agreement, where in the past it had been more
equivocal on the need for clients to divest coal assets.

 

HSBC will report on its progress annually, it said on Thursday, starting
this year.

 

ShareAction targeted Barclays with a similar motion last May, which was
defeated but garnered 24% of votes cast.

 

 

 

>From Black Forest to Cologne, German towns fear Greensill losses

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Bad Duerrheim, a town of 13,400 people on the fringes
of the Black Forest, is one of many across Germany united by a shared
anxiety, the possibility of losing millions of euros invested with Greensill
Bank.

 

The obscure Bremen-based private bank’s owner Greensill Capital entered
insolvency this week after losing insurance coverage for its debt
repackaging business.

 

Greensill Bank, meanwhile, was locked down by Germany’s financial watchdog
last week with a warning of an imminent risk that its debt would become
unmanageable and a statement calling some of its financial accounts into
question. Greensill Capital said that the bank always sought external legal
and audit advice before booking any new asset.

 

“We have to find out what happened,” Alexander Stengelin, a Bad Duerrheim
official told Reuters.

 

German towns have turned to alternative investments such as those offered by
Greensill Bank as European Central Bank efforts to prop up the wider economy
have resulted in so-called negative interest rates, with fees charged for
savings.

 

Cologne, famed for its cathedral and perfume, and Wiesbaden, which is close
to Germany’s financial capital Frankfurt, both say they consulted brokers on
where to park their cash.

 

The two, along with at least a dozen others, say they opted for Greensill to
avoid fees charged by other banks and encouraged by its once healthy credit
rating.

 

The municipalities now fear their cash, largely invested at Greensill Bank
in time deposits with short maturities of several months, may be lost for
good as they are classed as institutional investors and therefore are not
covered by a deposit protection scheme for individuals.

 

Greensill Bank states this on its website but some cities are nevertheless
calling on the federal government to step in to cover any losses they may
incur. A Greensill spokesman declined to comment.

 

Town officials are now consulting with others in the same position and hope
to convene a video call on how to proceed.

 

OTHERS AT FAULT?

With much of Germany still in lockdown and a COVID-19 vaccine rollout
proceeding slowly, the timing of the Greensill Bank crisis is difficult for
cash-strapped municipalities.

 

As more cities and the state of Thuringia, famous for its sausages, have
disclosed that they are Greensill Bank customers, the extent of the
potential damage has become clear.

 

Monheim am Rhein disclosed it parked 38 million euros in funds with
Greensill Bank, nearly 1,000 euros per resident.

 

Its mayor Daniel Zimmermann said he was in touch with 19 municipalities who
together hold 200 million euros ($238 million) in investments with the bank.

 

An emergency meeting in Monheim on Tuesday discussed the fallout, and
whether internal mistakes were made or whether brokers who helped make the
investments should bear some of the blame.

 

“We don’t want to shun responsibility, but others may be at fault,”
Zimmermann told Reuters.

 

Zimmermann said that two of the brokers it used -- CC Gesellschaft für Geld-
und Devisenhandel mbH and Witt GmbH & Co. KG -- were also used by other
towns.

 

CC deals exclusively in helping municipalities park cash, its owner
Christian Steier said when contacted by Reuters.

 

He declined to comment on specific customers but said that communication on
such transactions was usually straightforward.

 

“It’s like an order. It’s a simple product. A lot of it is via email and
impersonal,” he said.

 

Witt did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

 

Two other brokers Zimmermann said were used by Monheim did not respond to
written questions seeking comment.

 

Wiesbaden has 20 million euros with Greensill Bank, which it used in the
past without problems, city official Axel Imholz said, adding that it had
used brokers for the transaction.

 

Imholz did not reveal the names of the brokers but said Wiesbaden is
investigating why Greensill Bank was recommended.

 

For Bad Duerrheim, which says it has 2 million euros with the bank,
Stengelin said that the town felt comfortable that two brokers independently
recommended Greensill Bank.

 

And while it had been reassured by the fact that the money would be close to
home in a bank in Germany rather than offshore, it was not now hopeful of
recovering its cash.

 

“We expect the worst, but hope for the best,” he said.

