Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 06 October 2021

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 06 October 2021

 


 

 


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ü  New Zealand raises interest rates for first time in seven years

ü  Fishing rights row: France warns that agreements with the UK are at risk

ü  Tesco 'outperforms' with sales and profits growth

ü  Will the government's economic plan work?

ü  Amazon opens first UK non-food store

ü  Tesla must pay $137m to racially harassed former worker

ü  What happened to Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram?

ü  Fuel stocks in South and London behind rest of UK

ü  Airlines warn erratic global COVID-19 rules could delay recovery

ü  Kering, Cartier launch environmental pact for watches, jewellery

ü  Bayer shares up after first trial win over Roundup

ü  Hong Kong property agencies suing Evergrande to recover commissions

ü  Google wants to use AI to time traffic lights more efficiently

 

 

 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

New Zealand raises interest rates for first time in seven years

New Zealand's central bank has raised interest rates for the first time in
seven years as it tries to rein in property prices and inflation.

 

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) increased its cash rate by a quarter
of a percentage point to 0.5%.

 

Economists had expected the hike last month but the bank held off due to an
outbreak of the Covid-19 Delta variant.

 

New Zealand is one of the first developed economies to reverse rate cuts put
in place during the pandemic.

 

The RBNZ also said it plans to remove more stimulus measures as the economy
continues to recover.

 

"The Committee noted that further removal of monetary policy stimulus is
expected over time, with future moves contingent on the medium-term outlook
for inflation and employment," the RBNZ said.

 

New Zealand has recovered rapidly from a recession last year, partly because
it managed to contain the coronavirus and was able to begin to reopen its
economy before other countries.

 

The RBNZ last raised the cost of borrowing at its July 2014 interest rate
setting meeting.

 

It had cut its main interest to a record low of 0.25% in March last year to
help support the economy against the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Unwinding emergency measures

Central banks, governments and international financial bodies had slashed
interest rates and pumped trillions of dollars into the global economy last
year to help protect it from the effects of countries going into lockdowns
and closing their borders.

 

The hike puts New Zealand amongst a handful of developed economies that have
raised borrowing costs in recent weeks as central banks look to wind back
those emergency measures.

 

In August, South Korea became the first major Asian economy to raise
interest rates since the coronavirus pandemic began.

 

The Bank of Korea increased its base rate of interest from a record low of
0.5% to 0.75%.

 

The move was aimed at helping curb the country's household debt and home
prices, which soared in recent months.

 

Norway and the Czech Republic have also raised their borrowing costs in the
last month.

 

Other countries are also expected to hike interest rates in the coming
months. These higher borrowing costs will inevitably be passed on to
individuals and businesses.-BBC

 

 

 

Fishing rights row: France warns that agreements with the UK are at risk

France has intensified pressure on the UK over post-Brexit fishing rights,
warning bilateral co-operation could be at risk.

 

The government in Paris is angry that the UK granted 12 licences out of 47
bids for smaller vessels to fish in its territorial waters.

 

French Prime Minister Jean Castex has accused the UK of not respecting its
Brexit deal commitments on fishing.

 

"Britain does not respect its own signature," he told French MPs.

 

"Month after month, the UK presents new conditions and delays giving
definitive licences... this cannot be tolerated."

 

The prime minister warned that all bilateral agreements with the UK could be
at risk if the European Commission did not take a tougher stance on the UK
government. No details were given, but the two countries have a raft of
agreements covering defence, security and border controls as well as energy
and trade.

 

The UK's Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has
said the government's approach has been reasonable and fully in line with
its commitments.

 

Speaking at the Conservative party conference, the UK's Brexit minister
rejected French claims that the UK was in breach of the Brexit trade deal.

 

Lord Frost insisted that 98% of EU applications to fish in British waters
had been granted, adding that the UK had been "extremely generous".

 

Delicate state of post-Brexit relations

The Commission said it was in constant contact with UK authorities to ensure
all licence applications were dealt with as soon as possible. "The UK has
published its methodology and we are now discussing the differences with the
British and Jersey authorities regarding the rights of the boats involved."

 

BBC Brussels correspondent Jessica Parker says there is little sense that
the Commission is poised to act, with post-Brexit relations in a delicate
state as the EU prepares solutions for fixing the controversial Northern
Ireland Protocol.

 

Fresh tensions surfaced last week between Britain and France over
post-Brexit fishing rights.

