Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 24 September 2021

[Bulls n Bears]

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 24 September 2021

 


 

 


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

 


 

 


ü  Evergrande: Investors in the dark over $83m bond payment

ü  Theranos trial: Elizabeth Holmes took former US general's blood

ü  Gas crisis leaves Europe searching for solutions

ü  Petrol station closures spark lorry driver row

ü  EU rules to force USB-C chargers for all phones

ü  Spying concerns fuel the market for more secure tech

ü  Apple bans Fortnite from App Store during Epic Games legal battle

ü  Advertising regulator to clampdown on greenwashing ads

ü  Taiwan seeks entry into key trade pact before China

ü  Apple threatened Facebook ban over slavery posts on Instagram

ü  Wall Street eyes four more years for Powell at Fed

ü  Wall Street eyes four more years for Powell at Fed

ü  Crackdown-hit Alibaba to divest 5% stake in Chinese broadcaster

ü  New demographic data shows continued divide at Amazon

ü  Nigeria: China Aims High in Bilateral Relations, Trade With Nigeria

ü  Rwanda: Construction of Kigali's Green City Delayed to 2023

ü  Nigeria: The Organised Private Sector and VAT

 

 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

Evergrande: Investors in the dark over $83m bond payment

Investors were left in the dark after troubled property giant Evergrande missed a deadline for a $83.5m (£61m) interest payment.

 

The Chinese firm is yet to make an announcement regarding the payment, which was due on Thursday.

 

Earlier in the week, the company said it had struck a deal over another interest payment worth $35.9m.

 

Global markets have been rocked by concerns over the firm's ability to support its more than $300bn of debts.

 

Evergrande's shares were trading almost 10% lower in Hong Kong on Friday after jumping more than 17% the previous day.

 

What is Evergrande and is it too big to fail?

Meanwhile, Chinese authorities have reportedly warned local governments to be prepared for the potential failure of Evergrande.

 

The actions being ordered were described as "getting ready for the possible storm," according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited officials familiar with the discussions.

 

The move has been seen by some investors as a further sign that the Chinese government is reluctant to bail out the crisis-hit real estate giant.

 

The Chinese government has made no major announcements on Evergrande, and state media has given few clues about Beijing's thinking on the firm's debt crisis.

 

The company is due to make a series of other bond interest payments in the coming weeks.

 

Under agreements with investors, the company has a 30-day grace period before the missed payment on the $83.5m offshore bond becomes a default.

 

Some analysts have cautioned that the failure of such a large and heavily-indebted property developer could have a major impact on the Chinese economy, and could potentially spread to the global financial system.

 

The real estate industry is a major component of the Chinese economy, accounting for almost 30% of gross domestic product, so any impact on the sector is likely to hit the country's already slowing growth.

 

And while there are major risks to both the Chinese property industry and the country's wider economy, only around $20bn of Evergrande's debts are held by foreign investors.-BBC

 

 

 

Theranos trial: Elizabeth Holmes took former US general's blood

A former US defence secretary has described how he lost faith in the technology company that took his blood as part of testimony in the case against disgraced Theranos founder, Elizabeth Holmes.

 

James Mattis, who was on the company's board, said he was initially "amazed" by Ms Holmes' blood tests.

 

But by 2016 he "didn't know" what to believe after she was accused of fraud.

 

Ms Holmes, 37, denies the charges that she deceived patients and investors.

 

She could face 20 years in jail if found guilty.

 

Once dubbed the "next Steve Jobs", the former entrepreneur rose to fame in 2013 thanks to technology she claimed could test for multiple diseases using just a few drops of blood from a finger prick.

 

But by 2015 it emerged the tests did not work and the billionaire inventor fell from grace.

 

Gen Mattis, who served under Donald Trump, was one of a number of political grandees to sit on the Theranos board - in his case between 2013 and 2016.

 

On Wednesday, he told the court in San Jose he had been "rather taken" with Ms Holmes' technology. She even drew his blood backstage after an event in San Francisco in 2011 to show how easy the tests were to use.

 

"This was something so new, I was frankly amazed at what was possible based on what Miss Holmes said," he commented.

 

He added that the entrepreneur - who also convinced high profile investors such as Rupert Murdoch to back her - was "sharp, articulate, committed".

 

The four-star decorated general invested $85,000 of his own money in the business.

 

When in 2015 the Wall Street Journal reported that Theranos's tests were flawed, Gen Mattis initially thought an "aggressive reporter" was misrepresenting the facts.

 

The newspaper also claimed Theranos was doing most of its testing on commercially available machines made by other manufacturers.

 

"There came a point where I didn't know what to believe about Theranos anymore," he said, adding that he soon stopped attending board meetings.

 

Once considered a visionary, Ms Holmes was banned from running a blood testing company for two years in 2016, and saw her company dissolved in 2018.

 

Prosecutors say Ms Holmes and her ex-boyfriend and partner - Ramesh Balwani - turned to fraud in 2009 after big pharmaceutical firms declined to back Theranos and they ran out of cash.

 

They allegedly lied about the tests and exaggerated the firm's performance to secure $700m of investment.

 

However, Ms Holmes lawyers say she did not intend to defraud, but instead "naively underestimated" the challenges her business faced.

 

Ms Holmes has also alleged Mr Balwani abused her emotionally and psychologically for years, impairing her mental state. Mr Balwani has denied the allegations.-BBC

 

 

 

Gas crisis leaves Europe searching for solutions

A surge in gas prices has hit consumers and energy firms in the UK, with knock-on effects for the food industry and supplies of carbon dioxide.

 

Elsewhere in Europe, consumers are also facing a steep rise in energy bills, and governments are scrambling to help. The crisis has highlighted the difficulty for Europeans in funding the move to renewable energy. Here, five correspondents explain how different countries are responding.

 

Consumers' bills have spiralled here in recent months, with the cost of electricity increasing 35% over the last year and nearly 8% in August alone.

 

Energy prices in Spain are closely tied to the wholesale gas market, so the price per megawatt hour for consumers has repeatedly hit new highs recently.

