Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 06 January 2022

[Bulls n Bears]

 <https://bullszimbabwe.com/> 

 


 

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

 


 

 


Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 06 January 2022 

 


 

 


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

 


 

 


ü  Taiwan setting up $200m Lithuania fund amid China row

ü  Vodafone and EE delay EU roaming charges return

ü  China: Is it burdening poor countries with unsustainable debt?

ü  Drivers overcharged by £5m a day for petrol, claims RAC

ü  Electric car sales soar, but chip shortage hits market

ü  Caviar sales soar as more people get a taste for posh fish eggs

ü  Cost of living: Government discusses fuel bill support

ü  PMQs: Labour's Angela Rayner steps up call for 5% energy bill VAT cut

ü  Investors brace for quantitative tightening as Fed sends hawkish message

ü  As Toshiba investors carp, No. 2 shareholder urges EGM vote on break-up plan

ü  HSBC, UBS order Hong Kong office changes as COVID cases rise

ü  WarnerMedia, ViacomCBS exploring possible sale of CW Network - WSJ

ü  Bitcoin, ether near multi-month lows following hawkish Fed minutes

ü  Walmart halves paid leave for COVID-positive workers

ü  Britain's Next raises profit guidance for fifth time in 10 months

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

Taiwan setting up $200m Lithuania fund amid China row

Taiwan has said it will set up a $200m (£148m) fund to invest in Lithuania as it tries to fend off Chinese diplomatic and trade pressure on the Baltic state.

 

Taipei said it aims to make its first investment later this year and the money is guaranteed by its national development fund and central bank.

 

It comes after Lithuania allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy there, a potential sign of growing ties.

 

China downgraded its diplomatic relations with Lithuania days later.

 

Announcing the plan, Taiwan's deputy minister for foreign affairs Harry Ho-jen Tseng told Lithuania: "It's time for us to help with your difficulties."

 

The announcement comes as Taiwan is sharing tips with the public on how to drink and cook with rum after it bought 20,000 bottles of Lithuanian rum bound for China.

 

State-run media said Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation purchased the rum after learning that it could be blocked from entering China.

 

China has denied blocking trade from Lithuania - which would breach global trading rules - but the European Union has said it has verified reports of goods being held up at Chinese customs.

 

The issue with rum imports is the latest example reported to have affected Lithuanian businesses, although China accounts for just 1% of Lithuania's exports.

 

Beijing has a history of imposing unofficial trade sanctions on countries with which it has disputes. Currently it also has boycotts on around a dozen Australian goods, including beef, wine and barley.

 

What's behind the China-Taiwan divide?

What is the 'One China' policy?

In November, China downgraded its diplomatic relations with Lithuania, after the Baltic state allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy there.

 

The new office bears the name Taiwan rather than "Chinese Taipei", the name used in many other nations to avoid offending China.

 

Taiwan's new office in Lithuania does not equate to official diplomatic relations but could be seen as a sign of growing ties between them.

 

It was the island's first new diplomatic outpost in Europe for 18 years. Taiwan has few allies with which it has formal ties, due to China's pressure.

 

Lithuania defended its right to have ties with Taiwan, but said it respected the "One China" policy.

 

The One China policy is the diplomatic acknowledgement of China's position that there is only one Chinese government.

 

While Taiwan is a self-governed democratic state, Beijing sees it as part of its territory. In the last year, it has stepped up pressure to isolate the island from its international allies.-BBC

 

 

Vodafone and EE delay EU roaming charges return

Vodafone is delaying the reintroduction of roaming charges in Europe by three weeks.

 

The phone network had planned to bring in post-Brexit roaming fees on 6 January, matching other networks who plan to do so in 2022.

 

But it said more time was needed for testing, and the change will now come in at the end of January.

 

EE has also delayed resuming its roaming charges, which were planned for January, until March.

 

Before the UK left the EU, users were able to use their calls, texts, and data allowance in their mobile plans in any EU country. But the EU trade deal of December 2020 gave mobile operators the option of reintroducing charges.

 

The Three network has also said it will bring in roaming charges between the UK and Europe, though their change is planned for May 2022.

 

That means that of the largest mobile networks, only O2 has not announced any plans for the reintroduction of roaming fees.

 

Explaining the reason for delaying its planned changes, Vodafone said it was not ready to bring in the new system.

 

"We have pushed back the introduction of roaming charges to the end of January, giving time for further testing to ensure the best possible experience for customers purchasing our £1 per day bundles. Until then, customers will continue to be able to roam without charges."

 

The £1 a day charge is Vodafone's best price, and only applies when bought in an eight or 15-day bundle. The usual planned price is £2 per day in fees, matching EE and Three's planned pricing.

 

EE said the shift in its plans was caused by unspecified technical delays.

 

"Making big changes to billing systems in mobile phone networks is always risky," said Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight and founder of the Mobile Phone Museum.

 

"The backlash and negative publicity for any network operator that does not get it right would be immense if a customer ended up with an eye-watering roaming bill.

 

"My guess is that rather than rushing out a change, the operators are delaying the introduction to be absolutely sure everything is working.

 

"Given the current Covid situation it's not like lots of people are travelling, so the operators are not going to be massively exposed on unexpected roaming costs."-BBC

 

 

 

China: Is it burdening poor countries with unsustainable debt?

China has faced criticism for its lending practices to poorer countries, accused of leaving them struggling to repay debts and therefore vulnerable to pressure from Beijing.

 

But that is rejected by China, which accuses some in the West of promoting this narrative to tarnish its image.

 

It says: "There is not a single country that has fallen into [a] so-called 'debt trap' as a result of borrowing from China."

 

What do we know about China's lending?