 

($1 = 0.8405 euros)

 

 

 

Nigeria: Minimum Wage Bill - Labour Threatens to Shut Down Nigeria

Organised labour comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade
Union Congress (TUC) yesterday took their protest to the National Assembly
to demand a halt to the plot by the lawmakers to decentralise the minimum
wage structure by introducing a Bill seeking to remove it from the exclusive
to concurrent list.

 

The workers led by president of the NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba and his TUC
counterpart, Quadri Olaleye, warned that unless the action is halted, labour
will shut down the country by declaring a nationwide strike.

 

LEADERSHIP reports that the workers, armed with placards, started assembling
at the Unity Fountain, Abuja as early as 7:20 am yesterday before proceeding
on a peaceful protest to the National Assembly to officially deliver a
document containing workers' demands from the government.

 

Some inscriptions on the placards read: "On minimum wage we stand', 'No to
minimum wage on concurrent list', 'Yes to minimum wage on Executive list.'

 

Delivering the document to representatives of the Senate president and
Speaker of the House of Representatives, the aggrieved workers warned the
lawmakers that failure to do the right thing would amount to a total
shutdown of the nation's economy.

 

President of the NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, who insisted that politicians
were the problem of the country, stressed that the national minimum wage was
a standard set by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which the
Nigerian government ratified since 1961.

 

He said the lawmakers cannot reverse what the workers have earned through
hard labour for 40 years over night.

 

Citing President Joe Biden whose first statement on assumption of office was
the need to carry out an upward review of workers minimum wage to $15 per
hour as example, he said rather than lead a progressive leadership, Nigerian
politicians were raising false arguments against the National Minimum Wage
being in the exclusive list.

 

According to him, the minister of labour and employment had already
clarified that the lawmakers were going in a wrong direction that could
attract sanctions given Nigeria's signatory to the ILO Convention on minimum
wage.

 

Wabba further warned that should the governance structure in the country
persists workers would have no option but to pray down fire to consume
politicians responsible for the calamities befalling the country.

 

He said, "The Bill that seeks to remove the minimum wage from the exclusive
list to the concurrent list is not accepted.

 

"The issue of national minimum wage is a standard set by the International
Labour Organisation and the ILO is the first agency of the United Nations
formed in 1919 after the First World War.

 

"Your argument is that because they want federalism, the issue of the
national minimum wage should be moved to the concurrent list; that is wrong.
In countries of the world today, we have 26 federal nations that have
minimum wage in their exclusive list including the United States of America.

 

"The argument about federalism is false, also, the argument about the
ability to pay. How can we degenerate to remove an issue that the workers
have earned through hard labour for 40 years and want to remove it over
night?"

 

Speaking further, the president of the TUC, Quadri, urged the National
Assembly to lead by example by taking the decision to receive their salaries
from their respective local government area councils.

 

But receiving the document on behalf of the Speaker, House of
Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, the House leader, Alahassan Ado Doguwa,
advised the labour leaders and Nigerian workers to lobby their respective
legislators to kill the Bill they were agitating against.

 

He said, "The presentation and recommendation of the Bill was only an
opinion and a proposal but from what I am seeing now it appears to me that
the leadership and organised labour are against the Bill and you have your
rights and reasons to reject that Bill.

 

"We will still invite you to the relevant committee of which I am a member,
the constitution review committee, to come and make your position formally,
and members representing your respective communities will be on the ground
to do justice to that Bill.

 

"I can understand that the only thing you want is to kill that Bill but I
would like to advise, go ahead and lobby the members that you elected, tell
them you don't like that Bill and your elected members will stand for you."

 

Also receiving the document on behalf of the Senate president, Ahmed Lawan,
the deputy chief whip of the Senate, Senator Abdullahi Sabi, appealed to the
workers to have confidence in the lawmakers whom he said would do everything
possible to ensure workers' rights and demands were respected.

 

"Denying you minimum wage is something I personally as a senator do not
support but we are in a democracy which is about a process. You have read
your point, you are standing tenaciously to ask for what is your right but I
want to assure you, there are a lot of progressive lawmakers in the 9th
Assembly.

 

"In the past we have stood toe to toe with Nigerian workers, there is
nothing that suggests we are changing from that direction rather, we will
stand by you to ensure that the fundamental right of every worker is not
only ensured, but enforced and guaranteed.

