Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 29 March 2021

Mon Mar 29 08:51:22 CAT 2021

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 29 March 2021

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ü  The Suez Canal blockage explored in numbers

ü  China's answer to YouTube slumps on market debut

ü  Liberty Steel won't receive £170m bailout

ü  Union creates hotline for disgruntled Amazon staff

ü  Japan’s Nomura flags $2 bln loss at U.S. unit, cancels bond issue

ü  How the American SPACs rocket has failed to take off in Europe

ü  Asia shares edge higher, oil slips as Suez Canal ship re-floated

ü  Investors BlackRock, Vanguard join net zero effort

ü  Toyota presses Australia to promote roll-out of hydrogen fuel stations

ü  Oil slumps as Suez Canal container ship starts to move

ü  Facebook, Google plan new undersea cables to connect Southeast Asia and America

ü  Tencent Music announces biggest ever $1 bln share buyback

ü  Mozambique: Foreigners Attacked as Palma Fighting Continues

ü  Kenya Now Has 5G - This Is What It Can Do for You

ü  Nigeria: U.S.$1.5 Billion for Port Harcourt Refinery Rehabilitation

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The Suez Canal blockage explored in numbers

Suez Canal officials are continuing efforts to dislodge a stranded mega-container ship for the sixth day in a row.

While the situation has spurred many jokes on social media, it is the source of much worry and frustration for the global shipping industry.

Countless businesses with goods on the ship or other vessels stuck in the tailback are on tenterhooks.

We take a look at the key numbers involved in the operation.

The numbers are big

The Ever Given is 400m-long (1,312ft) and weighs 200,000 tonnes, with a maximum capacity of 20,000 containers. It is currently carrying 18,300 containers.

The ship is operated by Taiwanese transport company Evergreen Marine and is one of the world's largest container vessels.

It has been stranded since Tuesday, after running aground and becoming lodged sideways across the waterway. At first a gust of wind was thought to be to blame .

The wind speed at the time was recorded at 40 knots, but the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) told reporters that this is not the only reason for the ship becoming stranded.

An investigation would be needed to determine whether technical or human errors occurred, the authority added.

As of Sunday, there were 369 ships stuck in a tailback waiting to pass through the 193km (120-mile) canal on either side of the blockage.

Meanwhile, there have been more than 145,200 social interactions on Twitter using the #SuezBLOCKED hashtag and at least 133,000 shares, according to real-time analysis by brand monitoring platform BrandMentions.

How are efforts to free the ship going?

On Saturday, 14 tugboats pulled and pushed the Ever Given at high tide to try to dislodge it and were able to move the ship "30 degrees from left and right".

The SCA said in a statement that dredgers had so far shifted 27,000 cubic metres of sand, to a depth of 18m (59ft).

"The rudder was not moving and it is now moving, the propeller is working now, there was no water underneath the bow, and now there is water under it, and yesterday there was a 4m (13ft) deviation in the bow and the stern," SCA's chairman General Osama Rabie told Egyptian state TV.

However, in a possible complication, SCA sources quoted by Reuters news agency said that a mass of rock had been discovered under the bow of the ship.

Sunday's attempt to free the Ever Given was postponed - according to the SCA, the next favourable times for refloating the ship will be during high tide, at 11:42 local time (09:42 GMT) on Monday and early Tuesday morning at 00:08.

How much is the blockage costing?

About 12% of global trade, around one million barrels of oil and roughly 8% of liquefied natural gas pass through the canal each day.

General Rabie told reporters on Saturday that the Canal's revenues were taking a $14-$15m (£10.2m-£10.9m) hit for each day that the blockage continues.

This is despite the fact that the canal opened an older channel to try to get more ships through.

Prior to the pandemic, trade passing through the Suez Canal contributed to 2% of Egypt's GDP, according to Moody's.

Separately, data from shipping journal Lloyd's List shows the stranded ship is holding up an estimated $9.6bn of trade along the waterway each day. That equates to $400m and 3.3 million tonnes of cargo an hour, or $6.7m a minute.

Looking at the bigger picture, German insurer Allianz said on Friday its analysis showed the blockage could cost global trade between $6bn to $10bn a week and reduce annual trade growth by 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points.

And shipping broker Braemar ACM told the Wall Street Journal that the cost of renting some vessels to ship cargo to and from Asia and the Middle East jumped 47% this week to $2.2m.

Some vessels are being rerouted to avoid the Suez Canal. That is adding around eight days to their total journeys.

Countless businesses are affected

The Suez Canal blockage doesn't just affect the global shipping industry or the Egyptian economy - countless businesses, from domestic transport providers to retailers, supermarkets and manufacturers are also impacted.

The true damage and cost is difficult to evaluate until the ship is freed and trade resumes, but many firms will have to make critical decisions if the blockage continues for another week.