 

France was infuriated last week by the relatively small number of licences
granted to smaller vessels, when Sea Minister Annick Girardin spoke of
French fishing being "taken hostage" for political ends.

 

The UK said it would consider further evidence to support remaining bids for
fishing rights.

 

France on Tuesday repeated its threat to cut the UK off from energy
supplies.

 

A UK government document in July said that 47% of the country's electricity
imports were from France.

 

French Europe Minister Clément Beaune told Europe 1 radio: "The UK depends
on our energy exports, they think they can live alone while also beating up
on Europe and, given that it doesn't work, they engage in aggressive
one-upmanship."

 

The Channel island of Jersey became a flashpoint for tensions last May, when
French fishermen staged a protest outside the port of St Helier and two
Royal Navy ships were sent to patrol the area.

 

At the time Ms Girardin threatened to cut off Jersey's electricity supply -
95% of which is delivered by three underwater cables from France.

 

EXPLAINER: Who really owns UK fishing rights?

French fishermen complained about being prevented from operating in British
waters because of difficulties in obtaining licences.

 

Under an agreement with the EU, French boat operators must show a history of
fishing in the area to receive a licence for Jersey's waters. But it has
been claimed additional requirements were added without notice.-BBC

 

 

 

Tesco 'outperforms' with sales and profits growth

Tesco has seen sales and profits grow more than expected as Britain's
biggest supermarket group shrugged off the impact of the pandemic.

 

In the six months to August, Tesco said it "outperformed" the grocery sector
but also flagged that the sales surge could now start to "fall away".

 

But it would still mean stronger profits growth this year than was first
thought, a Tesco statement said.

 

The industry-wide impact of supply chain problems also seemed less severe.

 

Ken Murphy, chief executive of Tesco, said: "With various different
challenges currently affecting the industry, the resilience of our supply
chain and the depth of our supplier partnerships has once again been shown
to be a key asset."

 

Group revenues jumped by 5.9% to £30.4bn for the six months, compared with
the same period last year. Operating profits increased by 28% to £1.3bn for
the period.

 

Sales in the first six months of Tesco's financial year rose 2.6% to
£27.3bn, while UK like-for-like sales rose 1.2%, having risen 0.5% in the
first quarter.

 

'Uncertainty'

Analysts said Tesco was benefiting from its huge online business, from a
pricing strategy that matched the prices of German-owned discounter Aldi on
around 650 products and the success of its "Clubcard Prices" loyalty scheme
which offered lower prices to members.

 

But the company has again flagged possible food price inflation, following
Tesco chairman John Allan's warning last month in an ITV interview that
costs could rise by 5% this winter.

 

Julie Palmer, partner at Begbies Traynor, said likely price rises, along
with the HGV driver shortage, pointed to the future looking "more uncertain"
for Tesco.

 

"The supermarket has already warned the UK government that the shortage of
lorry drivers could cause severe disruption to deliveries, causing panic
buying in the run-up to Christmas," she said.

 

"While this may push up sales temporarily, it also means chaos when stock
runs out and rising costs for the supermarket which it may struggle to pass
on to its customers in a competitive market.

 

"Add supply chain disruption, an energy crisis, wage inflation and a lack of
workers to the basket, Tesco has considerable headwinds in the final quarter
of the year."

 

Tesco's share price has risen about 10% so far this year, and jumped 5% in
early trading. But the shares have underperformed both Sainsbury's and
Morrisons - the latter on the end of a takeover and the former facing bid
speculation.

 

Shares in Morrisons, being taken over by US private equity group Clayton,
Dubilier & Rice, are up 60% this year, while Sainsbury's are up nearly
33%._BBC

 

 

 

Will the government's economic plan work?

The UK is facing two supply shocks right now.

 

One is a global supply shock as the world's economy sluggishly wakes up from
lockdown.

 

It shows itself in backed up cargo ships from China in California's seas,
unable to offload their cargo; in thousands of cars left without microchips;
in rising natural gas prices.

 

On top of that there is a UK-specific supply shock.

 

Inflation pressures

This comes from fewer European workers, and the imposition of non tariff
barriers on trade with the rest of Europe.

 

Both these shocks are pushing up general prices. The global shock is the
dominant factor right now, but in some sectors such as pig farming, and into
the future, the UK-specific supply crunch may matter more.

 

What is the UK's inflation rate and why does it matter?

The PM has sewn together several acute economic phenomena and sought to
explain them in one sweeping narrative: that constrained supply of foreign
workers will help raise wages for Britons.