China is one of the world's largest single creditor nations.

 

Its loans to lower and middle-income countries have tripled over the past decade, reaching $170bn (£125bn) by the end of 2020.

 

Bar chart showing growth of Chinese lending

However, China's overall lending commitments are likely to be significantly greater than these figures suggest.

 

 

Research by AidData, an international development body at William & Mary University in the US, finds that half of China's lending to developing countries is not reported in official debt statistics.

 

It is often kept off government balance sheets, directed to state-owned companies and banks, joint ventures or private institutions, rather than directly from government to government.

 

There are now more than 40 low and middle-income countries, according to AidData, whose debt exposure to Chinese lenders is more than 10% of the size of their annual economic output (GDP) as a result of this "hidden debt".

 

Djibouti, Laos, Zambia and Kyrgyzstan have debts to China equivalent to at least 20% of their annual GDP.

 

Much of the debt owed to China relates to large infrastructure projects like roads, railways and ports, and also to the mining and energy industry, under President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative.

 

What are 'debt traps' and what's the evidence for them?

In an interview with the BBC, Richard Moore, the head of Britain's foreign intelligence agency MI6, said China uses what he called "debt traps" to gain leverage over other countries.

 

Warning about China's 'debt traps'

The claim is that China lends money to other countries, which end up having to cede control of key assets if they can't meet their debt repayments - an accusation that's been long denied by Beijing.

 

One example often cited by critics of China is Sri Lanka, which years ago embarked on a massive port project in Hambantota with Chinese investment.

 

But the billion dollar project using loans and contractors from China became mired in controversy, and struggled to prove viable, leaving Sri Lanka saddled with growing debts.

 

Finally, in 2017, Sri Lanka agreed to give state-owned China Merchants a controlling 70% stake in the port on a 99-year lease in return for further Chinese investment.

 

Analysis of the port project by UK-based think tank Chatham House has questioned whether the "debt trap" narrative strictly applies, given that the deal was driven by local political motivations, and that China never took formal ownership of the port.

 

It points out that a large proportion of Sri Lanka's overall debt was owed to non-Chinese lenders, and that there's no that evidence China has taken advantage of its position to gain strategic military advantage from the port.

 

Despite that, there's little doubt China's economic involvement in Sri Lanka has grown in the past decade, and concerns persist that this could be used to advance its political ambitions in the region.

 

There are other parts of the world where Chinese lending has also proved controversial, with contracts whose terms could give China leverage over important assets.

 

China: Loan shark or big spender?

But there are no cases, among the hundreds of loan arrangements studied by AidData and some other researchers, of Chinese state-owned lenders actually seizing a major asset in the event of a loan default.

 

How does China's lending compare with others?

China does not publish records of its foreign loans, and the majority of its contracts contain non-disclosure clauses which prevent borrowers from revealing their contents.

 

It argues that such confidentiality is common practice for international loan contracts.

 

"Confidentiality agreements are very common in international commercial loans", says Professor Lee Jones at Queen Mary University of London.

 

"And much of China's development financing is fundamentally a commercial operation."

 

Most of the major industrialised nations share information about their lending activities through membership of what's known as the Paris Club.

 

China has chosen not to join this grouping, but using available World Bank data, the rapid growth in China's reported lending compared to others can be clearly observed.

 

Chart shows China lends more than other official creditors.

Are Chinese loans harder to repay?

China tends to lend at higher rates of interest than western governments.

 

At around 4%, these loans are close to commercial market rates and about four times that of a typical loan from the World Bank or an individual country such as France or Germany.

 

The required repayment period for a Chinese loan is also generally shorter - less than 10 years, compared to around 28 years for other lenders' concessional loans to developing countries.

 

Chinese state-owned lenders also typically require borrowers to maintain a minimum cash balance in an offshore account to which the lender has access.

 

"If a borrower fails to repay its debt," says Brad Parks, Executive Director of AidData, "China can simply debit funds from [this] account without having to collect on bad debt through a judicial process."

 

This approach is rarely seen in loans issued by western lenders.

 

There's currently an initiative by G20 nations - those countries which have the largest and fastest-growing economies - to offer debt relief for poorer countries to help them deal with the impact of the pandemic.

 

China has joined this and says it has contributed "the highest amount of debt repayment" of any country taking part in the plan.

 

The World Bank says that since May 2020, a total of more than $10.3bn has been delivered in debt relief by G20 countries under this scheme.

 

But when we asked the World Bank for a breakdown by country, it said it could not share the information.-BBC

 

 

 

Drivers overcharged by £5m a day for petrol, claims RAC

The RAC has accused petrol retailers of ripping off motorists by refusing to pass on wholesale price cuts.

 

The motoring organisation said unleaded petrol fell by 2p a litre, but should have come down by 12p.

 

It estimated drivers were overcharged by £5m a day in December as retailers made an average of 16p a litre on petrol instead of the normal 6p.

 

The Petrol Retailers Association objected, saying drivers were likely to have benefited more than that.

 

"December was a rotten month for drivers as they were taken advantage of by retailers," said the RAC's fuel spokesman, Simon Williams.

 

In the past, he said, retailers had always reduced pump prices when wholesale prices dropped.

 

"This time they've stood strong, taking advantage of all the media talk about 'higher energy prices' and banked on the oil price rising again and catching up with their artificially inflated prices, which it has now done," Mr Williams said.

 

But Gordon Balmer, executive director of the Petrol Retailers Association, said: "December's pump price data is less reliable because it is taken from fuel card transactions, and there have been far fewer of these transactions because of the reduction in business activity between Christmas and New Year."

 

He said the retail fuel market remained "extremely competitive" and said supermarkets did not use artificially low fuel prices to lure shoppers into their stores at Christmas.