British firms told the BBC on Friday that they were still waiting to find out when goods are likely to arrive.

If the situation at the Suez Canal continues, some firms will have to pay to order more goods and have them sent over by air freight, which costs at least three times more.--BBC

China's answer to YouTube slumps on market debut

Shares of Chinese video platform Bilibili have slumped at their launch on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The shares opened at HKD$790 ($101.6 ; £73.7), which is 2.2% below their issue price, before slipping another 4%.

Bilibili is similar to YouTube, but the company hopes to increase revenues through Netflix-style subscriptions.

The listing is the latest in a large number of "homecomings" for US-listed Chinese companies.

The Chinese firms have sought out secondary listings in Hong Kong due to increased scrutiny from US regulators, which began under President Donald Trump.

In part, the listings are insurance against being kicked off US exchanges, a process which has already started for three Chinese telecommunications companies.

In January, The New York Stock Exchange suspended state-backed telcos China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile.

"Homecoming" listings have not always generated the same level of excitement from investors as some other tech listings.

Shares of the internet search giant Baidu only edged slightly higher when they listed in Hong Kong last week, while ecommerce giant JD.com also had a lacklustre secondary launch last year.

After pricing shares at $104 each last week, Bilibili raised $2.6bn, which was short of the $3bn it had anticipated.

The company's launch is the weakest major share market offering in Hong Kong since Yum China Holdings shares shed 6.3% on debut in September last year, according to Refinitiv data.

Premium content

Currently, Bilibili is a loss-making company, although its prospectus says its revenues have nearly tripled since 2018.

According to the prospectus, the video platform had 202 million monthly average users in the last quarter of 2020, an increase of 55% over the same quarter in 2019.

That's less than a third of rival video platform Kuaishou, which surged nearly a 190% at its share market launch last month before paring back some of those gains.

Bilibili also faces increasingly stiff competition from a range of other home-grown Chinese video platforms.

However, the company hopes to follow in the footsteps of Netflix, and turn a profit by offering premium content to subscribers.

Already, the company has 14.5 million subscribers, and has plans to convince more of its users to pay for content.

The company also makes money from advertising, mobile gaming and e-commerce.--BBC

Liberty Steel won't receive £170m bailout

The government has rejected a request for £170m in financial support for Liberty Steel.

The firm's founder Sanjeev Gupta sent a letter last week asking for help to pay day-to-day operating expenses and absorb recent losses.

Liberty's owner GFG employs 5,000 staff at its 12 UK sites, which include Rotherham, Motherwell and Newport.

GFG's key financial backer, Greensill Capital, filed for insolvency earlier this month.

Government sources told the BBC last week they had concerns about the "opaque" nature of Mr Gupta's empire, which employs 35,000 worldwide.

Any assistance was more likely to come following an administration process, the sources indicated, to support UK jobs as opposed to the corporate entity that owns it.

GFG, a holding company for Mr Gupta's assets, was the biggest recipient of finance from Greensill.

For metal workers in Rotherham, a town steeped in steel, this uncertainty will feel all too familiar.

It has been a difficult few decades for the UK's steel industry, now a fraction of its previous size.

Many of the major plants have gone under only to be rescued and passed through different pairs of hands.

Only four years ago, Sanjeev Gupta stepped in to save the Rotherham plan under the brand of Liberty Steel.

Now he's battling to secure finance for it and the rest of his UK business.

However, the UK government's rejection of his loan request may not mean the end of the road for Liberty and the five thousand people it employs.

Analysts point to the example of British Steel, which was funded by UK taxpayers for almost a year after it went into administration until it was sold on to a Chinese firm in March 2020.--BBC

Union creates hotline for disgruntled Amazon staff

The trade union Unite is setting up a hotline for Amazon staff to complain about their treatment at work.

Organiser Sharon Graham told the BBC it was time the internet retail giant shared its "bonanza profits with the workers who help make them".

Amazon had its most lucrative year ever in 2020, helped by a surge in online shopping during the pandemic.

The company said it offered its staff "excellent" pay, benefits and career opportunities, plus "safe" conditions.

It added that it was "proud" to have created 10,000 jobs in the UK last year.

Ahead of the hotline's launch on Monday, Unite said it wanted to agree a "social contract" with Amazon and for the company to recognise trade unions.

These changes, Ms Graham argued, would help secure higher wages and end "relentless" work targets.

She said staff needed to speak about "the exploitation they suffer day after day as a consequence of Amazon's merciless drive for profit".

Ms Graham - who is planning to run in the contest to replace current Unite general secretary Len McCluskey when he steps down next year - told the BBC the hotline was "not a stunt" and the union was "in this for the long haul".

It wants to hear from staff who have had "had timed toilet breaks", done "back-breaking piece work with never-ending targets", had "compulsory" overtime imposed and needed to talk about "the horrendous record of injuries on the job", she said.