 

"We are going to ensure that we are going to do justice to everything you
have brought to us, wait to see the action."

 

Meanwhile, there were massive protests by all the state branches of the NLC
over the planned transfer of minimum wage from the exclusive to a concurrent
legislative list.

 

In Kano, the chairman of the Organised labour, Kabiru Ado Minjibir, while
presenting their case to the speaker of the Kano state House of Assembly
noted that the letter carried the concerns of the workers in the state on
the issue.

 

Similarly, the Kaduna State chapter of the NLC and TUC presented their
protest letter to the Kaduna State House of Assembly for onward presentation
to the National Assembly.

 

Kaduna state chairman of NLC, Comrade Suleiman Ayuba and his TUC counterpart
Comrade Abdullahi Danfulani led members in their numbers in a peaceful
protest to the state Assembly complex where the letters were respectively
presented to the House speaker, Hon. Yusuf Ibrahim Zailani.

 

In Rivers State, it was a peaceful protest to the State House of Assembly,
as labour leaders presented their letters to the leadership of the House
demanding a halt to the proposed Bill to transfer minimum wage from the
exclusive to the concurrent list.

 

It was also a similar scenario in Anambra, Bauchi, Oyo, Ekiti, Abia, Sokoto,
Kogi and Cross River States.

 

Labour leaders who had embarked on the protest described the Bill seeking
the transfer of minimum wage from the exclusive to concurrent list as
retrogressive.

 

In Kogi, the organized labour gave the state government a 12-day ultimatum
to implement the N30,000 minimum wage or they would be forced to begin an
indefinite strike.

 

The workers said if their demands were not met on or before March 22, 2021,
they would embark on industrial action.

 

The NLC) and the TUC while on a peaceful protest in Lokoja presented their
letter to the Speaker of Kogi State House of Assembly on the transfer of the
National Minimum Wage from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent
legislative list.

 

Speaking on behalf of workers, the Kogi State chairman of NLC, Comrade Onuh
Edoka, said since the state government set up a 17-man committee in 2019,
nothing has been heard from them.

 

Noting that Kogi workers are suffering in the state due to the unfriendly
economic condition of the country, the labour leader said, "We therefore
want to plead with You, Distinguished Speaker, to use your good office to
prevail on the committee set by the state government on the implementation
of the Thirty Thousand naira (N30,000.00) New Minimum Wage in Kogi State to
expedite action on her works in record time, so as to guarantee industrial
harmony and further strengthen peace in the state".

 

Edoka and his team who were received by the clerk of the House, Ibrahim
Amouka, on behalf of the Speaker however called for an end to percentage
salary at the local government level.

 

He lamented that local government workers were collecting 40 per cent
salary, noting that life was becoming unbearable for them in the state.

 

His words: "Local government workers are looking older than their state
colleagues. They are receiving a 40 per cent salary. Mr Speaker, any
political appointee that wants local government workers to be paid 40
percent, they should also be paid 40 per cent so that they will use their
money to develop the state. If this is done, it will make them feel the
pains local government workers are passing through.

 

"The issue of percentage payment of salary to employees at the local
government level needed urgent attention of the honourable House to mitigate
the effect of the hardship the workers at that level are facing."-
Leadership.

 

 

Malawian Youth Wipe Away Unemployment Tears With Agribusiness

Blantyre, Malawi — After getting tired of searching for employment for seven
years, Feston Zale from Chileka area in Malawi's Southern Region decided to
venture into agribusiness.

 

He started thinking of how to change the wetland he inherited from his
parents into a horticultural farm. So he joined the Chileka Horticultural
Cooperative to learn the basics.

 

"I started cultivating the piece of land tirelessly hoping that one day the
proceeds from it would wipe away my tears of unemployment.

 

"The money I got from the first harvest was so satisfying and it gave me the
courage to expand my farming business," Zale, who grows cabbage, onions and
tomatoes, told IPS.

 

Zale has been able to make more than $4,000 per year. With the profit from
his agribusiness he has managed to open a shop and buy a car. In comparison,
most small family farms in generate a gross annual income of about $1,840,
according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations
(FAO).

 

"I have received several awards for producing very quality horticultural
crops such as cabbage, onions and tomatoes," he said.