 

Driver shortages that were only a month ago denied as having any relation to
post-Brexit policy, are now embraced as the very point of EU exit.

 

Conservative conference: UK in period of adjustment after Brexit, says PM

Indeed, the shortages at petrol stations and on some shop shelves are part
of a transition to a new post-Brexit high-tech and high-wage economy.

 

The Prime Minister is right to argue that these are problems we may have
wished for given the situation a year ago.

 

They are problems of surging demand, and normalisation of demand in the
economy.

 

That was far from certain a year ago, amid fears of lockdowns causing a
depression and mass unemployment.

 

But while we have reported on rising wages in sectors where there are
shortages, this is yet to filter into the overall figures for earnings in
the economy.

 

Wage rises

Some annual earnings figures are up by extraordinary amounts, but that is
the consequence of distortions in the statistics from lockdown and furlough.

 

The same distortions led to the suspension of the triple lock for pensions.

 

Up to a point it is good news for those with skills in hot demand.

 

But the wage rises are not the result of increases in productivity. They are
the consequence of those two significant supply shocks.

 

There are fewer workers as a result of a combination of Covid and Brexit.

 

And there are severe post-pandemic logistical crises and backlogs affecting
the world, most clearly the microchip shortage in the car industry.

 

Costs are going up for the same amount of production.

 

The trade-off between economic growth and inflation is getting worse.

 

In simple terms, if this is right, the wage rises seen in certain
occupations will be gobbled up by rising prices across the economy.

 

Robots

The answer, says the government, is for businesses to invest in the
workforce with training and skills to raise productivity to match wage
rises.

 

A ready pool of workers from EU, up until this year, decreased the incentive
for such investment.

 

The Chancellor's "super deduction" tax cut provides an additional huge
incentive for businesses to invest in new machinery to improve productivity.

 

The UK, for example, does not even appear on league tables of industrial
"robot density", having less than a third of the number of robots per 10,000
employees of Germany, Sweden and Japan, and a tenth of Singapore's number.
So there is room for significant improvement.

 

But that still leaves a considerable timing gap.

 

Consumer prices are going up now. In a best case scenario the productivity
enhancement to match them will take years.

 

But more than that, in many manufacturing industries the super deduction
investment is far more likely to involve automation of jobs previously done
by EU agency workers, than their replacement by retrained British workers.

 

Consumer hit

The other challenge for the government is that inflationary pressures cannot
really be naturally contained by forcing the private sector to increase
wages.

 

There are numerous examples of bin collectors or bus drivers being sucked
into the freight industry, given the wage rises.

 

But then where are the bus drivers and bin collectors then going to come
from?

 

The local providers of public services will also have to raise their wages,
which will hit prices or council tax and business rates.

 

Can a more general public service pay freeze survive a structural rise in
inflation?

 

Throw in an imminent judgment on the rise in the National Living Wage, and
it is difficult to see how consumers don't end up footing a larger bill for
these wage rises.

 

And then there is a very significant concern that Number 10 may well be
underplaying.

 

Rate rise pressure

An independent Bank of England needs to be able to smash incipient
inflationary pressure with a great big mallet.

 

The Bank has been traditionally willing to look through one-off spikes in
energy prices, or currency falls, or the impact of the post-pandemic
rebound: that is, to avoid interest rate rises at times of high inflation.

 

But the government is leaning into the post-Brexit supply shock to wages.

 

It is, in some part, the author of this additional labour supply shock,
which makes the economy more inflationary.

 

If it can make a definitive judgement that this is indeed the case, then the
Bank will raise interest rates more quickly, and possibly by more than
otherwise.

 

Both it and the OBR are currently assessing the impact of these factors.

 

So there are significant challenges to the government's new economic
strategy.

 

Clearly it is not just about economics.

 

The "positive" supply shock from British firms having access to an unlimited
pool of east-European workers had social and political consequences, which
helped bring about Brexit and the Prime Minister to power.

 

But the neat narrative that current stresses and strains are all part of a
transition plan is risky.

 

It makes the Bank of England's waiting game more difficult.

 

And well before the fruits of high investment, technology and wages emerge,
it stands to be tested by the immediate reality of rising prices, and
perhaps by international markets too.-BBC

 

 

 

Amazon opens first UK non-food store

Amazon is expanding its presence on the High Street by opening its first
non-food store in the UK.

 

The shop, in the Bluewater shopping mall near Dartford, will sell around
2,000 of its most popular and best-rated products.