'Critical role'

But Amazon rejected Unite's criticisms, with a spokesman saying: "The fact is we already offer our employees excellent pay, excellent benefits and excellent opportunities for career growth, all while working in a safe, modern work environment."

He added that the company's "competitive wages" started at £9.70 or £10.80 per hour, depending on location, and he would "encourage anyone to compare this to the wages and benefits offered by other retailers".

"We're proud to have created 10,000 new permanent roles across the UK in 2020, taking our total permanent UK workforce to more than 40,000," the spokesman said.

"Our people have played a critical role in serving customers in these unprecedented times and the new roles help us continue to meet customer demand and support small and medium-sized businesses selling on Amazon."--BBC

Japan’s Nomura flags $2 bln loss at U.S. unit, cancels bond issue

Nomura Holdings Inc (8604.T) on Monday flagged a possible $2 billion loss at a U.S. subsidiary, prompting Japan's biggest brokerage and investment bank to shelve a hefty bond issuance and sending its stock tumbling by the most in over a decade.

Nomura's stock was greeted by a deluge of sell orders at market open, pushing its price down as much 16% in early trade.

The firm in a statement said the $2 billion hit derived from transactions with a U.S. client. It based the estimate on market prices as of March 26 and said it could change depending on the unwinding of the transactions and market fluctuation.

The announcement came after a series of block trades in the United States on Friday that investors said caused drops in the stock prices of numerous companies. The trades were linked to sales of holdings by Archegos Capital Management, a person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. read more

Nomura's loss was related to Archegos' trades, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter, one of whom said Archegos was a prime brokerage customer of Nomura.

Reuters' calls to Archegos' New York office after hours on Sunday local time went unanswered. Nomura declined to comment on any relationship with Archegos.

CONFIDENCE

Nomura said it is assessing the impact of the potential loss on its consolidated earnings for the year ending March 31 -scheduled for release on April 27 - and would cancel the planned issuance of $3.25 billion in senior notes.

"As long as these losses are one-off in nature, 1H FY3/22 should be the timing of recovery, thus the impact on the longer-term outlook is relatively limited," Jefferies analysts wrote in a research memo.

Just last month, Nomura expressed confidence in sustaining high earnings after booking a 23% on-year rise in April-December net profit at 308.5 billion yen ($2.82 billion), having reported its best third quarter in 15 years on solid global markets and investment banking.

The recent performance has been driven by its U.S. business, which includes investment banking and equity and bond trading.

"Nomura Holdings should be able to absorb losses of this size," one broker told Reuters, declining to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

"It does raise a question of whether there are losses at other Japanese investment banks that just haven't been revealed yet, but at this point it looks like this problem only affects Nomura. This is not something that will bring down the entire equity market."

Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato on Monday said the government would monitor the situation carefully and that the Financial Services Agency would share information on the matter with the Bank of Japan.

($1 = 109.5300 yen)

How the American SPACs rocket has failed to take off in Europe

"I get an email almost every morning from some SPAC seller telling me to do a SPAC with them," said Johnny Boufarhat, CEO of Hopin, a virtual events platform. "It's interesting, but it also doesn't make sense for us."

Instead, Boufarhat said he wants his London-based company, which is valued at $5.65 billion, to be ready for a traditional initial public offering (IPO) later this year or in 2022.

Hopin is one of several leading European startups, also including Europe's most valuable fintech startup Klarna, that told Reuters they are steering clear of SPACs, or special-purpose acquisition companies, the hot new method of floating a company that has taken the American tech world by storm.

Their caution, driven by fears over heavy costs and regulation, underscores the potentially risky nature of this innovative form of financial alchemy, although bankers said the market was in its infancy and much could change in the future.

There have only been 10 SPAC listings in Europe in 2020 and 2021, with a total value of about $1.3 billion - figures dwarfed by the United States where 522 such listings have brought in over $300 billion, according to data compiled for Reuters by Refinitiv.

SPACs are shell corporations that list on stock exchanges and then merge with an existing company to take that target public without it going through the conventional IPO process.

Such deals have emerged as a form of public market venture capital for some startups that have struggled to raise funds through traditional routes. But they can carry a heavy cost, typically 20% of the equity of the acquired company - which goes to the sponsors, or promoters, of the deal.

European reluctance among both companies and investors partly reflects the relative maturity of the region's tech startups before they go public, compared with U.S. counterparts, according to Reuters interviews with more than 20 entrepreneurs, investors, lawyers and bankers.

For example several "unicorns" valued at over $1 billion, such as Swedish fintech firms Klarna and Trustly and London-based Wise, have years of operating history and healthy financials with little incentive to bear the extra costs of a SPAC deal.

The average age of venture capital-backed startups going public last year was 10.5 years in Europe, nearly double that of the U.S. ones, according to data from Refinitiv.