 

"I was paying about €40 (£34) per month and now I'm paying around €60," said Amparo Vega, who has a newspaper kiosk in central Madrid.

 

Earlier this month, the coalition government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez unveiled a series of measures aimed at bringing bills back down.

 

 

They include tax cuts and a temporary reduction in extraordinary profits made by energy companies. The latter move has drawn criticism from the industry, although the government has clarified that renewable energy providers will be exempt.

 

The government says its aim is to reduce electricity bills by over 20% by the end of the year. As winter approaches, consumers such as Ms Vega hope that happens.

 

"The outlook isn't very rosy," says Michele Fiorita, taking some air outside his shop in central Rome.

 

"My energy bills have gone up by about 15% but I've heard they'll rise by around 40% in the next few months."

 

Italy is particularly exposed to gas price hikes: 40% of its energy comes from natural gas and around half of that is imported from Russia.

 

So lower Russian gas exports to Europe and an increase in the price of raw materials have hit hard.

 

The Italian government has already spent some €1.2bn to cut the increase in energy prices for households and this week pledged another €3bn to help further in the coming months.

 

Prime Minister Mario Draghi says for the next three months "system costs" will be eliminated from gas and electricity bills. They're the tariffs added to bills to help fund the transition to renewable energy.

 

It's a short-term sticking plaster to help reduce the jump in energy prices for struggling households but removes an important financial incentive to help the switch to renewables.

 

Fundamentally, Italy will need to diversify its energy sources, moving away from its dependence on gas and more towards green energy. "That's surely the future," says Michele, "it's the only way to reduce costs in the long-term."

 

As soaring energy costs present huge personal difficulties for families, they also pose some tricky politics for Brussels.

 

EU leaders have been busy pushing their sweeping climate plan to cut carbon emissions by 55% by 2030 - a drive known as "Fit for 55".

 

It's wide-ranging but includes proposals that, critics say, could lead to huge further price hikes.

 

Even backers of the measures quietly admit the transition to a greener economy inevitably, one way or another, hits people in the pocket. On the current crisis, the European Commission says that price rises are a combination of several factors, particularly the global surge in demand.

 

Increases in the price of CO2 permits under the EU's carbon pricing scheme are blamed for some of the rises, but the Commission says it's only a "small percentage". It wants to expand that scheme under "Fit for 55".

 

But with calls from the Spanish government for the energy crisis to be on the table at the next EU leaders' summit, Brussels is facing questions over what it can or will do to help.

 

Guidance is being worked on in terms of the mitigation measures member states can individually take within EU rules. But there's no sign of any significant, centralised intervention.

 

The more the crisis heats up, the greater the backlash may be over the EU's climate plans. However, those in favour would argue that the faster the move to a green economy, the faster member states can escape this kind of volatility.

 

Surging European gas prices have been felt by Polish consumers because the country's energy regulator has approved three price hikes this year, raising bills by more than 20%.

 

But household gas bills are still regulated here, so customers are insulated from any sharp changes in market prices. Also, about half of Poland's gas demand is met by domestic production, which is typically cheaper than imported gas.

 

That cheaper, domestic gas is used to cover the needs of households first, while industry is mostly supplied with more expensive imports. But here again, energy-intensive Polish companies are shielded from sky-rocketing market prices because they have long-term supply contracts with a fixed price.

 

In Poland, coal is still the main fuel driving the economy, with gas a long way behind. That is starting to change.

 

The solar power market is one of the fastest growing in Europe and state-controlled power companies are planning huge investments in offshore wind.

 

Gas will become more important then, because the government sees natural gas as a bridging fuel to replace ageing coal plants and ensure the lights remain on when the wind drops under cloudy skies.

 

In Poland, the origin of the gas is a political issue. The government plans to cease its decades-old dependence on Russian gas next year and replace it with US and Norwegian gas, arguing it will no longer suffer Gazprom overcharging it for gas, because it can abuse its position as a monopoly supplier.

 

Non-EU Norway is one of the biggest producers of oil and natural gas in Europe, though very little of it is used for its own needs.

 

Only 1.4% of electricity is produced by burning fossil fuels and waste, 5.8% by wind power and the remaining 92.9% is produced by hydroelectric power.

 

Norway's Equinor energy company has agreed to allow a 2bn-cubic-metre increase in gas exports for the next year to support increased European and UK demand. Formerly known as Statoil, Equinor is two-thirds owned by the state.

 

While bills are not as high as elsewhere in Europe, Norwegians are not immune from increasing energy prices.

 

"We currently pay 750 NOK (£63) a month for energy and warm water, but in Oslo prices are relatively low," says Magnus, 26, who lives in a studio apartment in the capital with his girlfriend.

 

The couple are moving to a bigger flat in Bergen on the west coast and expect their bills to go up: "When you live somewhere where fewer people are, then electricity is more expensive. That's why I'm thinking of just getting solar panels."

 

>From 1 October, Norway will be able to export electricity to the UK via a "North Sea link" of underwater high-voltage electric cables connecting the two power grids.

 

There have been concerns the recent UK price surge could spread to Norwegian households and industries. But one proposal to impose a tax on outgoing energy has been rejected, as Norway also needs to import energy in certain periods of the year.-BBC

 

 

 

Petrol station closures spark lorry driver row

The closure of some petrol stations has reignited a row over lorry driver shortages in the UK.

 

A "handful" of BP stations, and a small number of Esso-owned Tesco Alliance stations, were closed on Thursday due to a lack of delivery drivers.

 

It is estimated that the UK is short of about 100,000 HGV drivers - with gaps made worse by the pandemic and Brexit.

 

Downing Street said there was "no shortage of fuel in the UK and people should continue to buy fuel as normal".

 

Why is there a shortage of lorry drivers?

50,000 more lorry driver tests promised a year

The Road Haulage Association (RHA) has urged the government to relax visa restrictions for foreign workers to ease the driver shortage.

 

But the government said it wanted employers to make "long-term investments in the UK domestic workforce instead of relying on labour from abroad".

 

It added that it was "working with sector leaders to understand how we can best ease particular pinch points" and that "similar challenges are being faced by other countries around the world".