 

It's called Amazon 4-star, because every item has been given more than four
stars by customers.

 

However, one retail expert said the shop could be "muddled and uninspiring".

 

This will be the first Amazon 4-star store outside the US, where there are
already more than 30 outlets.

 

The range of products, which takes in books, consumer electronics, toys,
games and homeware, reflects what Amazon customers are buying online.

 

There's a "Most Wished For" section, for instance, showing the most popular
products from customers' wish lists.

 

Digital price tags are used to ensure the prices are the same in-store and
online. Shoppers don't need to have an Amazon account to use it.

 

And customers will also be able to collect items ordered online as well as
return items without the need for packaging and labels.

 

Andy Jones, director of Amazon 4-star UK, declined to say how many more
stores he plans to open in the UK.

 

This global giant is often accused of killing the High Street by
undercutting traditional retailers and paying less tax.

 

Now it's moving onto their physical patch as well.

 

However, retail expert Natalie Berg said the Amazon move "is purely about
experimentation".

 

The giant's aim, she said, is to encourage more online shopping.

 

"This is not about shifting more product; it's about baiting shoppers into
Amazon's ecosystem," Ms Berg said.

 

"It's about getting shoppers to engage with Amazon's devices, reminding
Prime customers of the value in their memberships, and offering additional
choice when it comes to collection and returns of online orders."

 

Amazon has already opened six grocery convenience stores in the UK with
checkout-free technology.

 

But Ms Berg said the jury is still out as to whether the world's most
disruptive retailer can do one of the most fundamental retail tasks - run
stores.

 

"The 4-star concept has the potential to be a bit muddled and uninspiring,"
she said.

 

"The store features a smorgasbord of products, the result of Amazon's very
scientific, data-led approach to physical retail.

 

"But when you strip out the high-tech touches, I struggle to see how it
differentiates from any other retailer," says Ms Berg.

 

Landlords, though, may welcome the move as they try to find new players to
take on empty shops, driven largely by our shopping habits moving
online.-BBC

 

 

 

Tesla must pay $137m to racially harassed former worker

Carmaker Tesla has been ordered to pay almost $137m (£101m) in damages for
failing to stop a black former worker at its Fresno plant from being abused.

 

Owen Diaz, a lift operator from 2015 to 2016, was subjected to a racially
hostile work environment, a federal court in San Francisco found.

 

Mr Diaz claimed black workers regularly faced racist slurs on the factory
floor and racist graffiti in bathrooms.

 

Tesla disputed the verdict but said it recognised it was "not perfect".

 

Mr Diaz's lawsuit alleged African-American workers "encountered a scene
straight from the Jim Crow era" at the electric carmaker's Fremont factory.

 

It said colleagues used racial epithets "daily" and told Mr Diaz to "go back
to Africa".

 

"Tesla's progressive image was a facade papering over its regressive,
demeaning treatment of African-American employees," it said.

 

Despite complaints to supervisors, the court found Tesla did not take
reasonable steps to tackle the abuse.

 

On Monday, the jury at the San Francisco court awarded Mr Diaz $130m in
punitive damages and $6.9m for emotional distress, according to Mr Diaz's
attorneys.

 

One of them, Lawrence Organ of the California Civil Rights Law Group, said
he hoped the high penalty would spur change.

 

"It's gratifying to know that a jury's willing to hold Tesla accountable,
one of the world's largest, richest corporations finally is told, 'You can't
let this kind of thing happen at your factory,'" he told the Washington
Post.

 

'We're still not perfect'

In a message to employees shared on Tesla's website, the firm's vice
president of people, Valerie Capers Workman, said she "strongly" believed
the verdict was unjustified. The carmaker had responded in a "timely" way to
Mr Diaz's complaints, she said.

 

She added: "We do recognise that in 2015 and 2016 we were not perfect. We're
still not perfect. But we have come a long way from five years ago."

 

She said the firm had added an employee relations team, dedicated to
investigating complaints, and a diversity team focused on ensuring equal
opportunities at Tesla.

 

Black employees made up just 4% of Tesla US leadership roles and 10% of its
total workforce in the country, according to its first diversity report
published in December,-BBC

 

 

 

What happened to Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram?

Facebook has apologised after it stopped working for users around the world
for several hours on Monday.

 

WhatsApp and Instagram - which are owned by the company - were also down.

 

What was the problem?

In a nutshell, Facebook's systems stopped talking to the wider internet.