'NO ONE HAS CONVINCED ME'

Klarna, founded in 2005, told Reuters it aimed to list late this year or more likely in early 2022 and favoured an IPO, rather than a SPAC.

"No one has yet convinced me about why that would be a preferential route," Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said.

Two sources close to Trustly said the 13-year-old company would likely go public later this year via a traditional IPO. Money transfer startup Wise, launched in 2011 and formerly TransferWise, is also not keen on a SPAC deal and wants to IPO in London this year, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Trustly declined to comment.

As a result of such resistance among established firms, some investors said that many companies that turned to SPACs could be untried and thus risky propositions, and expressed concerns about an eventual dotcom-like bursting bubble.

"The danger is that the SPACs will merge with businesses that are not ready to be public and if you're not ready to be a public business you end up disappointing at some point and you end up losing people's money," said Harry Nelis, a London-based investor at venture-capital firm Accel Partners.

Several investors said differences in U.S. and European listing rules were also playing a significant role.

Generally U.S. exchanges are more SPAC-friendly, allowing shares to be held in escrow until an acquisition is made, when investors have the option of getting their money back if they don't like the target company.

Major European exchanges don't allow that, although such regulations are expected to be eased in places like London and Amsterdam. For instance, a rule in London that suspends a SPAC's shares after it picks up a target is widely expected to be relaxed for investors, whose money can currently get locked up.

Conversely, Pär-Jörgen Pärson, general partner at Northzone, which has invested in companies like Spotify and Klarna, said heavier American regulation around traditional IPOs were also encouraging startups and investors to explore SPACs there.

"The European listing rules are not as draconian as in the U.S. so I don't think a SPAC has the same relative appeal to conventional methods as in the U.S. where you circumvent more of the red tape associated with an IPO filing," he added.

'WE'LL SEE A RECORD NUMBER'

However, SPACs proponents believe they will find their place in Europe among tech and biotech companies working on futuristic products. IPOs, unlike SPACs, cannot be promoted on the basis of future profit promises.

"You will see a lot of life science companies, a lot of electric vehicle companies and nascent technologies going public via a SPAC because you are allowed to talk about forecasts, because it's an acquisition," said Rosh Wijayarathna, head of corporate finance EMEA at Silicon Valley Bank.

German air taxi startup Volocopter Chief Executive Florian Reuter told Reuters that the company was considering a SPAC deal as an option, but gave no timeline.

SPACs were pioneered in the early 1990s but have only attracted consistent mainstream interest in the United States in the past 12-18 months, driven by deals for the likes of DraftKings (DKNG.O) and Virgin Galactic (SPCE.N). The current boom is unprecedented and at historic levels.

Financier Nathaniel Rothschild, scion of the famous banking dynasty, was an early SPAC promoter whose investment shell Vallar raised $1.1 billion in 2010 to merge with coal producer Bumi.

"I think the big difference between what we tried to do, and the vast majority of SPACs today, is we wanted to buy a business and stay with it," Rothschild told Reuters. "Many of these SPACs - they're just promoters and when the merger is done they will leave."

Yet Berthold Fuerst, co-head of investment banking in Europe at Deutsche Bank, pointed out it was still early days for the European SPACS market and that it was tough to predict how it would develop.

"Six SPACs were launched in Europe this year, as many have announced the plan to do so as well," said Berthold Fuerst, co-head of investment banking in Europe at Deutsche Bank. "Overall, we will see a record number (of SPAC issuance in Europe), even if the actual volume will be well below that in the U.S."

Asia shares edge higher, oil slips as Suez Canal ship re-floated

Asian share markets edged higher on Monday while oil prices slipped as the ship blocking the Suez Canal was re-floated, raising hopes the vital waterway could reopen and ease global shipping backlogs.

The news added to optimism about world growth as markets look to President Joe Biden to outline his infrastructure spending plans this week, which could supercharge an already accelerating U.S. recovery.

"We expect the global economy to expand robustly at 6.4% this year, fuelled by a large U.S. fiscal stimulus, with positive spillovers for the rest of the world," said Barclays economist Christian Keller.

"Rising inflation over the coming months should be transitory, and core central banks seem committed to looking through it."

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) added 0.3%, with activity restrained by the approach of quarter end. Chinese blue chips rose 0.8% (.CSI300).

Japan's Nikkei (.N225) gained 1%, though there was some nervousness when Nomura reported its U.S. unit could face a $2 billion loss related to a client. read more

There was also some caution after a $20 billion wave of block trades hit markets on Friday, reportedly linked to investment fund Archegos Capital. read more

For now, Nasdaq futures were off 0.6% and S&P 500 futures 0.5%. EUROSTOXX 50 futures did manage to rise 0.2%, while FTSE futures were flat.

The prospect of faster U.S. economic growth has spurred speculation of rising inflation and weighed on Treasury prices. Yields on U.S. 10-year notes eased a touch on Monday to 1.66%, but were still not far from the recent 13-month top of 1.754%.