 

Master Kapalamula is an agri-entrepreneur from Malawi's capital, Lilongwe.
He told IPS that venturing into agribusiness has provided him with a way to
support himself since he completed his studies two years ago.

 

"Mainly, I'm into tomato production and my last crop has fetched me around
$550.

 

"I have used some of the money to buy a sewing machine for fashion and
design business," he told IPS.

 

Though Kapalamula is still searching for employment, he says he will not
give up his agribusiness once he finds a job and instead wants to balance
both. He also has plans to expand his agribusiness.

 

Zale and Kapalamula were fortunate to find a means of income through
agribuisness. This southern African nation's youth unemployment is currently
at 23 percent, according to the ministry of labour. Malawi, has a population
of 16.8 million.

 

Though Zale and Kapalamula point out that the industry has its share of
challenges.

 

One major problem, they say, is the low prices they get for their produce
due to the smuggling of similar commodities from neighbouring countries and
a lack of market regulations.

 

Because there are no policies that help safeguard the prices and sale of
agricultural commodities in the country, people practice free trade and the
market is flooded. This means that farmers are forced to reduce their prices
in order to make some sales.

 

"If we force ourselves to lower our prices further, we end up making losses
hence we do not benefit a lot from the business as we were supposed to,"
said Kapalamula.

 

 

"To remain in the business, one needs to be courageous enough otherwise I
have seen other youths quitting the business," said Kapalamula.

 

According to experts at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
(IITA), policy making processes must be supported by research.

 

It is one of the reasons why the Enhancing Capacity to Apply Research
Evidence (CARE) in Policy for Youth Engagement in Agribusiness and Rural
Economic Activities in Africa project was established. The CARE project
seeks to enhance the understanding of the poverty reduction and employment
impact, and the factors influencing youth engagement in agribusiness and
rural farm and non-farm economy. The project is sponsored by the
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and managed by IITA.

 

According to findings of a CARE study in Malawi conducted by CARE awardee
Dingase Kanchu Mkandawire, finding reliable markets for agricultural
commodities is one of the deterrents of youth employment in agribusiness.

 

"Youth agri-entrepreneurs face lack of access to the market and poor road
networks worsen the situation," Mkandawire told IPS.

 

Indeed, during the launch of the 2019/2020 annual review and planning
meeting conducted by the Department of Agriculture Research Services (DARS)
at Bvumbwe Research Station in Thyolo District, Malawi's Minister of
Agriculture Lobin Lowe pointed that research in agriculture has a gap if it
only focuses on production.

 

"The habit of focusing research on how to increase productivity only has
left farmers stranded since after producing, marketing [their products]
becomes a bigger challenge for them," said Lowe.

 

Aubrey Jolex is another CARE awardee who conducted research on the use of
Information Communication Technology (ICT) in agribusiness. He found that
intensifying the use of ICT helped youth in agribusiness find reliable
markets, among other benefits.

 

"Since the youth are heavy users of the ICT tools, they use those tools they
use for communication to market their produce which in turn helps them to
identify reliable markets," he told IPS.-IPS.

 

 

 

Nigerian Stock Exchange Becomes Public Company After 11 Years in the Works

The shift makes the NSE the 57th exchange in the world to embrace such a
transformation since Sweden's Stockholm Stock Exchange piloted the move in
1993.

 

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) will henceforth run as a public company
limited by shares, rather than a private company limited by guarantee of
owners or members after consummating a demutualisation process that spanned
about 11 years.

 

The shift makes the NSE the 57th exchange in the world to embrace such a
transformation since Sweden's Stockholm Stock Exchange piloted the move in
1993.

 

The exchange is at liberty to list its own shares and trade them on the
bourse like every other quoted firm now that approvals from market watchdog
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Corporate Affairs Commission
(CAC) are now in the bag.

 

"Under the demutualisation plan, a new non-operating holding company, the
Nigerian Exchange Group Plc ('NGX Group') has been created," the NSE said
Wednesday in a statement.

 

 

"The Group will have three operating subsidiaries, namely: Nigerian Exchange
Limited (NGX Limited), the operating exchange; NGX Regulation Limited (NGX
REGCO), the independent regulation company; and NGX Real Estate Limited (NGX
RELCO), the real estate company. All the entities have been duly registered
at the CAC."