 

It was as if "someone had pulled the cables from their data centres all at
once and disconnected them from the internet", explained web infrastructure
firm Cloudflare.

 

Facebook's explanation was a little more technical.

 

It said "configuration changes on the backbone routers that co-ordinate
network traffic between our data centres caused issues that interrupted this
communication". This had a "cascading effect... bringing our services to a
halt".

 

Zuckerberg apologises for six-hour Facebook outage

So why couldn't people access Facebook?

The internet breaks down into hundreds of thousands of networks. Big firms
like Facebook have their own larger networks - known as autonomous systems.

 

When you want to visit Facebook (or Instagram or WhatsApp), the back-end
system that allows computers to connect with their network uses the Border
Gateway Protocol (BGP) - a kind of postal service for the internet.

 

In order to direct people to the websites they want to visit, BGP looks at
all of the available paths that data could travel and picks the best route.

 

On Monday Facebook suddenly stopped providing the information the system
needed to function.

 

It meant nobody's computers had any way of connecting to Facebook or its
other sites.

 

What effect did the outage have?

The failure of such key internet players had a knock-on effect on
individuals and businesses across the globe.

 

Downdetector, which tracks outages, said some 10.6 million problems were
reported around the world - the largest number ever recorded.

 

For many, losing access to Facebook's services was just an inconvenience.
But for some small businesses in the developing world without other reliable
ways to communicate with customers, it may have been a serious problem.

 

Likewise, some organisations where staff are still working remotely after
the pandemic, now rely on WhatsApp to keep colleagues in touch.

 

How was this allowed to happen?

A flurry of reports began around 16:45 BST on Monday that Facebook,
Instagram and WhatsApp weren't working.

 

At first, this caused the usual jokes about how people would cope, and jibes
from rivals such as Twitter.

 

But it soon became clear that this was a more serious issue - with reports
of mayhem at Facebook's California headquarters.

 

Sheera Frenkel, a tech reporter for the New York Times, told the BBC part of
the reason it took so long to fix was because "the people trying to figure
out what this problem was couldn't even physically get into the building" to
work out what had gone wrong.

 

We don't yet know whether the issue was due to a software bug or simple
human error.

 

However, the conspiracy theories are already circulating - deliberate foul
play from a Facebook insider being just one of many.

 

How has Facebook reacted?

Facebook's apology, rather embarrassingly, was posted on rival network
Twitter.

 

Mike Proulx - an analyst for research company Forrester - says the incident
raises questions about the way Facebook brought lots of its technical
operations together in recent years.

 

He says it made them more efficient but means that if one thing goes wrong
there can be "a cascading effect, like old-school Christmas lights where one
goes out, they all go out".

 

Facebook has experienced outages before but they've generally been fixed
within an hour or so.

 

A longer and more disruptive blackout like this one demonstrates the problem
of so much of the world's communications being concentrated in Silicon
Valley.

 

And this in turn raises questions whether the working of the internet should
be in the hands of just a few big companies.

 

How much money has Facebook lost?

Perhaps the biggest issue for Facebook itself will have been the effect it
had on its revenue and stock price. The shutdown meant ads weren't served
for over six hours across its platforms.

 

According to some, the outage could have wiped as much as $6bn (£4.4bn) from
Mr Zuckerberg's personal wealth, with its shares dropping nearly 5%.

 

Others estimate that the loss of revenue to the company could amount to more
than $60m.

 

And this blow to Facebook's reputation comes at a difficult time.

 

A whistle-blower responsible for leaking many internal documents, takes the
stand at a US Senate hearing today.

 

It is also under scrutiny from regulators around the world who have
questioned whether it's responding appropriately to issues such as
misinformation, hate speech and handling user data, or whether - as the
whistleblower says - it's putting "growth over safety".

 

Now its technical abilities are also in question.-BBC

 

 

 

Fuel stocks in South and London behind rest of UK

Fuel supplies to petrol stations in London and the south-east of England are
improving but still remain behind the rest of the country, retailers say.

 

The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) said 64% of forecourts in those areas
had both types of fuel compared to 86% of sites nationally.

 

Supplies have increased in recent days after the military was deployed amid
a shortage of fuel tanker drivers.

 

The government is offering 300 short-term visas to overseas lorry drivers.

 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said 127 foreign drivers had applied for visas
aimed at tackling shortages, however, the Department for Business said only
27 drivers had been identified. It has not confirmed what Mr Johnson's
number was referring to.