European yields have been restrained by active buying from the European Central Bank, widening the dollar's yield advantage over the euro. The single currency was last at $1.1786 , having hit a five-month low of $1.1760 last week.

Analysts at TD Securities noted the euro had failed to find any benefit from a very strong German IfO survey on Friday that showed business morale at a near two-year high and signs of recovery in the service sector. read more

"This suggests that market positioning still remains significantly skewed toward the long side in EURUSD — even though spot has seen a meaningful decline through the 200-day moving average," they wrote in a note. "We continue to focus on downside risks from here."

The dollar held at 109.50 yen , having reached its highest since early June on Friday at 109.84. The dollar index stood at 92.774 , after reaching its highest since mid-November.

The lift in yields has weighed on gold, which offers no fixed return, and left it at $1,730 an ounce .

Oil prices eased as markets assumed the re-floating of the Ever Given would allow tankers to use the waterway again. There were over 300 vessels waiting to pass through the shipping route which accounts for 12% of global trade. read more

The market will also be cautious ahead of an OPEC meeting this week, which will have to decide whether to extend supply limits, or loosen the spigots.

Brent fell 90 cents to $63.67 a barrel, while U.S. crude lost $1.03 to $59.94 per barrel.

Investors BlackRock, Vanguard join net zero effort

Top asset managers BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) and Vanguard Group Inc have joined an investor push to limit greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, giving new momentum to the effort despite concerns its goals have some wiggle room.

The two largest U.S. fund firms will now account for roughly half of the $32 trillion of total assets supporting the initiative of groups including the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change in Europe and the United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment.

Signatories to the Net Zero Asset Managers  Initiative, now 73 of them including other new members, commit to press companies in their portfolios to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner. That is needed to halt global warming to well below a 2 degrees C increase as called for in the Paris Agreement, which U.S. President Joe Biden recently re-joined. read more

Net zero refers to a balance between emissions produced and those taken out of the atmosphere through technologies like carbon capture.

Among other things, asset managers will set interim reduction targets for 2030 and report progress under common standards. Some climate activists say the goals and other private-sector efforts are useful but don't go as far as potential government actions.

Angela Falconer, director of climate finance for the Climate Policy Initiative in London, a non-profit research and advisory group, cited limits in the fund firms' pledges, including that they will take account of emissions from companies' products only "to the extent possible."

"There are a few elements which will need to be defined further," said Falconer, though she called the overall effort worthwhile.

Clients are pouring new cash into funds taking account of environmental, social and governance issues. BlackRock has previously called on companies to meet the 2050 net zero goal. Monday's announcement marks a bigger step for Vanguard, which had been less explicit about 2050.

Asked about the change, a spokeswoman for Vanguard referred to a statement by CEO Tim Buckley that it looks forward to establishing "win-win solutions for long-term shareholder return and the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050."

Toyota presses Australia to promote roll-out of hydrogen fuel stations

Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) on Monday opened its first commercial hydrogen fuel pump site in the Australian state of Victoria, urging the government to encourage the rollout of more sites to boost the take-up of cleaner cars.

The automaker is bringing in 20 of its Mirai hydrogen fuel cell cars to Australia in April, placing them in fleets to gain feedback on how they run. The site west of Melbourne is also its biggest globally in terms of producing, storing and dispensing hydrogen.

It is the second such fuel station in Australia after ActewAGL last week began selling hydrogen produced by France's Neoen (NEOEN.PA) in a trial for 20 Hyundai (005380.KS) Nexo sport utility vehicles owned by the Australian Capital Territory government.

Fuel cell vehicles remain a niche segment globally amid concerns about a lack of fuelling stations, resale values and the risk of hydrogen explosions.

Toyota has sold some 10,000 Mirai vehicles, mostly in Japan and the United States.

"Here in Australia, refuelling infrastructure has been the biggest challenge, and still is, to introducing pioneering vehicles like the Mirai. So this is an important step forward to rectifying that," said Matthew MacLeod, Toyota Australia's manager of future technologies and mobility.

Australia is seen as a laggard in the global drive to cut carbon emissions from the transport sector, with no targets or subsidies for cleaner vehicles - even for hybrid or battery electric vehicles, in stark contrast to most other rich nations.

The government, however, projects that 26% of new vehicle sales will be electric vehicles in 2030, up from 1% in 2020.

At the site, Toyota is using rooftop solar to power an electrolyser to split water, producing 80 kilograms a day of hydrogen for the fuel pump. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency provided almost half of the funds for the A$7.4 million ($5.7 million) project.

($1 = 1.3091 Australian dollars)

Oil slumps as Suez Canal container ship starts to move

Oil slumped more than 2% on Monday after news from the Suez Canal that salvage crews have managed to move the giant container ship that hasbeen clogging up the vital global trade passage for nearly a week.