 

While the UK does not lack petrol and diesel at refineries, getting it to forecourts has been a problem in some areas.

 

It is the latest problem caused by driver shortages, which have already led to supply problems in other industries, including supermarkets.

 

The RHA's Rod McKenzie told BBC Breakfast more drivers leave the profession each week than join it.

 

He said: "It's as simple as this: everything we get in Britain comes on the back of a truck.

 

"So if there is a shortage of HGV drivers - and there is by 100,000 - then it is inevitable that we are not going to get all the things we want when we want them."

 

"It is not a case of running out - and people should not panic buy," he added.

 

He warned there would be glitches "because the supply chain on which we all depend is creaking".

 

On foreign workers, he told BBC Two's Newsnight: "We've asked for a short-term measure - it's very short-term - to allow drivers onto the shortage occupation list, and look at seasonal visas for overseas drivers, not European necessarily."

 

Supermarket Iceland - which is about 100 drivers short - joined Morrisons and Ocado in calling for the government to add HGV drivers to the list of shortage occupations.

 

That would allow foreign workers to apply for skilled worker visas to fill the current gaps.

 

"I think the solution - even if it's temporary - is very, very simple," said Iceland managing director Richard Walker. "Let's get HGV drivers onto the skilled worker list."

 

Mr McKenzie said that, on top of a historic shortage of drivers, the industry had lost 20,000 European drivers due to Brexit, while the pandemic had forced 40,000 driver training tests to be cancelled.

 

Businesses across the food, fuel and construction sectors have been warning about driver shortages for months.

 

BP temporarily closed a number of petrol stations earlier in summer, when driver shortages also caused short-term supply problems for McDonald's, Nandos, and the pub chain Wetherspoons.

 

Some councils have also been forced to cancel bin collections.

 

On Thursday, BP - which has 1,200 petrol stations in the UK - said it was working hard to address the latest issues, and was prioritising getting fuel to the busiest service stations such as those on motorways.

 

Esso said that a "small number" of its 200 Tesco Alliance retail sites were affected on Thursday, and apologised to customers for any inconvenience.

 

The Petrol Retailers Association, which represents independent forecourts across the UK, recommended motorists keep enough fuel in the tank to reach alternative filling stations in the "rare instance" that fuel is not available at the first one they visit.

 

Speaking on BBC Question Time on Thursday evening, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps suggested visa changes would not solve the problem, but said nothing had been ruled out.

 

He said the "bottleneck" had been caused by getting new drivers qualified and bringing people back into the job market after the pandemic.

 

He also said working conditions "hadn't been pleasant" and that the government was "happy to see" higher salaries being offered to drivers.

 

But shadow justice secretary David Lammy said visas were needed in various sectors, telling Mr Shapps: "You promised that immigration would come down and you know that it will need to go up if we are to deal with these problems."

 

Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen said there was "an endemic problem with retention and recruitment" in the industry.

 

"We're actually not short of HGV drivers per se - we've got 600,000 people who are qualified to drive those big trucks, but only 300,000 people chose to work in the industry," he told BBC Newsnight.

 

"Pay and conditions have been suppressed for a very long term by bringing in EU migrants who are willing to work for those wages and conditions."

 

Mr Bridgen suggested the industry needed to modernise and improve working conditions to retain young drivers.

 

The average age of a heavy good vehicle (HGV) driver is 55, with less than 1% under the age of 25, according to the Road Haulage Association.

 

In its recent survey of 616 hauliers, retiring colleagues and Brexit topped the list of reasons behind the driver shortages.

 

Respondents also cited tax changes to rules known as IR35, which have made it more expensive for hauliers from elsewhere in Europe to work or be employed in the UK.

 

In recent weeks, the Department for Transport has made it quicker for HGV drivers to get their licences, but the RHA criticised the changes as a risk to road safety.-BBC

 

 

 

EU rules to force USB-C chargers for all phones

Manufacturers will be forced to create a universal charging solution for phones and small electronic devices, under a new rule proposed by the European Commission (EC).

 

The aim is to reduce waste by encouraging consumers to re-use existing chargers when buying a new device.

 

All smartphones sold in the EU must have USB-C chargers, the proposal said.

 

Apple has warned such a move would harm innovation.

 

The tech giant is the main manufacturer of smartphones using a custom charging port, as its iPhone series uses an Apple-made "Lightning" connector.

 

"We remain concerned that strict regulation mandating just one type of connector stifles innovation rather than encouraging it, which in turn will harm consumers in Europe and around the world," the firm told the BBC.

 

It added that it aims to make every Apple device and usage carbon neutral by 2030.

 

Most Android phones come with USB micro-B charging ports, or have already moved to the more modern USB-C standard.

 

Graphic showing the most common charging connectors - type C USB, Micro USB and Lightning

New models of the iPad and MacBook use USB-C charging ports, as do high-end phone models from popular Android manufacturers such as Samsung and Huawei.

 

The changes would apply to the charging port on the device body, whereas the end of the cable connecting to a plug could be USB-C or USB-A.

 

Around half of chargers sold with mobile phones in the European Union in 2018 had a USB micro-B connector, while 29% had a USB C connector and 21% a Lightning connector, a Commission impact assessment study in 2019 found.

 

The proposed rules will apply to:

 

·         smartphones

·         tablets

·         cameras

·         headphones

·         portable speakers

·         handheld video game consoles

Other products including earbuds, smart-watches and fitness trackers were not considered for technical reasons linked to size and use conditions.

 

The proposal also standardises fast charging speeds - meaning devices capable of fast charging will be charged at the same speeds.

 

Preventing waste

EU politicians have been campaigning for a common standard for over a decade, with the Commission's research estimating that disposed of and unused charging cables generate more than 11,000 tonnes of waste per year.

 

In the European Union, around 420 million mobile phones and other portable electronic devices were sold in the last year.

 

The average person owns around three mobile phone chargers, of which they use two regularly.

 

In 2009, there were more than 30 different chargers, whereas now most models stick to three - the USB-C, Lightning and USB micro-B.