 

"The costs of running petrol stations rose all year, with electricity up 19%, vastly reduced margins from fuel cards, increased national insurance and wage inflation," he added.

 

Prices dropping

The RAC said unleaded dropped from 147.47p a litre to 145.48p, when drivers should have seen prices nearer to 135p.

 

Diesel dropped by just under 2p a litre from 150.80p to 148.92p, when drivers should have been paying about 142p, it said.

 

The RAC's data suggested that the price of a litre of unleaded on the wholesale market, including delivery, averaged 106p across December.

 

It said that had a 6p margin been taken by retailers, drivers would have seen an average petrol pump price of around 135p after applying VAT at 20%.

 

The average wholesale cost of delivered diesel was 112p a litre which, with the usual 6p retailer margin, would have given a pump price of about 142p.

 

"This means it has cost petrol car drivers £6 more to fill up a typical 55-litre family car than it should have (£80 v £74) and for diesel nearly £4 more, with a tank costing £82 at the end of the month instead of £78," the RAC said..

 

It estimated retailers' refusal to reflect lower wholesale prices at the pumps cost petrol car drivers £156m in December, or the equivalent of £5m a day.

 

Regulation call

Howard Cox, founder of campaigning group FairFuelUK, called for the government to create an independent pricing watchdog.

 

"If gas, electricity, water and telecoms get price protection bodies, why shouldn't motorists have one too?" he said.

 

He said that if prices at the pumps were "honest and transparent and open to scrutiny", inflation could fall by as much as 1%.

 

"Pump prices should be 10p lower per litre if the actual wholesale price falls had been passed on honestly."

 

"Sadly, the government's efforts to work with the fuel industry so that pump prices are competitive, and market driven, ensuring consumers benefit from lower prices, is not working," said MP Craig Mackinlay, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Fuel for Motorists and Hauliers.-BBC

 

 

 

 

Electric car sales soar, but chip shortage hits market

Sales of electric vehicles soared last year, but the market as a whole failed to recover from the Covid pandemic.

 

More electric cars were registered in 2021 than in the previous five years combined, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

 

Yet the industry body said much more investment is needed in charging infrastructure.

 

Meanwhile an acute shortage of computer chips left dealers struggling to get hold of many new conventional models.

 

Dismal year

Overall, 2021 was another dismal year for the motor industry. Preliminary figures from the SMMT show that some 1.65m cars new cars were registered.

 

That was a small increase over 2020, when the impact of the first Covid-related lockdowns and dealer closures sent sales plummeting.

 

 

But it was still the second-worst figure recorded in nearly three decades, and 28% down on its pre-pandemic level.

 

At the beginning of the year, there was a further lockdown, while any hopes of a lasting recovery later on were dashed by a severe shortage of semiconductors - or computer chips.

 

These are critical components in modern cars, being used in areas such as engine management and emissions control, emergency braking, airbags, entertainment systems and navigation.

 

A modern car can use between 1,500 and 3,000 semiconductors.

 

But outbreaks of Covid-19 in regions where the chips are made, particularly in southeast Asia, caused factory closures that restricted supplies.

 

The motor industry also faced intense competition for the chips that were available from other sectors, particularly the consumer electronics industry.

 

This forced manufacturers to allocate what supplies they had to the most profitable models, as well as to those which helped them meet emissions targets - notably electric and plug-in hybrid cars.

 

Electric future

Despite the problems affecting the market as a whole, registrations of electric cars rose more than 75%, from 108,000 in 2020 to 191,000 last year.

 

In December, they accounted for one in every four cars sold, while the second-best selling car in the country during the year was Tesla's electric Model 3.

 

This trend will be welcomed by the government, which plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel powered cars by 2030, to help meet commitments on climate change.

 

But the SMMT has warned that reductions in the value of the plug-in car grant could send out mixed messages to consumers.

 

In December, the maximum value of the grant, which is meant to bring down the cost of an electric car, was reduced from £2,500 to £1,500, and the number of eligible models was also narrowed down.

 

"It's a confusing message," said Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT.

 

"It's a massive ambition to get the entire market to move to meet net zero by 2030/2035. We would argue you need to use every lever at your disposal."

 

"Anything that brings into doubt that commitment doesn't help a consumer who might be wavering."

 

The industry body said it is also concerned that while electric vehicle sales are rising rapidly, the number of on-street public charging points is not increasing as quickly.

 

"There will be more people competing for a much more slowly increasing number of on street chargers," explained Mr Hawes.

 

"We want the user experience to be seamless, to be affordable and to be easy. And we just foresee this being one of the barriers to the consumer take-up of these vehicles that we need across the country."

 

But Melanie Shufflebotham, co-founder of the Zap Map website, which lists charging points across the country, disagreed that the rollout of new infrastructure has been too slow.

 

"Electric vehicles are now the norm," she said.

 

"Sales accelerated throughout 2021 and so did the public charging infrastructure. There are nearly 30,000 public chargers in the UK, an increase of more than a third since the end of 2020."

 

"But we do need charging to keep growing at pace this year to make sure it is simple for the next generation of EV drivers."-BBC

 

 

 

Caviar sales soar as more people get a taste for posh fish eggs

When high-end restaurants around the globe had to close their doors during the Covid lockdowns, things didn't look good for the world's caviar producers.

 

Add glitzy events being cancelled, and cruise liners not being able to leave port, and you might think that it spelled disaster for the sellers of wincingly expensive fish eggs.

 

But the reality has been very different. Online sales are booming as the well-heeled increasingly eat their caviar at home.