 

The Times reported that just 27 people from the European Union had applied
to be tanker drivers.

 

The PRA, which represents independent forecourts across the UK, said "steady
deliveries and stabilising demand" had led to improvements in stocks across
the country.

 

Gordon Balmer, PRA executive director, said 15% of sites in London and the
south-east of England still had no fuel, down from 20% on Monday.

 

"Whilst there has been a significant reduction in dry sites, these areas are
still lagging behind in having both grades of fuel available compared to the
rest of the UK," he said.

 

Nationally, the percentage of dry sites increased from 8% to 11% on Tuesday,
the PRA said.

 

"Members are reporting they are now receiving deliveries from military
drivers using commercial tankers, however further action must be taken to
address the needs of disproportionately affected areas."

 

Besides fuel drivers, the government is offering a further 4,700 temporary
visas in total for foreign food lorry drivers, which will last from late
October to the end of February, in an attempt to avoid other supply chain
issues. It is not yet known how many people have applied to this scheme.

 

Mr Johnson said the slow rate of visa applications was a "fascinating
illustration of the problem", which he added was a "global" issue, thought
he admitted there was a "particular problem in the UK".

 

What's happening about petrol shortages?

Why is there an HGV driver shortage?

He said working in road haulage "should be a great job", but added that
there had been an underinvestment in facilities and pay conditions.

 

He dismissed the suggestion that the problem was anything to do with Brexit.
He noted the "supply chain problem is linked to recovery" and said other
parts of the world were also affected.

 

"Imagine the UK has been in deep freeze and the pipes are unfreezing right
now - stresses and strain of the economy waking up," Mr Johnson said.

 

The Road Haulage Association (RHA) said the small number of visa
applications was the "proof in the pudding" that short-term visas were "not
going to be attractive".

 

A spokesman for the trade body said that for visas to be an attractive
proposition to overseas lorry drivers, they needed to last 12 months.

 

"The reality is that we have to assume these drivers from abroad are already
in employment elsewhere. If visas are only three months... it's unlikely
there is going to be much take up," he added.

 

Livia Spera, general secretary of the European Transport Workers'
Federation, said she was "not surprised" drivers were not "rushing to sign
up for visas".

 

"We already predicted and warned that short-term measures such as visas
wouldn't work," she added.

 

Ms Spera said there was "no quick fix" to the problem. She said increasing
driver wages and improving working conditions was the "only answer to the
crisis".

 

In response to the prime minister's comments on roadside facilities, the
RHA's Rod McKenzie said it was a "false premise" that a trade body could
deal with the issue alone.

 

"The majority of hauliers are small companies, less than 10 lorries," he
said. "It requires government commitment to facilitate the development of
commercial sites.

 

"Government departments however have consistently ignored industry calls to
press for cleaner and safer facilities on our roads."

 

Trade bodies have estimated the UK currently has a shortage of about 90,000
HGV drivers, which has been caused by several factors, including the
coronavirus pandemic, Brexit and an ageing workforce.

 

The shortages have started to affect supply chains in recent months, with
some supermarkets struggling to stock certain products and petrol stations
being unable to stock enough fuel to meet demand.

 

The government has said temporary visas are not a long-term solution and has
urged firms to invest in a UK workforce.

 

Mr Johnson said the UK economy could not "go back to the failed model where
you mainline low-wage, low-skilled labour".

 

"It's time for investing in people and skills."-BBC

 

 

Airlines warn erratic global COVID-19 rules could delay recovery

(Reuters) - Global airlines on Tuesday wrapped up their first meeting since
COVID-19 brought their industry to its knees, voicing optimism about pent-up
demand but desperate for governments to harmonize disjointed border rules to
avoid slipping back into recession.

 

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which groups 290
airlines, said confusion over travel restrictions were holding back the
industry's fragile recovery after the pandemic plunged air travel into its
worst ever downturn.

 

"People want to fly. We've seen strong evidence of that," said Director
General Willie Walsh. "They can't fly because we have restrictions that are
impeding international travel."

 

IATA expects international travel to double next year compared with the
depressed levels seen during the pandemic and reach 44% of pre-crisis 2019
levels. In contrast, domestic travel is tipped to reach 93% of the
pre-pandemic levels.

 

The trade group, which includes dozens of state-owned carriers, blamed that
gap on wide variations in entry rules and testing requirements in the top 50
air travel markets.

 

Even some of the airline and leasing company leaders trying to attend the
industry's annual gathering in Boston were unable to travel or had to carve
out extra time for quarantine.