 

"Having one common charging standard would be a victory for common sense in the eyes of consumers," Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight said.

 

"Although Apple has made a strong argument for keeping its Lightning connector, given the one billion active iPhone users, some of its products including Mac and iPad now support USB-C.

 

Apple Lightning connector

"Hopefully it will eventually become a non-issue if Apple keeps adding USB-C to more devices."

 

It may be a number of years before the proposals come into effect.

 

The legislative proposal, known as a Directive, will be debated by the European Parliament and national governments.

 

MEPs and member states may suggest amendments to the proposal. Only once the EC has agreed these amendments, will the directive be enacted.

 

The EC hopes that will happen in 2022 - after which member states usually have two years to enact the rules into national law, and manufacturers will have 24 months to change their charging ports.

 

"We gave industry plenty of time to come up with their own solutions, now time is ripe for legislative action for a common charger. This is an important win for our consumers and environment and in line with our green and digital ambitions," Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager said.-BBC

 

 

 

Spying concerns fuel the market for more secure tech

"People do not seem to understand that security and smartphones as one [single] concept simply do not exist," says Pim Donkers.

 

Mr Donkers is a co-founder and chief executive of Switzerland's ARMA Instruments, a technology company which produces super-secure communication devices.

 

So, more than most, he is keen to warn people about the potential security weaknesses of their smartphones.

 

He compares a smartphone to a beehive where "third parties fly in and out, to trade and misuse your data [that's] collected through all the sensors onboard".

 

"A smartphone as a starting point in any secure communications solution is a lost cause. It will never happen," he warns.

 

His profound concern about the privacy shortcomings of smartphones has been supported by a series of recent news stories, most notably revelations about the spy software known as Pegasus, a product of Israel's NSO Group.

 

In July, it emerged that Pegasus can be installed on iPhones and Android devices, allowing operators to extract messages, photos and emails, record calls and even secretly activate microphones and cameras.

 

The ability to remotely access a phone was once considered something only a handful of countries could do. But the technology has advanced very quickly and high-end espionage and surveillance powers are now in the hands of many countries and even individuals and small groups.

 

With such concerns in mind, consumer interest has grown in products with security as their primary selling point - ranging from purpose-built encrypted smartphones to privacy-oriented alternatives to online search engines and maps.

 

Some data suggest that mobile devices are particularly troubling for many people.

 

A Pew Research Center poll shows that 72% of Americans reported feeling that what they do while using their phone is being tracked by advertisers, technology firms or other companies.

 

Nearly half of the people polled by Pew said they believed that most of their online activities are tracked by the government.

 

"We're all inundated with headlines around data breaches, hacks and other intrusions," says Larry Pang, head of business development at IoTex which produces a security camera designed to keep data private.

 

"We are constantly learning that the corporations and governments that have promised to protect us, in fact, do things behind our backs for their own benefit," he says.

 

Those fears have spurred tech firms to sell mobile devices that bill themselves as 'ultra-secure'.

 

Finland's Bittium sells a phone that includes a privacy mode that disables the device's microphones, camera, and Bluetooth.

 

However, Tero Savolainen, Bittium's vice president, warns that a mobile device is only ever as secure as the person using it.

 

"Even if you have a secure phone, it doesn't mean that you are safe if the user is not educated on how to use the device securely."

 

As an example, Mr Savolainen says giving applications too much access to your device can compromise your security.

 

He adds the same can be said for having an unsecured Google account that can provide a way for cybercriminals, or others, to gain access to data.

 

Silent Pocket, is a US-based company that produces a range of products, including wallets, laptop sleeves and travel bags - designed to "cloak" devices and block wireless and radio-frequency identification (RFID) signals.

 

While the company had already been expanding for several years prior to 2020, Aaron Zar, Silent Pocket's founder and "director of disconnection" says that sales recently spiked because of concerns over contact tracing during the Covid pandemic.

 

"[People] don't want to be monitored, and that's always been the case. But when it's that on-the-nose and that public, people have been screaming."

 

Other products in the privacy market are not physical at all. Xayn, for example, is a product described as a "privacy-protecting discovery browser" for the Internet.

 

The company says Xayn allows users to use a Google-style search function without being identified or having their data stored.

 

To date, it has been downloaded by approximately 215,000 users, with the majority coming from the US, followed by the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Russia.

 

"Existing approaches essentially track everything a user does when searching online," explains Dr Michael Huth, the head of the computing department at Imperial College London and Xayn's co-founder and chief research officer.

 

"This is particularly obvious with products such as TikTok, where one or two interactions are enough to know the user well enough to feed them videos they like," Dr Huth adds.

 

"This level of tracking, predictive analysis and behavioural modelling challenges not only our sense of control and autonomy, but our actual freedom."

 

Xayn's other co-founder and chief executive, Leif-Nissen Lundbæk says that demands for privacy are rapidly turning into a "global movement".

 

"The discussion around digital privacy is often focused on what is not possible and sometimes has a certain fatalistic ring to it," he says.

 

"The dominant discourse presents privacy and technology as enemies - but it doesn't have to be this way. Advanced technology can actually protect our digital privacy and give us back our autonomy along the way."-BBC

 

 

 

Apple bans Fortnite from App Store during Epic Games legal battle

Apple has banned Fortnite from its App Store until a legal battle with the game's maker Epic has concluded, according to Tim Sweeney, chief executive of Epic Games.

 

This means the popular game won't be available for new users to download on iPhones or other Apple devices.

 

Mr Sweeney called out Apple in a series of tweets and said the appeals process may take about five years to complete.

 

The BBC has approached Apple for comment.

 

People who already have the game downloaded on their Apple devices will be able to carry on playing it, but will not receive any updates.

 

Legal battle

Fortnite was originally removed from Apple's App Store last year for violating its policies by launching its own in-app payment system.

 

 

Apple charges a 30% commission on all in-app purchases, but this feature tried to bypass that.

 

The move triggered a legal battle brought by Epic Games, which accused Apple of running the App Store as a monopoly.

 

In September, a US court ruled that Apple could not stop app developers directing users to third-party payment options.