 

"I think people in lockdown wanted to enjoy themselves, and everybody decided to spend money on caviar, either at home, or in restaurants [when they were able to open again]," says Carla Sora, general manager of Italy's Agroittica Lombarda, Europe's largest caviar farm.

 

But what exactly is caviar? It is the salt-cured eggs of numerous species of the sturgeon fish. Long considered a delicacy, the industry was historically centred on wild stocks in the Caspian Sea, which is today surrounded by Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Azerbaijan.

 

But by 2006, severe overfishing in the Caspian led to a ban on the global sale of almost all wild caviar from the sea. This is still enforced by the Switzerland-based Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

 

The ban led to a big growth in the farming of sturgeon around the world specifically for the production of caviar. As a result, almost all of the caviar sold legally worldwide is now from farmed stocks - sturgeon reared in man-made lakes and ponds.

 

This global farmed sturgeon industry was worth €750m ($848m; £640m) in 2019, according to the most recent figures from Norwegian firm Kontali, which monitors the worldwide fish farm sector. Meanwhile, the European Union estimated that global caviar volumes reached 380 tonnes in 2018, its most up to date figures.

 

Ms Sora says that sales at Agroittica Lombarda soared last year, especially in the US, where they doubled.

 

Meanwhile, US firm Sterling Caviar, owner of four farms in California, and the largest caviar producer in the country, said its sales were up 10% in 2021. In the UK, the sole sturgeon farmer, Exmoor Caviar, sold out of all of its then stock at the end of 2020.

 

Kontali analyst, Maren Boe, says that online sales have "been the saving grace" for producers since the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic.

 

"By selling smaller tins of caviar, both in shops and online, producers have been able to sell to consumers looking to increase everyday luxury by buying caviar to consume at home," she says.

 

Sterling owner, Eugene Fernandez, says that its online sales soared 60% last year, helped by launching a new website in August. He thinks that caviar fans now want to eat it on a more regular basis.

 

"I think going forward the caviar market will probably be less of an occasional product for holidays, and more something that's bought regularly," he says.

 

Ms Sora adds that producers in the US and Europe have also benefitted from less caviar exports coming from China, whose farms account for 70% of global production. China's domestic consumption of caviar has soared in recent years, at the same time as there might have been some staff shortages caused by the pandemic.

 

New Economy is a new series exploring how businesses, trade, economies and working life are changing fast.

 

But why is caviar so expensive? At Exmoor, its cheapest tin costs £14, but that only gets you 10 grams - less than a teaspoon's worth. By contrast, its most expensive costs £4,800 for one kilogram.

 

Much of the high cost is down to the fact that female sturgeon take a long time to reach egg-laying maturity. For the Siberian sturgeon, the main species farmed at Exmoor, this takes between four and five years. For the white sturgeon at Agroittica Lombarda the females don't start laying eggs until they are 14 years old.

 

Critics of sturgeon farms, such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, argue that farming any fish is cruel, as it keeps them in an artificially confined space. The female sturgeons are also generally killed before their eggs are harvested.

 

"Caviar is something no-one needs," says Sascha Camilli, Peta's senior PR coordinator. "On fish farms, sturgeons are smashed together to swim in crowded, barren tanks, or netted areas polluted with the waste from thousands of fish."

 

The caviar industry counters that the sturgeon meat is also sold for eating, that farmed stocks can bolster critically endangered wild numbers, and that the welfare of the fish has to be their main priority.

 

Exmoor's chief executive Kenneth Benning says that, despite the recent boom, there is no certainty that caviar sales will continue to rise so strongly because demand for the expensive premium product is greatly affected by economic uncertainty.

 

"The reality is that disposable income is [likely] going to be less, particularly in the UK," he says. "There's a lot of people out there in the world who basically cannot justify spending £20 on a 10 gram tin.

 

"We've been on an upward trajectory, but I think that that's from the marketing perspective, and from building customers who've come back to buy the product again."

 

By contrast, Mr Fernandez expects growth to continue to grow rapidly, and Sterling intends to acquire a further 240 acres of land to expand its existing farms.

 

"We'll do a roll up of another five or 15 farms over the next three to four years and take the company public," says Mr Fernandez. "This is going to be a hot sector for the next five to 10 years - at least."

 

At Exmoor, the plans for the future are more high tech - it has filed a patent for the development of lab-grown caviar from sturgeon stem cells. This technology is already under development for other fish, such as tuna.

 

"With cellular aquaculture, we believe we can produce the egg we need within 40 days," says Mr Benning. "If we had excess demand, we could meet it in a moment.

 

"In a room that is less than 300 square meters, we can produce more caviar than the entire annual global production. If you can provide the products, it's the same genetic material and it doesn't involve the captivity or killing of an animal - it's a no-brainer."

 

If all goes to plan, Exmoor - which is working with partners in Switzerland, Germany and Eastern Europe - intends to launch its cell-cultivated caviar in 2023.

 

But would this mean the end of the farmed sturgeon industry? Mr Benning doesn't think so. He says that some people will always want to buy natural rather than lab-grown caviar.-BBC

 

 

 

Cost of living: Government discusses fuel bill support

After a two hour meeting with senior energy industry leaders, the idea of targeted financial support for fuel bills - along the lines of the current Warm Homes Discount scheme - is emerging as a frontrunner to tackle a cost of living squeeze which could see households £1,200 a year worse off as a higher energy cap comes in at the same time as a rise in taxes on workers and employers.

 

The current Warm Homes Discount scheme offers those in receipt of certain benefits the option to apply for a one off £140 payment.

 

This could be increased and the number of people eligible could be expanded more broadly. Government sources confirmed this was "under discussion with other options" and the prime minister referred to the scheme twice in the last 48 hours.

 

However, some industry sources say the coming increases in bills will affect so many households that narrow targeting may be insufficient.