 

Airlines called for an end to restrictions on vaccinated travelers and for
common health protocols at borders, though global coordination in aviation
tends to move at a deliberate pace.

 

"Frankly, governments haven't made it easy for airlines or for the traveling
public to understand what the rules are to fly," said Joanna Geraghty,
president of JetBlue (JBLU.O) which hosted the gathering in a hotel shared
with domestic tourists.

 

Even so, the head of Dubai's Emirates, who has been among the most bullish
executives on the prospects for recovery once restrictions end, said
bookings in markets that were reopening like Britain and the United States
had "gone up exponentially."

 

"That reflects a bow-wave of demand that we are seeing everywhere," its
president Tim Clark said. "The demand for air travel will restore itself...
sooner rather than later."

 

ATLANTIC TEST

 

Airlines were buoyed by the Biden administration's plan to reopen the United
States in November to air travelers from 33 countries including in Europe on
the vital trans-Atlantic run.

 

But airlines left the Boston gathering as they had arrived, with severely
strained balance sheets, and Clark said most would remain risk-averse and
focused on recouping cash for 2-3 years.

 

IATA warned serious challenges remained for carriers, while venting
frustration at airports and other suppliers for not doing enough to share
the pain inflicted by the crisis.

 

While the White House has not set a date for lifting travel restrictions on
Europeans, JetBlue expects it to happen ahead of the U.S. Thanksgiving
holiday next month.

 

"If the reopening is delayed, we are going to face consequences across the
industry," Chief Executive Robin Hayes said after chairing the Oct. 3-5
conference, which also agreed a target to reach net zero emissions in 2050
read more .

 

United Airlines (UAL.O) Chief Executive Scott Kirby said the bookings for
trans-Atlantic flights last week were higher than at the same period in
2019.

 

The world's largest leasing company, AerCap (AER.N), said a successful
reopening of the world's most important long-haul market would set a trend
for other markets to follow.

 

"Airlines... don't have the resilience they had," Chief Executive Aengus
Kelly told an audience of airline leaders. "They just can't afford for this
to go wrong."

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

Kering, Cartier launch environmental pact for watches, jewellery

(Reuters) - French luxury group Kering (PRTP.PA), Richemont's (CFR.S)
Cartier, and the Responsible Jewellery Council have teamed up to set
environmental targets for watches and jewellery activities, challenging
labels in the industry to commit to them too.

 

The move comes amid heightened scrutiny of environmental issues among
consumers, especially from the younger generations, key sources of future
revenue growth for luxury labels.

 

Dubbed the "watch and jewellery initiative 2030", the goals include targets
to reduce carbon emissions, protect biodiversity and adopt practices defined
by the Responsible Jewellery Council, a standard-setting industry body, by
the year 2030.

 

"We have proof that by being together you are much stronger and also much
more powerful to reach these types of goals," said Jean-Francois Palus,
managing director of Kering, which owns jewellery labels Boucheron and
Pomellato and watch labels Ulysse Nardin and Girard-Perregaux.

 

Kering has already cast itself as an industry champion on the environmental
front for the apparel industry. In 2019, its chairman, Francois-Henri
Pinault, gathered dozens of international labels to sign the so-called
Fashion Pact of commitments, including reducing emissions and plastic-use.

 

The partners in the watch-and-jewellery initiative intend to start
recruiting European labels before moving on to those from other countries,
Cartier Chief Executive Officer Cyrille Vigneron said, citing a list of
large brands, including Tiffany.

 

"We think there will be quite a rather large number of key brands and then
the smaller ones as well but also key suppliers, with distributors who will
join the initiative," Vigneron said.

 

Highly profitable labels will likely be under pressure to sign up, he added.

 

LVMH (LVMH.PA), which bought Tiffany earlier this year, was absent from the
Fashion Pact, which included high-end labels like France's Hermes (HRMS.PA)
as well as lower-end groups like Zara-owner Inditex (ITX.MC).

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

Bayer shares up after first trial win over Roundup

(Reuters) - Shares in Bayer AG (BAYGn.DE) rose 2.5% in pre-market trade on
Wednesday after the German agricultural and pharmaceuticals firm won its
first trial over claims its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer.