Brent oil was down $1.38, or 2.1%, at $63.19 a barrel by 0511 GMT. U.S. crude fell 1.48 cents, or 2.4%, to $59.49 a barrel.

The stranded container ship Ever Given has almost been completely floated and will be inspected before it is moved, a shipping source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Monday.

Hundreds of other container ships, bulk carriers and oil-laden tankers remain backed up at both ends of the canal, but news of the ship's movement immediately sent oil prices sharply lower after they had traded slightly down for the morning.

Oil prices have swung wildly in the last few days as traders and investors tried to weigh the impact of the blockage of a key trade transit point and the broader effect of lockdowns to stop coronavirus infections.

That market volatility is set to continue, said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA.

"Given the volatility last week, Brent looks set to move to the lower end of its $60.00 to $65.00 a barrel range," he said, while U.S. oil is "likely to drop to the lower side of its $57.50 to $62.50 a barrel weekly range."

Prices are getting some support from expectations that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies will maintain lower output levels when they meet this week. 

Facebook, Google plan new undersea cables to connect Southeast Asia and America

Facebook (FB.O) said on Monday it planned two new undersea cables to connect Singapore, Indonesia and North America in a project with Google and regional telecommunication companies to boost internet connection capacity between the regions.

"Named Echo and Bifrost, those will be the first two cables to go through a new diverse route crossing the Java Sea and they will increase overall subsea capacity in the trans-pacific by about 70%," Facebook Vice President of Network Investments, Kevin Salvadori, told Reuters.

He declined to specify the size of the investment, but said it was "a very material investment for us in Southeast Asia."

The cables, according to the executive, will be the first to directly connect North America to some of the main parts of Indonesia, and will increase connectivity for the central and eastern provinces of the world's fourth most populous country.

Salvadori said "Echo" is being built in partnership with Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.O) and Indonesian telecommunications' company XL Axiata (EXCL.JK) and should be completed by 2023.

Bifrost, which is being done in partnership with Telin, a subsidiary of Indonesia's Telkomsel (TLKM.JK), and Singaporean conglomerate Keppel (KPLM.SI) is due to be completed by 2024.

The two cables, which will need regulatory approval, follow previous investments by Facebook to build up connectivity in Indonesia, one of its top five markets globally.

While 73% of Indonesia's population of 270 million are online, the majority access the web through mobile data, with less than 10 percent using a broadband conn

Tencent Music announces biggest ever $1 bln share buyback

China's Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME.N) announced a $1 billion share repurchase plan, its biggest, late on Sunday, days after the U.S. securities regulator adopted stricter measures for foreign companies listed on American stock exchanges.

The Chinese music streaming company may buy back up to $1 billion of its Class A ordinary shares in the form of American depositary shares during a twelve-month period starting March 29, it said in a statement.

Shares in dual-listed Chinese companies including Tencent Music fell sharply last week after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it would kick out foreign firms from U.S. exchanges if they failed to comply with U.S. auditing standards. read more

The company's shares were further pressured on Friday after a sell off in its stock - and those of several others such as Baidu Inc (9888.HK) and ViacomCBS Inc (VIAC.O) - by Goldman Sachs, according to an email to clients seen by Bloomberg News. read more

Bloomberg and the Financial Times on Saturday reported that Goldman liquidated more than $10 billion worth of stocks in these companies in block trades. read more

CNBC reported that the selling pressure was due to liquidation of positions by family office Archegos Capital Management. read more

U.S.-listed shares of Tencent Music lost more than a third of their value last week.

Mozambique: Foreigners Attacked as Palma Fighting Continues

For the first time, insurgents are specifically attacking foreigners in the on-going fighting in Palma.  Details remain sketchy, but at least a dozen British, South African and other non-Mozambicans working or contractors on the gas project have been killed. Many Mozambicans have been killed. Many Mozambicans and foreigners are missing, including some UN and NGO staff - most probably fled into the forest. There are reports of bodies in the street.

The Amarula Hotel between Palma town and its airstrip on the northern edge of town has become the preferred hotel for contract and aid workers. It was under seige from Thursday with 180 people trapped inside. Early Saturday afternoon a 17 vehicle convoy tried to break out and get to safety on the beach. But the convoy was attacked with at least seven dead.

Hundreds of people have been evacuated by air and sea, including contract and aid staff, and civil servants including the district administrator. The photo shows a message at the Palma Residence hotel, with people hoping for rescue. South African private military contractor DAG and the Mozambican military have been involved in the rescues.

It appears to have been a very coordinated attack, similar to the one which took Mocimboa da Praia last year. During several days insurgents infiltrated Palma and stayed with local supporters. Three groups attacked on Wednesday and were supported later by more insurgents arriving by truck. Roads to Palma were blocked by insurgents who ambushed vehicles and attacked soldiers trying to reach Palma.