 

But the judge also said that Epic failed to demonstrate Apple was operating an illegal monopoly.

 

Both Epic and Apple are appealing respective parts of the judgement.

 

"Apple spent a year telling the world, the court, and the press they'd 'welcome Epic's return to the App Store if they agree to play by the same rules as everyone else'," Mr Sweeney wrote on Twitter.

 

"Epic agreed, and now Apple has reneged in another abuse of its monopoly power over a billion users."

 

 

In correspondence shared by Mr Sweeney, Apple said Epic had "committed an intentional breach of contract, and breach of trust, by concealing code from Apple" and it would not reinstate its account "until the district court's judgement becomes final and non-appealable".

 

Meanwhile, Apple's chief executive Tim Cook has come under fire after an email he sent to employees warning them not to leak confidential information was itself leaked.

 

The message told Apple staff employees that the company would do "everything in [its] power to identify those who leaked" information to reporters.

 

"People who leak confidential information do not belong" at Apple, he added.-BBC

 

 

 

Advertising regulator to clampdown on greenwashing ads

The UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is to release new guidance to ensure ads don't mislead people about the environment.

 

The regulator will be launching inquiries to analyse environmental claims made by companies in sectors such as energy, waste and transport.

 

It found there's currently "significant scope" for firms to make mistakes.

 

The ASA will also commission research into carbon neutral and net zero promises made in ads.

 

The review will be "shining a greater regulatory spotlight" to make sure firms are socially responsible when considering environmental issues.

 

Recent examples where the ASA found firms misleading customers on environmental credentials include a banned ad campaign by Ryanair in which it claimed to have the lowest airline CO2 emissions.

 

Food company Gousto were also found to have made false claims that their packaging was "100% plastic free and recyclable" after an ASA ruling last year.

 

In its research on environmental claims so far, the ASA said it was apparent that the issues encountered when making claims that "touch on the environment can be complex". It said that misleading ads can cause "consumer detriment and harm to the planet".

 

The watchdog added that "as the scale of the challenge to avoid catastrophic climate change becomes ever clearer, advertising and, by extension, ad regulation needs to play its part in working towards agreed climate goals".

 

Miles Lockwood, director of complaints and investigations at the ASA, said: "We know that there needs to be systemic, wide scale change in order for the UK to meet the government's climate targets."

 

"From our track record of strongly regulating environmental claims to today's announcement, we believe that our work will continue to positively influence the fight against climate change," he continued.

 

Sylvia Rook, one of the lead officers at the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, told BBC: "There are challenges with taking such matters through the courts, particularly with obtaining expert evidence to prove claims are false."

 

"However, it is important that consumers contact Trading Standards via the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline if they are concerned about misleading green claims, so that these claims can be investigated and the appropriate action taken, whether that be advising the business or taking more formal action," she added.

 

'Accurate information'

Welcoming the plans, James Martin, director of policy at the British Chambers of Commerce industry body said: "The BCC is fully behind the UK's drive to Net Zero, but this must of course be done in a sensible way."

 

Mr Martin said that "honest businesses" must have "accurate information on which to plan and act," in order to achieve the UK's net zero targets.

 

"We welcome this step as a propionate action that will help businesses to get that information".

 

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) also made it's own announcement on Monday, which included publishing a "Green Claims Code" to help businesses comply with the law.

 

The CMA also warned that it "stands ready to take action against offending firms" and will conduct a full review of misleading green claims early next year.

 

'Rampant greenwash'

Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA said: "We're concerned that too many businesses are falsely taking credit for being green, while genuinely eco-friendly firms don't get the recognition they deserve."

 

"Any business that fails to comply with the law risks damaging its reputation with customers and could face action from the CMA," he added.

 

Mark Campanale, founder of the Carbon Tracker think tank, also welcomed the announcement and said it is "high time rampant greenwashing across the oil and gas industry was tackled head on."

 

In the ASA's research on the impact of carbon pledges, they will also work to understand consumer perceptions of Hybrid claims in the electric vehicle market, consumption emissions from food and claims that packaging is 'recyclable', 'biodegradable' or a "plastic alternative".

 

Mr Campanale said Carbon Tracker, which studies carbon commitments, has also questioned how oil companies such as Shell, with Net Zero-2050 ambitions, can "honestly intend to achieve them, while committing to expand future gas production".

 

"One company, BP, has acknowledged that cuts in emissions means absolute cuts in production. It's time others, such as Shell join them - with a recent court ruling in the Hague forcing Shell to slash its emissions 45% by 2030."

 

Shell said its oil production had already peaked in 2019 and would continue to decline until 2030.

 

"We're already investing billions of dollars in low-carbon energy but the world will still need oil and gas for decades to come in sectors that can't be easily decarbonise.

 

"Targeted investment in oil and gas will ensure we can supply the energy people will still rely on, while funding the rapid growth of our low-carbon businesses," it added.-BBC

 

 

 

Taiwan seeks entry into key trade pact before China

Taiwan has filed an application to join a key Asia-Pacific trade pact just days after China submitted an application.

 

But it warned that its bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) could be put at risk should China join first.

 

The two places have a complicated relationship.

 

Taiwan considers itself as an independent nation, but China regards it as a breakaway province.

 

On Thursday, Taiwan's chief trade negotiator John Deng told reporters that if China joined the CPTPP first, "Taiwan's case to become a member will be at risk, this is fairly obvious".

 

The unanimous approval of all 11 members is needed for new countries to join the pact.

 

 

On Thursday, Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told reporters that he welcomed Taiwan's application to join the pact, said a Kyodo News report.

 

The CPTPP was initially created by the US to counter China's influence - but the US later pulled out under then US President Donald Trump.

 

It is one of the largest of its kind, linking a wide swathe of countries across the region.

 

What's behind the China-Taiwan divide?

China has not yet commented on Taiwan's application - though it has in the past often insisted that Taiwan be excluded from many international bodies or to be labelled as part of China.

 

This has sometimes resulted in Taiwan joining under different names. For instance, its team competes under the name of Chinese Taipei in the Olympics.