 

Although none of the other options are being ruled out, a blanket cut in the 5% VAT charged on energy bills - called for by Labour - is considered too blunt as it would also benefit better off households.

 

Suspending the additional levies on bills that fund green policies would be a tricky sell in some quarters after the UK hosted COP26, given these levies are designed to reduce dependence on volatile fossil fuels. This option is however gaining support among some Conservative backbench MPs.

 

 

Moving these green levies from energy bills to general taxation is being pushed by some industry voices as it would mean higher earners pay more than those who spend a larger proportion of their income on essentials like heating. They also argue it would lower the measure of inflation, saving the government money on inflation linked borrowing costs. This is not thought to be popular with the Treasury who are reluctant to increase the general tax burden with a £12bn rise in National Insurance contributions starting in April - the same time as the new (higher) energy cap comes into force.

 

That rise in National Insurance itself is being questioned by MPs, including Jacob Rees-Mogg. However, reversing it would be a dramatic move from a Chancellor keen to keep control over public spending despite his personal misgivings about raising taxes.

 

Another option - favoured by the industry - would be to subsidise the energy companies themselves by establishing a fund or facility which would allow them to draw down government cash when wholesale prices were very high and then pay it back when prices dipped again. This would smooth out price spikes and would have the added benefit, energy providers argue, of preventing further providers going bust.

 

Even those that have survived so far have warned that their ability to insure themselves by buying the gas they need in advance is beginning to unravel as higher prices outlast their advance orders and exhaust their day to day cash.

 

No concrete proposals have yet reached the desk of the chancellor. Industry sources have told the BBC they are hoping a decision will be made next week. Yet, government officials pointed to a date of 7 February, when the new energy cap level is announced, as a guide to their absolute deadline for announcing new support.-BBC

 

 

 

PMQs: Labour's Angela Rayner steps up call for 5% energy bill VAT cut

Angela Rayner claims working families are "picking up the tab" for the prime minister's incompetence over rising prices.

Labour has stepped up its call for the 5% VAT rate on energy bills to be scrapped, demanding "serious solutions" for the rising cost of living.

 

Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, the party's deputy leader Angela Rayner said working families were "picking up the tab" for Boris Johnson's "incompetence" over the issue.

 

But the PM insisted the government was providing a number of schemes to help.

 

A spike in wholesale gas prices has led to soaring energy bills in the UK.

 

A total of 27 energy companies have also gone bust as the energy price cap - limiting how much consumers can be charged - saw some businesses forced to sell energy for less than they bought it for.

 

But there are fears an expected rise in the cap, due in April, could see households hit with even higher bills.

 

There is growing unrest on the Conservative benches about the rising cost of living, with a group of 20 Conservative MPs and peers - including five ex-ministers - writing to Mr Johnson last week to urge him to cut VAT on energy bills.

 

They also called for him to go further by suspending environmental levies, which fund renewable energy schemes.

 

The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg also spoke out during a cabinet meeting about the incoming tax rise to cover NHS and social care, calling instead for savings to be made in government spending.

 

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats reiterated their own plan to support people with rising costs, calling for a so-called "Robin Hood" tax on oil and gas firm profits.

 

The party's leader, Sir Ed Davey, said the one-off levy would raise around £5bn from companies making record profits from the wholesale energy price rise, which could be passed on to those in need.

 

'Simple measure'

Labour has been calling for the government to slash the 5% VAT rate on energy bills to zero since October, with shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves calling it a "simple" and "immediate" measure to help people deal with costs over the winter.

 

And writing in the Sun back in 2016, Mr Johnson himself advocated scrapping VAT on energy bills, saying it would be a benefit of Brexit.

 

Backers of the plan said VAT receipts had come in more than £3bn higher than forecast because of rising prices, giving the government extra funds to cover the cost.

 

But a Treasury source has told the BBC that rising bills overall mean consumers are spending less elsewhere on products with higher VAT, so the overall income to the government has remained flat.

 

Standing in for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer - who has tested positive for Covid - at PMQs, Ms Rayner said "working people across the country are facing rising bills and ballooning prices", due to a mixture of inflation, rising energy costs and an incoming tax rise to pay for the NHS and social care.

 

She added: "The prime minister has made political choices that have led us into this place."

 

The deputy leader claimed the government had "failed to invest in long term energy security" and "let the energy market run out of control", adding: "Can't the prime minister see what is happening?

 

"Yet again working families are picking up tab for his incompetence."

 

And having quoted his article in the Sun promising the VAT cut, Ms Rayner said "any decent government would find a way to help British families" and asking him to "finally stand up to his chancellor" to secure the move.

 

But Mr Johnson said a number of government initiatives - including the warm homes discount, winter fuel payments and cold weather payments - were supporting people, especially those on low incomes.

 

He also accused Labour of "bare-faced cheek" for calling for the VAT cut, as the party campaigned to stay in the EU - when it would not have been an option.

 

"Everybody knows full well it would be absolutely impossible if they were to do what Labour would do and go back into the EU [and] remain aligned with the EU single market," said the PM.

 

"That is the objective of the Labour Party. They can't be trusted on Brexit and they can't be trusted with the economy."

 

At Prime Minister's Questions, Boris Johnson said - twice - that the Warm Home Discount Scheme was "worth £140 a week".

 

That's wrong - it's worth £140 for the whole of the winter.

 

It's a one-off discount on the electricity bills between October and March of people on low incomes.

 

Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner said: "In October, the prime minister said that fears about inflation were unfounded."

 

Mr Johnson replied: "Of course, I said no such thing".

 

But in October, he told Sky News: "People have been worrying about inflation for a very long time… those fears have been unfounded."