The attackers first attacked government installations such as the police, the hospital, and three banks. Many government and commercial buildings were destroyed. The insurgent force must be at least 150 fighters, with many still in Palma.

The attacks will raise serious questions about the expected development of the multi-billion dollar gas liquification plants on the Afungi peninsula. Funding has been approved, including $1 bn in credits from the UK. British High Commissioner NneNne Iwuji-Eme held a meeting in Pemba on 16 March to say that under the credit British companies are promised 25% of the contracts and thus to promote local British contractors to bid. People at the meeting raised security questions.

One of those killed in Palma was a British man who attended the meeting with the High Commissioner, and was building a staff compound for 2000 workers expected to arrive in Palma. How many of those workers will arrive now?

Kenya Now Has 5G - This Is What It Can Do for You

The super connectivity of 5G technology has finally graced Kenya's mobile network through Safaricom and, though still in its infancy, its potential will be widely experienced in the next few years, when affordable 5G smartphones are expected to be readily available.

But now that it is here, just what can 5G do for Kenya, where 75 per cent of the population is aged 35 years and below, according to the 2019 national census?

For the millions of confirmed tech-savvy Kenyans who possess a Safaricom SIM card, huge expectations in seamless connectivity lie ahead, across different aspects of daily life.

And as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to catalyse digital transformation across the globe, 5G could be the anchor technology that powers a seismic drift towards a mass adoption of other frontier technologies across various professions.

Smart living

Right now the so-called Internet of Things (IoT) is still an unexplored field. But with 5G, in the next few years you will be able to convert your home into a smart living ecosystem where everything is automated and connected to the 5G internet and controlled from your smartphone.

>From wall clocks, lights, fridges, cookers, hot water heaters, iron boxes, televisions, sub-woofers, cameras, windows, doors, chandeliers, and beds to your car and entry gate, all these can be managed from a mobile app.

It is not science fiction. All these devices can be programmed to communicate with each other and send you real-time notifications about what is happening to each of them, and follow your commands -- only your commands as biometrics and facial recognition are already reshaping device security with 5G.

This home automation will be a reality, and Kenyans will get more innovative to save time, enhance home security, live healthier and create a virtual social order in their homes.

Cases of misplacing items in the house, devices malfunctioning without prior warning or disease-causing organisms entering your living room without your knowledge could soon be history.

A door app that monitors entry and exit of family members will provide key information if some items disappear from the house or when a visitor arrives, while mattresses will be automated to send notifications when another person apart from your spouse lies on it.

This is already happening, with smart devices taking the height and physical countenance of the visitor and sending it to house's owner in developed countries. No more cheating? You can now say that.

Work

Employed Kenyans have now adapted to the new norm of working from home, and 5G's fast connectivity will help employers make that permanent and save millions of cash in expenses used to finance the traditional style of working from the office. This will in turn help startups, SMEs and big corporates boost their profit margins as production speeds are reduced quality improved.

Work and employee monitoring, the extent to which deadlines and targets have been met will be much easier to report. Expect local developers to create apps and software to end the voluminous paperwork seen in professions such as law, insurance, banking, conveyancing, education and health.

With 5G, the detection of counterfeit goods becomes even more easier and less costly. This would boost the credibility of most manufacturing plants while helping the Kenya Bureau of Standards instill product discipline for processing companies.

A recent ABI Research study showed that 5G technology can decrease production times of emerging technologies 10 times more than 4G connections.

Many experts in the industry see 5G connectivity as the major pillar in the mass adoption of all other emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data analytics, blockchain, 3D printing, VR technology, IoT and threat intelligence in making businesses more profitable.

With 5G, businesses will be able to create multiple virtual networks with just one physical system, in what techies call network slicing, which provides an end-to-end virtual system encompassing not only networking but computing and storage functions as well.

This is the technology that could enable cashless payments for huge transactions, forever erasing the current three-day wait for cheque or salary processing. Going cashless would also mean reduced traffic and more order in Kenya's chaotic matatu industry.

Journalism

5G could give Kenyan TV news producers and editors in the newsroom faster access to live reporting from the field. Contrary to the current situation where verified breaking news takes about 10 minutes to appear on TV screens or news websites, 5G can enable a real-time reportage of current issues.

In such a case, using their smartphones, journalists can login to a 5G-enabled news management software and break the news on websites, TV and social media simultaneously. Where a 5G ultra wideband uplink exists, journalists can send extremely heavy video files and photos, usually of the 8K resolution, to news desks within seconds.

A more futuristic use of 5G in the newsroom could be the use of holograms and Augmented Reality in explaining complex segments of a news feature for TV audiences.

There is no doubt that 5G will make Virtual Reality gears more affordable and that could change news consumption as we know it, where Kenyans could purchase the devices to experience news delivery in an immersive environment that comes with higher comprehension of technical and highly analytical stories.