 

Taiwan has also applied to join the CPTPP under the name it uses in the World Trade Organization (WTO) - the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen

 

Both China and Taiwan's applications come after the US, UK and Australia recently announced a controversial security deal, in an effort seen to counter Chinese influence in Asia-Pacific.

 

The Aukus pact will allow Australia to build nuclear-powered submarines for the first time, using technology provided by the US and the UK.

 

China has criticised Aukus, with foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian saying the alliance risked "severely damaging regional peace... and intensifying the arms race".

 

The original Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was promoted by then-President Barack Obama as an economic bloc to challenge China's increasingly powerful position in the Asia Pacific.

 

After Mr Trump pulled the US out of the deal, Japan led negotiations to create what became the CPTPP.

 

The CPTPP was signed in 2018 by 11 countries, including Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan and New Zealand.-BBC

 

 

 

Apple threatened Facebook ban over slavery posts on Instagram

Apple threatened to remove Facebook's products from its App Store, after the BBC found domestic "slaves" for sale on apps, including Instagram, in 2019.

 

The threat was revealed in the Wall Street Journal's (WSJ) Facebook Files, a series of reports based on its viewing of internal Facebook documents.

 

Facebook says it prohibits human exploitation "in no uncertain terms".

 

It says it has been "combating human trafficking on our platform for many years".

 

The firm added: "Our goal remains to prevent anyone who seeks to exploit others from having a home on our platform."

 

Hashtag slavery

The BBC News Arabic investigation exposed a booming online black market in the illegal buying and selling of domestic workers.

 

It shed light on a world in which women endured a life of servitude and were kept behind closed doors, deprived of their basic rights, unable to leave and at risk of being sold to the highest bidder. Experts said these conditions amounted to slavery.

 

The trade was carried out using a number of apps including Facebook-owned Instagram.

 

The posts and hashtags used for sales were mainly in Arabic, and shared by users in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

 

The women were often categorised by race, and available to buy for a few thousand dollars.

 

The WSJ reported that following the BBC investigation, Apple told Facebook to do more to tackle human trafficking.

 

It said the social media giant only took "limited action" until "Apple Inc. threatened to remove Facebook's products from the App Store, unless it cracked down on the practice".

 

The BBC has approached Apple about the claim.

 

The paper also quoted a 2019 internal report from Facebook, suggesting that the social media giant knew about, and had been investigating, the online slave trade before the BBC got in contact.

 

In the report, a Facebook researcher writes: "Was this issue known to Facebook before BBC inquiry and Apple escalation?

 

"Yes. Throughout 2018 and [the first half of] 2019 we conducted the global Understanding Exercise in order to fully understand how domestic servitude manifests on our platform across its entire life cycle: recruitment, facilitation, and exploitation."

 

After the 2019 BBC report, Facebook banned the main hashtag used for the trade and removed hundreds of accounts from Instagram.

 

"We will continue to work with law enforcement, expert organisations and industry to prevent this behaviour on our platforms," it said in response to the investigation.

 

However, at the time the story was published the BBC found women were still advertised for sale on the platform.

 

Apple acts

The BBC also alerted Google and Apple, as apps in which women were listed for sale were available via their smartphone app stores.

 

The illegal sales are a clear breach of the US tech firms' rules for app developers and users - both firms said they worked with the developers to prevent illegal activity.

 

Google said it was "deeply troubled" by the findings, Apple said it expected developers to take "immediate corrective actions".

 

Following the concerns raised by the BBC and Apple in 2019, Facebook "began moving faster", the WSJ said.

 

It added that "a proactive sweep" looking for human trafficking "found more than 300,000 instances of potential violations and disabled more than 1,000 accounts".

 

The BBC report also prompted questions from the United Nations.

 

In its June 2020 response to these, Facebook wrote: "Following an investigation prompted by an inquiry from the BBC, we conducted a proactive review of our platform. We removed 700 Instagram accounts within 24 hours, and simultaneously blocked several violating hashtags."

 

The following month the company said it removed more than 130,000 pieces of Arabic-language speech content related to domestic servitude in Arabic on both Instagram and Facebook.

 

It added that it had also developed technology that can proactively find and take action on content related to domestic servitude - enabling it to "remove over 4,000 pieces of violating organic content in Arabic and English from January 2020 to date".-BBC

 

 

 

Wall Street eyes four more years for Powell at Fed

(Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell remains favored for renomination by the White House, and if recent history repeats itself a decision may come at any time before the central bank meets again in early November.

 

Wall Street expects Powell, who was nominated for the role by President Donald Trump in 2017 and confirmed by the Senate, to be renominated by President Joe Biden for another four-year stint. read more

 

"I think the market would like that because it is continuity and they have become comfortable with him, he's a known quantity," said Keith Lerner, Co-Chief Investment Officer at Truist Advisory Services. "In general, I think the Street has a positive view."

 

Political betting website Predictit shows Powell with around an 84% chance of being reconfirmed by the Senate, down from 90% on Sept. 12 but roughly even with where his chances stood in July. Fed Governor Lael Brainard's chances stood at about 15%, the site showed.

 

Powell replaced Janet Yellen as chair of the Board of Governors of the Fed in February 2018, and has had to maneuver the economy through its worst crisis since World War Two, battered by the COVID-19 pandemic that started early last year.

 

The U.S. stock market has rallied during Powell's tenure, fueled by the U.S. central bank's extraordinary measures to shield the economy from the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Under Powell, the S&P 500 has surged about 60%, in line with the index's gain during Yellen's four years in charge of the Fed, when Wall Street extended its recovery from the 2008 financial crisis into a nearly decade-long bull market.

 

The S&P 500 increased 39% during Ben Bernanke's eight-year term through January 2014.

 

The Biden administration is actively discussing a decision about the next Fed chair, according to people familiar with the matter, although White House press secretary Jen Psaki has declined to comment in recent days on the president's timeline. A nomination between the previous Fed meeting and the one in November would match a point in the calendar when the last two Fed chair appointments have been announced.

 

Biden's decision comes at a critical juncture for the central bank. With the U.S. stock market trading near record highs, investors expect the Fed to begin tapering its bond buying program in November, following guidance from Powell after the central bank's most recent meeting on Wednesday.