 

And at PMQs, he said that "everybody on the living wage has seen another £1,000 in their income".

 

The living wage is going up in April from £8.91 an hour to £9.50, which will be £1,000 for somebody working full-time.

 

Clearly, people working fewer hours will receive less. Also, these are figures before taxes and benefits are taken into account.

 

Income tax, National Insurance and the loss of Universal Credit as earnings increase all mean that even a full-time worker is likely to end up with significantly less than £1,000.

 

The SNP's leader in Westminster, Ian Blackford, also attacked the prime minister over the rising cost of living, saying: "We've had the year of Tory sleaze, but now we've got the year of Tory squeeze for family budgets".

 

He quoted research from the Resolution Foundation, saying on average families will be £1,200 worse off from April "as a result of Tory cuts, tax hikes and soaring energy bills".

 

Mr Blackford asked the PM to "commit to an emergency financial package" to help the worst off.

 

But Mr Johnson said the government was "helping families up and down the country", pointing to changes to the Universal Credit taper and increases to the living wage.

 

He added: "You've now got more people in work than there were before the pandemic began.

 

"That is because of the balanced and proportionate approach that we've been taking."

 

Abolishing VAT of 5% on energy bills would be quick and easy, but is considered a blunt instrument, as it would provide support to well-off customers who don't need it.

 

And for those that do need it, 5% of a possible £700 price rise is pretty small.

 

The government could temporarily suspend the additional levies on bills that fund green policies.

 

But that would be a tricky sell in some quarters, after the UK hosted a major global climate summit, and these levies are designed to reduce dependence on volatile fossil fuels.

 

One other option is to extend and expand the Warm Homes Discount. Currently, customers in receipt of certain benefits can apply for a one-off payment of £140.

 

And another option - suggested by the industry - would be to subsidise the energy companies themselves, by establishing a fund or facility which would allow them to draw down government cash when wholesale prices were very high and then pay it back when prices dipped again.-BBC

 

 

Investors brace for quantitative tightening as Fed sends hawkish message

(Reuters) - Another barometer of Federal Reserve hawkishness is making a bigger appearance on investors’ dashboards: quantitative tightening.

 

Minutes from the Fed's December meeting released on Wednesday showed that officials had discussed shrinking the U.S. central bank’s overall asset holdings as well as raising interest rates sooner than expected to fight inflation, with "many" judging the appropriate pace of the Fed's balance sheet reduction would be faster this time.

 

Investors said the hawkish signal bolsters the case for those who believe the central bank will need to act more decisively in order to contain inflation, and could fuel further bets on higher yields while continuing to shake up the growth and technology shares that powered last year’s dynamic stock rally.

 

“There’s a real risk that the Fed is being too aggressive here,” said Scott Kimball, co-head of U.S. fixed income at BMO Global Asset Management, who reduced his positions in high yield corporate bonds and private debt late last year, believing they will underperform as rates rise.

 

“If the Fed is reducing its presence in the market at the same time that its policies could choke off growth, that’s a pretty big walloping,” he said.

 

Stocks extended declines after the release of the minutes on Wednesday, led by a selloff in technology and growth shares. Bond yields, which move inversely to prices, rose, with the benchmark U.S. 10-year yield rising to its strongest level since April 2021. read more

 

Higher yields tend to weigh on some stocks, particularly growth names, because they threaten to erode the value of future earnings. read more

 

The Fed kicked off the taper of its $120 billion per month purchase of government bonds in November. A month later, it said it would aim to wrap up the taper by March rather than its mid-year target, and its “dot plot” showed a more aggressive path for rate increases than investors were expecting. That led some to wonder whether the central bank might start contemplating outright balance-sheet reductions as another tool to combat surging inflation.

 

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said after the December meeting that while policymakers hadn't decided when balance sheet run-off would start, "those are exactly the decisions we will be turning to in coming meetings." read more

 

Some analysts had anticipated the move. Analysts at TD said in a research note that they are short 10-year real rates as the market begins to price in balance sheet runoff, saying the current rate of nearly -1% was inconsistent with higher Fed rates and a shrinking balance sheet.

 

Ten-year real yields , Treasury yields that adjust for expected inflation, jumped to -0.8% on Wednesday.

 

The U.S. yield curve, meanwhile, flattened following the Fed minutes, after steepening the last two session, indicating investors are bracing for rate hikes that push short-term rates higher. read more

 

However, analysts at Citi said the accelerated time-line of balance-sheet runoff could see curve-steepening over the medium-term "as the balance-sheet vs rate hike pace debate stirs."

 

While the Fed held its balance sheet in a steady state for about three years after beginning its taper in 2014, soaring consumer prices now may mean that the Fed will need to be more aggressive in reducing its over-$8 trillion balance sheet this time around.

 

Futures on the federal funds rate on Wednesday afternoon, following the release of the Fed minutes, priced in a roughly 80% chance of a quarter-percentage-point rate increase by the Fed at its March policy meeting. read more

 

“The fact that the balance sheet was discussed, and in more detail than we thought, sets the market up for possibly four rate hikes this year, and perhaps starting as soon as March,” said Kim Rupert, managing director of global fixed income analysis at Action Economics. “They are very afraid of inflation getting out of hand.”

 

Jason Ware, partner and chief investment officer for Albion Financial Group, believes broader equity markets may still rise under a more hawkish Fed, but expects more volatility and a rotation into economically sensitive companies.

 

"There is going to be some changes under the surface of the indexes," Ware said.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

As Toshiba investors carp, No. 2 shareholder urges EGM vote on break-up plan

(Reuters) - The second-largest investor in Japan's Toshiba Corp (6502.T) on Thursday called for an extraordinary general meeting, seeking to force the company to win two-thirds support for a three-way breakup plan that has angered some major overseas shareholders.