 

Half a century old, Lagos-based NSE has lived off members' contributions all
its life right from inception in 1960, allowing the members who own the
exchange to run it at the same time.

 

But the new corporate structure will put in place a board of directors to
watch over its affairs.

 

Extending its ownership to the public is hoped to help transform it to a
profit-oriented business that should take accountability and commitment to
the interests of diverse individual and institutional investors pretty
seriously.

 

It could also be the turning point in corporate governance for an exchange
that is sometimes beset with allegations of market abuse, insider dealing
and operational compromise.

 

The road to demutualisation has been bumpy and scaling regulatory hurdles
have come at a cost. Around 2011, a technical panel was commissioned to
develop its legal structure, culminating in the issuance of Rules on
Demutualisation of Securities Exchanges in Nigeria by SEC in 2015.

 

But impediments stood on its way and no major progress was made until 2017
when the plan advanced further.

 

Even at a time when the NSE met most of the preconditions for
demutualisation, there was no share capital to make it attain public company
status.

 

There is no provision for a company limited by guarantee to convert to a
company limited by shares in the Companies and Allied Matters Act, making it
expedient to pursue a legislation in an effort to bridge the gap.

 

The Demutualisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange Bill was passed
separately by the Senate and the House of Representatives in December 2017
and February 2018.

 

"At the Nigerian Stock Exchange, we have a vision that the new group will
become the premier exchange hub for Nigerian businesses and for the African
economy," said Oscar Onyema, group chief executive officer of the NGX Group
Plc.

 

"We are implementing a series of measures towards this goal, demutualisation
being a critical milestone. The completion of demutualisation is a truly
significant moment, and we welcome the new possibilities that have opened up
for us today."-Premium Times.

 

 

 

South Africa: MEC Opens Up the Way for Mining in Protected Mpumalanga
Grasslands

The Mpumalanga government has revoked the status of the Mabola Protected
Environment.

 

The move, opens the way to mining in the sensitive grassland and water
catchment area, has been welcomed by the Voice Community Representative
Council, which says this will bring jobs.

 

Eight civil society institutions, including the Centre for Environmental
Rights, have been fighting to prevent mining in the area.

 

The Mpumalanga government has revoked the status of the Mabola Protected
Environment, in a move which activists fear will open up the way for mining
in the area.

Former MEC for Agriculture, Rural Development, Land and Environmental
Affairs Vusi Shongwe revoked the protected area status for a portion of the
Mabola Protected Environment (MPE), a highly sensitive protected grassland
and water catchment area.

 

Zanele Shabangu, head of communication in the department of Agriculture,
Conservation, Environment and Rural Development, told GroundUp the decision
had been taken "after intense interrogation and consideration of all the
facts that were presented before him by the Voice Community, SANBI [the SA
National Botanical Institute] and civil rights non-profit organisations."

 

The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) says this will open the area to
mining. The CER represents a coalition of eight public interest
organisations, who have been challenging efforts by Mpumalanga's
Agriculture, Rural Development, Land and Environmental Affairs and mining
company Uthaka Energy to develop a 15-year Yzermyn underground coal mine
within the Mabola Protected Environment in Mpumalanga since 2015.

 

"The Department's decision does not make reference to which economic
activities should take place in the area. As to whether mining will be
allowed, it will depend if whoever wants to mine has all the necessary
approvals to mine," said Shabangu.

 

The Coalition is considering a legal challenge against the MEC's decision,
said Catherine Horsfield, Attorney and Mining Programme Head at CER.

 

The development of a mine by Atha-Africa Ventures has been contested in the
courts since 2018, when the Pretoria High Court set aside a 2016 decision by
then Minister of Mineral Resources Mosebenzi Zwane and the then Minister of
Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa to permit the development of a new coal
mine by Atha-Africa Ventures inside the Mabola Protected Environment. The
Court said the two ministers had not consulted the public.

The company, now known as Uthaka Energy, then went on to make four
unsuccessful attempts to challenge the Pretoria High Court judgment, most
recently in the Constitutional Court. Uthaka Energy is a local subsidiary of
India-based Atha Group.