 

A California jury found that the herbicide was not a substantial cause of a
child's rare form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the company said on Tuesday.
The verdict is the fourth involving Roundup and the first in the company's
favor. read more

 

Roundup-related lawsuits have dogged Bayer since it acquired the brand as
part of its $63 billion purchase of agricultural seeds and pesticides maker
Monsanto in 2018.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

Hong Kong property agencies suing Evergrande to recover commissions

(Reuters) - Two Hong Kong property agencies are suing heavily indebted China
Evergrande Group (3333.HK) over unpaid commissions, according to a court
filing and media reports, piling pressure on the developer as it scrambles
to raise funds and avert a collapse.

 

Centaline filed a suit against Evergrande in September to recover HK$3.1
million ($398,196) in overdue commissions, a court filing showed, while the
South China Morning Post newspaper reported Midland Holdings (1200.HK) is
claiming unpaid commission of HK$43.45 million for two developments in Hong
Kong.

 

An executive at Centaline China told Reuters they have also filed a suit
against Evergrande in a Guangzhou court in southern China, seeking to claim
hundreds of millions of yuan it says it is due.

 

Centaline confirmed to Reuters it filed a claim in Hong Kong last month, but
declined to comment further. Midland declined to comment, saying the case
was going through legal procedures. Evergrande did not immediately respond
to a request for comment.

 

Hong Kong's exposure to debt-laden developer China Evergrande is "very
minimal" at 0.05%, or HK$14 billion ($1.79 billion) of banking assets and
will not cause any systemic risks, the newspaper reported on Sunday, citing
the city's Financial Secretary Paul Chan. read more

 

Evergrande has vowed to repay its suppliers and contractors in mainland
China as soon as possible, in some cases offering apartments or other real
estate assets, as construction at many of its sites have halted because of
delayed payments.

 

With liabilities of $305 billion, Evergrande has sparked concerns its cash
crunch could spread through China's financial system and reverberate
globally, a worry that has eased with the Chinese central bank's vow last
week to protect homebuyers' interests. read more

 

Growing worries about defaults at Chinese property developers triggered a
rout in their shares and bonds on Tuesday with fresh credit rating
downgrades and uncertainty about the fate of cash-strapped China Evergrande
Group sapping investor sentiment. read more

 

Last month it missed coupon payments on two dollar bond tranches and is
scrambling to sell assets to pay creditors, prioritising repayment to
onshore lenders in the last few weeks.

 

($1 = 7.7851 Hong Kong dollars)

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

 

Google wants to use AI to time traffic lights more efficiently

(Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google cut fuel use and traffic delays
by 10% to 20% at four locations in Israel by using artificial intelligence
to optimize signal lights and it next plans to test the software in Rio de
Janeiro, the company said on Wednesday.

 

The early-phase research project is among new software initiatives inside
Google to combat climate change. Some employees as well as advocacy groups
have called on the company, the world's third-most valuable, to more
urgently use its influence to combat the crisis.

 

While Google has not addressed critics' calls to stop selling technology to
oil companies or funding lawmakers who deny global warming, it has
prioritized sustainability features.

 

Google plans in the coming weeks to allow its Nest thermostat users to buy
renewable energy credits for $10 a month to offset emissions from heating
and cooling. Credits will come from projects in Texas including Bethel Wind
Farm and Roseland Solar. A majority of the funds will go toward credit
purchases and utility-bill payment costs, Google said, without elaborating
on the remainder.

 

For no charge across the United States, Nest users soon can automatically
shift heating and cooling to times when energy is cleaner.

 

New informational panels alongside search results show emissions or other
environmental ratings of flights globally and cars and home appliances in
the United States. To stem misinformation, English, Spanish and French
queries mentioning "climate change" starting this month will feature
explanations from the United Nations.

 

Based on early results in Israel's Haifa and Beer-Sheva, Rio de Janeiro's
municipal traffic authority expressed high hopes for the AI to better time
traffic signal changes. It told Reuters the system should be introduced
within months with locations announced soon.

 

Aleksandar Stevanovic, an associate professor of civil and environmental
engineering at University of Pittsburgh, said simulations show AI could
smooth traffic flow. But he questioned whether a tech company without
traffic engineering expertise ultimately could bring such software to
reality.

 

"Every year there is someone new claiming we can do wonders," he said.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


 


Invest Wisely!

Bulls n Bears 

 

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INVESTORS DIARY 2021

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

National Unity Day

 

December 22

 


 

Christmas Day

 

December 25

 


 

Boxing Day

 

December 26

 


 

Public Holiday in lieu of Boxing Day falling on a Sunday

 

December 27

 


Companies under Cautionary

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


ART

PPC

 

 


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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