 

Many investors were also surprised by a hawkish tilt from the central bank on future rate increases, with nine of 18 U.S. central bank policymakers projecting borrowing costs will need to rise in 2022. read more

 

Progressive Democrats want the Fed to take on a more expansive role in the economy, by beefing up efforts to bolster employment, heading off climate risk and addressing inequality. Others want the Fed to stick to its monetary policy lane, pay more attention to fighting inflation and reduce its footprint in financial markets and on the oversight front.

 

Powell's focus on jobs has won praise from the Biden administration and among the broader community of Democratic policy analysts. A private equity lawyer, Powell has also won endorsements for a second term from some congressional Republicans.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.



 

Crackdown-hit Alibaba to divest 5% stake in Chinese broadcaster

(Reuters) - An investment arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (9988.HK), targeted in a regulatory crackdown, will divest its entire stake of 5.01% in broadcaster Mango Excellent Media Co Ltd (300413.SZ), the media firm said.

 

The sale comes less than a year after the investment in December last year, as Chinese authorities mount an anti-trust crackdown on large tech companies.

 

One major target has been Alibaba, which faced a fine of $2.75 billion over anti-competitive practices.

 

In Thursday's filing to the stock exchange, the media company said Alibaba's investment arm would seek a waiver from a one-year lockup to which it committed at the time of its investment.

 

Since then, shares of Mango Excellent Media have fallen roughly 40%. The firm, based in China's western province of Hunan, produces Internet and television content besides running a shopping division.

 

Alibaba did not respond to a request for comment.

 

Alibaba's stock price has fallen by nearly half since last October, when authorities abruptly halted plans for its financial affiliate, Ant Group, to go public.

 

Mango Excellent Media is one of several media-related investments funded by Alibaba, which is a major shareholder in Weibo Corp (WB.O), China's social media equivalent of Twitter.

 

It also wholly owns the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong's top English-language newspaper.

 

In July Reuters reported that Weibo was in talks to go private with the help of a Shanghai-based state-owned company, in an effort to help Alibaba divest. After the report, the firm's chairman, Charles Chao, said he had no such discussions.

 

In addition to Weibo, Alibaba owns stakes in some small Chinese online media and has its own filmaking division, Alibaba Pictures.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

New demographic data shows continued divide at Amazon

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc's (AMZN.O) executives ranks remained largely white, although the share of non-white executives rose modestly, while minorities continued to account for most of its blue-collar workforce as the online retailer grew rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new company data.

 

The disclosure made Amazon the largest company by market capitalization to date to respond to a call from New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer for companies to publicly release a confidential federal form, his office said on Thursday.

 

In all 67 companies in the S&P 100 released or plan to release their EEO-1 forms, which show detailed worker information as a result of the campaign, Stringer's office said.

 

A lack of racial or gender diversity in the leadership of many U.S. corporations has drawn focus since last year's Black Lives Matter demonstrations.

 

Demographic trends at Amazon are closely-watched compared to other technology companies partly because of the big blue-collar workforce staffing its warehouses and delivery vans, making it one of the largest U.S. private employers.

 

Amazon's data on U.S. workers showed that as of the end of October last year, 71% of top executives were white, down from 74% at the same point in 2019.

 

The figures were in a similar range as other big technology companies, several of which have not yet disclosed 2020 reports. An Amazon spokeswoman said via e-mail the data shows it is making progress on diversity and noted hiring goals it has set to improve diversity, including hiring more Black people and women. People of color accounted for 42% of newly-hired executives in 2020, she said.

 

Amazon's total U.S. employment now stands around 950,000, and the company has described more hiring goals.

 

 

In the filings Amazon posted on its website on Wednesday the biggest single category of workers was "laborers and helpers," accounting for about two-thirds of workers as of last October.

 

The form showed such workers who were Black, Hispanic or in other nonwhite categories made up 74% of such workers last year, compared with 72% the prior year.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

Nigeria: China Aims High in Bilateral Relations, Trade With Nigeria

Abuja — Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Cui Jianchun has said the bilateral relations and trade between China and Nigeria would soon reach a new higher level.

 

He made the revelation in Abuja during a media chat to mark the Moon Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival in China, one of the most important traditional holidays in the country.

 

He said: "Earlier this year, Nigeria and China co-celebrated the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic ties. As the 14th Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, I have been here for nearly half a year, and I was deeply impressed that Nigeria is a treasure house, not only of natural resources but also of human resources. How to develop the bilateral relations based on achieved gains has always been a key question in my mind."

He disclosed that: "In order to usher in an even brighter future for China-Nigeria relations, I have put forward the 5GIST Nigeria-China GDP Strategy. Changing times require changing strategy. Solos and duets cannot meet the demand of our bilateral relations. The two countries need to form an orchestra to play a symphony within the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

 

"The 5GIST Nigeria-China GDP Strategy is consisted of 4 parts, which are 5G, 5l, 5S and 5T. 5G refers 5 Goals of the Strategy, which are political consonance, economic cooperation, military & security collaboration, international coordination and people's communication. 5I refers to five words initialed with "I", i.e. infrastructure, ICT, value-added industry, investment (such as in agriculture, aquaculture, mining, oil & gas, financial integration, etc), and import and export, those are the priority areas of bilateral cooperation.

"5S refers to five words initialed with "S", i.e security, structure, speed, synergy and supervision, which are conditions for bilateral cooperation. 5T refers to five words initialed with "T", i.e. thoughts exchange, talents cultivation, treasure capitalization, technology application and tradition transcendence, which are guarantees to our cooperation."

 

Jianchun, who also used the occasion of the celebration to give awards to 50 Nigerians working with Chinese firms in the country, said "in nine days' time, we will celebrate the 72nd birthday of the People's Republic of China. Over the past 72 years, China's productivity and overall national strength have made historic strides.