 

The proposal by Singapore-based hedge fund 3D Investment Partners marks the latest in a long and acrimonious battle between the once-mighty tech conglomerate and a number of its foreign shareholders, many of them activist funds.

 

Toshiba is now about 30%-owned by foreign hedge funds, many of which doubt whether management's plan to split the company into three businesses - one each for energy/infrastructure, electronic devices and flash memory chips - can maximise shareholder value.

 

The break-up plan was announced last November after a five-month strategic review following years of accounting scandals and governance issues that undermined investor confidence and saw Toshiba's market value more than halved, to around $18 billion, from an early 2000s peak.

 

If 3D's proposal for the meeting were to be accepted, it would trigger a vote that could ultimately scupper the break-up plan, a strategy that carries echoes of a similar move announced last year by General Electric Co .

 

3D owns more than 7% of Toshiba, a stake worth well over a billion dollars. In a statement, it highlighted concerns about the cost of going ahead with the split before getting a mandate from shareholders, and called for Toshiba to resume its strategic review.

 

"There is no rationale for pursuing at great expense the separation plan without knowing whether a sufficient number of Toshiba shareholders will ultimately provide consent," the fund said. Toshiba has previously said the plan will cost 10 billion yen ($86 million) to implement.

 

Toshiba said on Thursday it has received the proposal from 3D and is currently examining it. Shares in Toshiba were almost flat on Thursday morning, compared with a 2.1% decline in the Tokyo market (.N225).

 

'EXPLORE ALTERNATIVES'

 

In a twist, 3D said that if an extraordinary general meeting were to be approved, it would actually vote against its own proposal that Toshiba's statutes of incorporation should be changed to mandate the two-thirds voting support is needed for the "strategic reorganisation plan".

 

Instead, 3D said, the company should not approve any reorganisation "without first further exploring other alternatives thoroughly".

 

With its proposals, 3D is effectively trying to force the conglomerate to bring forward by more than a year a vote requiring backing from two-thirds of shareholders that is required under Japanese law. Officially, the vote is not slated to be held until the annual general shareholder meeting in 2023.

 

Weakened by a 2015 accounting scandal and the bankruptcy of its U.S. nuclear business, Toshiba has proposed the break-up to sharpen its focus on individual businesses.

 

But 3D and other shareholders have pushed for a more thorough review that would take into account potential private-equity bids.

 

Toshiba's strategic review so far "failed to consider a full range of alternatives," 3D said.

 

The company itself has proposed an extraordinary shareholder meeting in the January-March quarter to gauge shareholder support for the break-up plan, set to be completed by March 2024.

 

But details of the meeting are unclear, including the level of shareholder support it will require to continue with the plan.

 

One alternative to seeking a direct vote on support for the breakup plan that has been floated among Toshiba's board is asking shareholders at the extraordinary meeting to instead vote on the reappointment of its board directors, people familiar with the matter have said.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

HSBC, UBS order Hong Kong office changes as COVID cases rise

(Reuters) - Banks in Hong Kong including HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA.L) and UBS Group AG (UBSG.S) are taking steps to reduce the number of people at the workplace after having operated at near full capacity for the past few months, as the city faces a spike in COVID-19 cases.

 

HSBC, which is one of the biggest employers in Hong Kong with about 30,000 people, will maintain a maximum of 50% staff occupancy in its offices from Friday, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters. A spokesperson for HSBC confirmed the memo's content.

 

Bank of America (BAC.N) has encouraged its staff to work from home from Jan. 7-24, according to the U.S. bank's internal memo seen by Reuters. A bank spokesman confirmed the contents of the memo that was sent on Thursday.

 

Earlier, UBS said in a memo to staff that it would split its 2,500 Hong Kong workforce into two groups, with each returning to the workplace on alternate weeks.

 

The moves come amid worries of a fifth wave of COVID-19 infections in the Asian financial hub. Hong Kong has announced a two-week ban on some inbound flights, slapped curbs on indoor dining and closed swimming pools, bars and other venues.

 

The city recorded 38 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday.

 

Staff at HSBC and UBS have been told to minimise cross floor travel in their offices and not to socialise with members not in their own team, according to the memos.

 

HSBC, UBS and Bank of America also said staff had to wear masks when not at their desks, according to their memos.

 

Standard Chartered (STAN.L) divided its 6,000 workforce into teams earlier this week.

 

Financial institutions in Hong Kong have been operating at almost full capacity for the past few months, unlike most other major centres like New York or London, as the city stuck to a zero-COVID strategy by largely isolating itself from the world.

 

On Dec. 31, a streak of three months without community cases ended with the first local transmission of the Omicron variant.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

WarnerMedia, ViacomCBS exploring possible sale of CW Network - WSJ

(Reuters) - AT&T Inc's (T.N) WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS Inc are exploring a possible sale of a significant stake or all of the CW Network, which they jointly own, the Wall Street Journal reported late on Wednesday, citing people close to the talks.

 

Nexstar Media Group Inc (NXST.O) is among the suitors, according to the report.

 

The report said an agreement could be reached soon, though the talks could still fall apart. There are other interested parties as well, but the discussions with Nexstar are most advanced, it added.

 

The details of the other parties involved and the exact time by when the deal could be reached was not known immediately, according to the report.

 

AT&T, ViacomCBS, CW Network, and Nexstar Media did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.

 

The most prevalent scenario is Nexstar taking a controlling stake in CW, with CBS and WarnerMedia remaining as minority owners and receiving commitments to be the primary program suppliers for the network, the report said.