And 5G, through scanning of how different TV channels or news websites transmit news, will be a key tool in the fight against fake news emanating from fake videos, photos, articles and bylines.

Entertainment

5G comes with an extremely low latency. That means the delay in transmitting heavy files is minimal compared to 4G, and that will usher in a new era of mobile video consumption.

According to IHS Markit's 5G Is Here: Early Insights From Our Experts report, video consumption in the world will hit an all time high of 70 per cent of all online content in 2022.

A lot of Kenyans are used to consuming movies, comedy, documentaries and local and international soaps on YouTube, Netflix and Showmax, and the quality of content is likely to improve. Expect new services such as group watching of a new movie in real time and screen-sharing.

Also, expect more local video content, and the creation of intelligent troubleshooting guides featuring video walk-throughs for technical problems in your home.

For those who love to download heavy movies to watch later, they will be able to do so faster, with Safaricom promising to offer a downlink speed of 1,000 Megabits per second (Mbps).

With more video content, cloud storage will be handy for entertainment lovers, and that is likely to make cloud computing services more affordable as different vendors compete to capture the market.-Nation.

Nigeria: U.S.$1.5 Billion for Port Harcourt Refinery Rehabilitation

The eyebrows that were raised when the federal government penultimate week approved a whopping sum of $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt Refinery was not exactly unexpected. To many Nigerians, it seems like a journey on the same bumpy road that leads to nowhere.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, who announced the new deal after the weekly Federal Executive Council, (FEC), meeting said the rehabilitation will be done in three phases of 18, 24 and 44 months. He disclosed that the contract was awarded to an Italian company, Tecnimont spa, who are experts in refinery maintenance, on the recommendation of the Japanese firm that built it.

He also noted that the funding would be in three components, namely, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), budgetary allocations and facility from Afreximbank.

In the considered opinion of this newspaper, spending $1.5 billion on the refinery at a time when the resources of the country are few and far between has left much to be desired.

Indeed, experts have adduced that the inability of our refineries to function for years is a national shame that has left the country at the mercy of prices in the international oil market .

Regrettably, in our view, Nigeria has spent about $25 billion in turnaround maintenance of the country's refineries in the past 25 years with virtually nothing to show for it. We also recall the decision of the senate last year to probe the (NNPC), over alleged $396 million expended on Turn-Around Maintenance (TAM) of the refineries between 2013 and 2015. There is no doubt that TAM has become synonymous with sleaze and corruption as many Nigerians see it as an avenue for some penny pinching government officials to loot the treasury.

The contradiction in this new deal is that it is coming at a time when government is supposed to hands off downstream oil business, courtesy of deregulation. Again, we recall that last year, the federal government announced a total deregulation of the downstream sector and the removal of subsidy, in the midst of fuel importation for local consumption.

What many industry watchers consider amazing is why successive administrations had failed to build more refineries in the years of oil boom, yet left the existing four refineries to die.

That does not happen in other climes. It is noteworthy that as at January 1, 2020, there were 135 functional petroleum refineries in the United States of America. Also, Singapore, a country with a population of the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT) has three refineries.South Africa on the other hand has functioning six refineries.

In the case of Nigeria, according to an NNPC report last year, three of Nigeria's four refineries gulped N1.64 trillion in cumulative losses recorded in their operations since 2014. Two of these refineries are the 210,000 barrels per day capacity Port Harcourt Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited and 110,000 barrels per day Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited.The audit reports showed that combined losses from the two refineries were N208.6 billion in 2014; N252.8 billion in 2015; N290.6 billion in 2016; N412 billion in 2017, and N475 billion in 2018.

As we have consistently advocated, government has no business in business.This is an axiom that must be internalised by the nation's decision makers if we desire a shift from this merry-go-round approach to development issues.

It is, however, gratifying to note that Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo recently said the only way to effectively address the massive infrastructural deficit that the country faces is by Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement in one form or the other. This, in our considered opinion, is the way to go.

Before now, experts in the oil industry had suggested that the best option for the country would have been to sell the refineries or enter into a PPP arrangement. Individuals and corporate bodies, especially the oil majors, should have been encouraged to build refineries through appropriate legislations. It is instructive to note that Dangote oil refinery, a 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) integrated refinery and petrochemical project, expected to be Africa's biggest oil refinery and the world's biggest single-train facility is expected to come on stream next year. Government should encourage other well to do Nigerians to invest in the downstream sector.

Besides, we understand the nationalistic deposition of the present administration to have a government owned refinery, but previous experiences have shown that government cannot manage such investments. And the earlier this reality is accepted, the better for the country.

It is from this position that we are obligated to urge the government to halt the planned rehabilitation and sell the refineries or go into a PPP arrangement with interested firms.-Leadership.

Invest Wisely!

Bulls n Bears 

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INVESTORS DIARY 2021

Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

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

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