 

"China's GDP rose from about $10.5 billion in 1952 to $15.7 trillion in 2020, an increase of about 189 times in real terms. From 1979 to 2020, China's GDP grew at an average annual rate of 9.2%, much higher than the world economy's growth rate of around 2.7% during the same period, and the speed and duration of economic growth are rarely seen in the world. According to the World Economic Outlook database of the International Monetary Fund, China will account for 17.4 percent of the global economy in 2020."-This Day.

 

 

 

Rwanda: Construction of Kigali's Green City Delayed to 2023

Construction of a model green city in Kinyinya sector, Gasabo District is expected to start in 2023, officials have said, following a prolonged bleak outlook.

 

Construction kick off on the 620-hectare centre had been slated for January 2020 subject to the approval of its architectural designs that was expected to be done in December the previous year.

 

However, proprietors are way behind schedule on a project - which is anticipated to be environmentally friendly, affordable and socially equitable, and with a culturally sensitive urban touch.

 

Now, Rwanda Green Fund (FONERWA), the lead institution in the $4 to $5 billion project, says a detailed design is expected to be complete by early 2030.

 

With plans for 30,000 housing units to accommodate 150,000 people, officials say that the project will create at least 16,000 jobs.

 

The project has two phases

 

The first is a pilot phase where some 410 houses with multiple green aspects will be constructed on 13 hectares.

 

Under the second phase, green affordable houses will be set up on 125 hectares, followed by the construction of commercial as well as office buildings to accommodate innovative green businesses.

 

If implemented, this will be the first green urban centre in Rwanda with a mixture of green infrastructure including residential houses, office space and industry use and public amenities.

 

It is being designed with systems to prevent environmental degradation and air pollution, and plans are underway to replicate it in secondary cities.

 

"The project will integrate green buildings and designs, efficient and renewable energy and inclusive living," Teddy Mugabo, the Chief Executive of FONERWA, said.

 

The proprietors are yet to secure a contractor, but Mugabo disclosed that a tender to hire a construction firm to undertake the project will be published once the final design is out.

 

She explained that what is completed now are the feasibility studies which analysed the situation at Kinyinya Hill, adding, "soon a firm will be contracted to develop the detailed design."

 

Will residents be expropriated?

 

Resettlement plans are being developed, Mugabo said, emphasising that no expropriations will be carried out.

 

"One of the aims of the project is to create a mixed housing neighbourhood that is inclusive," she said. "This is mainly why we are mobilising additional resources to upgrade the already settled Ngaruyinka village. The upgrade will focus on greening the public infrastructure of this village."

 

According to Jean Baptiste Nsengiyumva, a Senior Research Fellow at Institute of Policy Analysis and Research-Rwanda (IPAR-Rwanda), in order to make such a city inclusive, decisions for unplanned settlements should include dwellers' views.

 

"Master plans should be inclusive. Inclusiveness is needed because low income earners are needed in the labour force. Having a city of only high and middle class people is not a good decision," he said.

 

Urbanisation, he said, requires urban governance - a process by which the government with stakeholders and citizens jointly decide on how to plan, finance and manage urban areas.

 

"It requires research, studies to know the current status, challenges, and burning issues that people need to be addressed," he said, adding that some people are not aware of new master plans for their areas.-New Times.

 

 

 

Nigeria: The Organised Private Sector and VAT

The OPS should continue to remit their VAT to the FIRS until the issues are resolved

 

Whenever there is doubt on an issue, and an appellate court intervenes and rules that the status quo should be maintained, it is the position before the trial that stands. But since nothing is ever certain in Nigeria, manufacturers, and service providers under the Organised Private Sector of Nigeria (OPSN) have expressed concerns over how to pay the Value Added Tax (VAT) and to where the proceeds should go. "We are aware that by September 21 we will get penalised if we do not pay or remit the VAT for the month of August... The confusion in the public space is the reason we are calling on the government to come to our aid as we want to pay," said OPSN Chairman, Taiwo Adeniyi.

We understand the concerns of the OPSN as a critical sector of the Nigerian economy. It comprises the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Nigerian Association of Small-Scale Industries and the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises.

 

In the difficult times that we are in, government, at all levels, should make deliberate efforts to ensure businesses are not sadled with multiple taxations. Going by the judgement of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt on 8th August this year, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) "has no constitutional authority to enforce and administer taxes not expressly stipulated under Items 58 and 59, Part I, Second Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria." Following that decision, the Rivers State House of Assembly quickly enacted VAT Law No. 4 of 2021 to end the authority of the FIRS to administer, collect and enforce the VAT Act, 2007 in Rivers State. Lagos State followed by passing a similar law while the Southern states, at their meeting last week endorsed the judgement.

However, the order by the Court of Appeal effectively halts the implementation and enforcement of the laws passed by both the Rivers and Lagos State Houses of Assembly on VAT, pending the decision of the appeal. Both the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, have waded into the controversy by reaffirming that the FIRS remains the recognised revenue for VAT collection in the country. Members of the OPSN should therefore continue to file and remit their VAT payable to the FIRS pending the final resolution of the appeal by the Court of Appeal. As we stated recently, we implore the states that have passed the VAT law to await the outcome of the cases in court before enforcement to avoid confusion. Besides, the federal government should put law enforcement agencies on notice to respect the rights of the OPSN members and avoid abuse of their fundamental right.

Meanwhile, the tax authorities must come up with clever ideas to address declining revenues. Real efforts must be made to expand the tax base while keeping the rates low. Our tax regime should meet the twin requirements of efficiency and equity, while adequate sensitisation and incentives should be provided to ensure voluntary compliance. And perhaps most importantly, the tax authorities must simplify the process of payments to meet with global best practices while tax expenditure must be transparently governed. The bottom-line is that many people would gladly pay their taxes if "their money" is seen to be appropriately spent.

 

Ultimately, President Muhammadu Buhari and the 36 governors would have to arrive at an acceptable way forward on this VAT controversy. It is obvious that the status quo has become a problem for the peace and progress of the country.-This Day.

 

 

 


 


 


Invest Wisely!

Bulls n Bears 

 

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INVESTORS DIARY 2021

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


Star Africa

AGM

virtual

September 23 -11am

 


 

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.

 


 

 


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