 

The Constitutional Court's decision still stands, therefore ministerial
permission to mine in this area remains unlawful, Horsfield told GroundUp.
She said the MEC's decision "appears to be an attempt to avoid those court
judgments and an attempt to circumvent the joint Ministerial permission
required to allow commercial mining in the Mabola Protected Environment in
terms of the Protected Areas Act."

 

The Mabola Protected Environment was declared a protected area in 2014,
following years of lobbying, research and planning by environmental rights
organisations and government agencies, including the Department of
Environmental Affairs, the South African National Biodiversity Institute and
the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency.

 

This protected area status was granted due to its ecological sensitivity as
a high-yielding, highly strategic water catchment area within a
high-altitude and threatened grassland ecosystem.

 

"What limited employment might materialise for local communities if the mine
goes ahead is not proportionate to the damage that a coal mine will wreak
for those communities who are local to the area and for the country's
already tenuous water security," said Horsfield.

 

 

However, Thabiso Nene, chairperson of the Voice Community Representative
Council, which he says represents the mining-affected communities in the
area, welcomed the MEC's decision.

 

He said a petition to withdraw the status of the area had been signed by
8,500 people.

 

"Following the petition, a rigorous Public Participation was done by the
Department of Environment by appointing an independent expert panel which
deliberated on various issues. We, the community, are glad that the panel
and the MEC understood the urgent need to address the development and
unemployment problems of the community, made more severe by the Covid-19
pandemic, in deciding to partially deproclaim the protected environment,
thus enabling the development of businesses to create employment
opportunities."-GroundUp.

 

 

 

 

 


 


 


Invest Wisely!

Bulls n Bears 

 

Cellphone:      <tel:%2B263%2077%20344%201674> +263 77 344 1674

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

Website:         <http://www.bullszimbabwe.com> www.bullszimbabwe.com 

Blog:
<https://bullszimbabwe.com/category/blogs/bullish-thoughts/>
www.bullszimbabwe.com/blog

Twitter:         @bullsbears2010

LinkedIn:       Bulls n Bears Zimbabwe

Facebook:
<http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FBullsBearsZimba
bwe&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGhb_A5rp4biV1dGHbgiAhUxQqBXA>
www.facebook.com/BullsBearsZimbabwe

Skype:         Bulls.Bears 



 

 

 


 

INVESTORS DIARY 2021

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


Nampak

AGM

Virtual | Boardroom, 68 Birmingham Road, Southerton

10/03/21 | 9am

 


Mash

AGM

Virtual | 19th Floor, ZB Life Towers, 77 Jason Moyo Avenue

11/03/21 | 11am

 


Art

AGM

Virtual | https://escrowagm.com/eagmZim/Login.aspx

11/03/21 | 12pm

 


Old Mutual

analysts briefing

 

24/03/21 | 2:30pm

 


Willdale

AGM

Boardroom, Willdale Administration Block, Teneriffe, 19.5km peg Lomagundi
Road, Mt Hampden

25/03/21 | 11am

 


TSL

AGM

Virtual | https://eagm.creg.co.zw/eagmzim/ Login.aspx | in the Auditorium,
Ground Floor, 28 Simon Mazorodze Road, Southerton

25/03/21 | 12pm

 


CFI

AGM

Farm & City Boardroom, 1st Floor Farm & City Complex, 1 Wynne Street

31/03/21 | 11am

 


 

Good Friday

 

02/04/21

 


 

Easter Sunday

 

04/04/21

 


 

Easter Monday

 

05/04/21

 


 

Independence Day

 

18/04/21

 


 

Public Holiday in lieu of Independence Day falling on a Sunday

 

19/04/21

 


 

 

 

 

 


Companies under Cautionary

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


ART

PPC

Dairibord

 


Starafrica

Fidelity

Turnall

 


Medtech

Zimre

Nampak Zimbabwe

 


 

 

 

 


 <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) 2021 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
344 1674

 


 

 

 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20210311/1156efce/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 9458 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20210311/1156efce/attachment-0003.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 31039 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20210311/1156efce/attachment-0002.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.png
Type: image/png
Size: 184580 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20210311/1156efce/attachment-0004.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image004.png
Type: image/png
Size: 34378 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20210311/1156efce/attachment-0005.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image005.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 22328 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20210311/1156efce/attachment-0003.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: oledata.mso
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 65558 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20210311/1156efce/attachment-0001.obj>