 

CBS and WarnerMedia have been exploring strategic options for the CW Network for several months, it added, quoting some people involved in the talks.

 

CW Network with Warner Bros has made popular shows including DC Comics' "Arrow" and its spinoff "The Flash". "Riverdale" is also among the highest grossing series of the network.

 

AT&T has been in the process of unwinding its expensive media investments to focus on its original business of providing phone and internet services. read more

 

It is combining WarnerMedia's media assets with Discovery to create a proposed standalone company, Warner Bros. Discovery, in a deal which is expected to close in mid-2022. read more

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

Bitcoin, ether near multi-month lows following hawkish Fed minutes

(Reuters) - Bitcoin fell below $43,000 on Thursday, testing multi-month lows after minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting showed it leaning toward more aggressive policy action, which sapped investor appetite for riskier assets.

 

The world's largest cryptocurrency was last at $42,700, down 1.7%, having lost 5.2% on Wednesday. A break below last month's trough of $42,000 would make it the weakest since September.

 

The token hit a record high of $69,000 in November.

 

The fall "correlated with the 'risk off' move across most traditional asset classes," said Matt Dibb, COO of Singapore-based crypto fund distributor, Stack Funds, pointing to the declines in the Nasdaq (.IXIC) in particular.

 

Moves in cryptocurrency markets are becoming more aligned with those in traditional markets as the number of institutions trading both crypto and other assets grows.

 

The Nasdaq plunged more than 3% overnight in its biggest one-day percentage drop since February, after Fed minutes showed U.S. policymakers had discussed reducing the bank's balance sheet at their December meeting, when they also decided to accelerate finishing their bond buying programme. read more

 

Share markets in Asia sold off on Thursday as well, while U.S. Treasury yields edged higher.

 

Ether , the world's second-largest cryptocurrency which underpins the ethereum network, lost 5.2% on Wednesday, and touched its lowest level since October, before bouncing back slightly to $3,460.

 

Crypto analysts were also watching to see whether anti-government protests in Kazakhstan, which were initially sparked by rising fuel prices, would affect the bitcoin network. read more

 

The central Asian nation was the world's second-largest centre for bitcoin mining, Britain's Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance said last year.

 

The Kazakh government late last year began cracking down on some miners, fearing the energy-intensive process was using too much power. read more

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

Walmart halves paid leave for COVID-positive workers

(Reuters) - Walmart Inc (WMT.N) workers in the United States who must isolate or who have tested positive for COVID-19 will receive one week of paid leave instead of two under a new policy that aligns with a change in U.S. health guidance.

 

A memo, seen by Reuters, sent on Tuesday to U.S. hourly store employees and long-haul drivers said COVID-19 positive workers and those required to quarantine - by Walmart, a health care provider or a government agency - are eligible for one work week of paid time off.

 

The company's guidelines follow the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's updated recommendations last week that people isolate for five days after a COVID-19 infection, instead of 10 days. read more

 

The retailer, the largest private employer in the United States with about 1.6 million workers, is among the first major retailers to reduce paid leave for COVID-19, and could serve as a bellwether for other major employers.

 

The move comes as a spike in COVID-19 cases is causing significant labor shortages across an industry that is already battling supply-chain snarls, product shortages, rising inflation and rocketing transportation costs.

 

A Walmart spokesperson confirmed the COVID-leave policy change. Workers who continue to be sick can potentially receive additional COVID-related pay for up to 26 weeks.

 

The spokesperson added that Walmart was asking corporate employees to work primarily from home until Jan. 30, rather than Jan. 10 previously announced.

 

The company operates 600 Sam's Club stores and more than 4,700 Walmart U.S. stores in the United States. On Monday, the company said it temporarily shut 60 stores in COVID-19 hot spots in December to sanitize them against the virus. read more

 

"A lot of people don't want to come into work as they're either afraid or getting coronavirus," Peter Naughton, 46, a Walmart electronics salesperson in Baton Rouge and member of labor non-profit United for Respect. "I can't afford not to come to work."

 

Like other mass retailers, Walmart has witnessed a boom in sales during the pandemic as more people shopped for groceries and home goods. The company raised its full-year annual sales and profit forecast in November but disappointed investors with higher labor and transportation costs that eroded margins.

 

The company's stock is nearly flat over the past one year compared to the broader S&P 500 retailing index's (.SPXRT) 20.6% rise over the same period. read more

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

Britain's Next raises profit guidance for fifth time in 10 months

(Reuters) - British clothing retailer Next (NXT.L) on Thursday beat guidance for sales in the run-up to Christmas, benefiting from a revival in demand for adult formal and occasionwear, and raised its full-year profit outlook for a fifth time in 10 months.

 

Next, which trades from about 500 stores and online, said full-price sales rose 20% in the eight weeks to Dec. 25 versus the same period in its 2019-20 year, before the pandemic impacted trading. That compares to guidance of a rise of 10.2%.

 

It forecast a full-year 2021-22 pretax profit of 822 million pounds ($1.1 billion) up from the 800 million pounds previously guided and up 9.8% versus 2019-20.

 

As the first major British retailer to update on Christmas trading, Next set a high bar for rivals to follow as a strong online performance more than offset another fall in store sales.

 

Online sales rose 45%, while retail sales in the UK and Ireland fell 5.4%.

 

The group had expected sales growth in its fourth quarter to be weaker than the third. read more

 

However, it said a strong revival in Next branded adult formal and occasionwear significantly improved sales throughout the period.

 

Next has proved a resilient performer during the pandemic, benefiting from its long-established online operations.

 

Rivals with weaker or no online business, notably Primark (ABF.L), have seen large falls in sales. Others, such as Topshop-owner Arcadia, and Debenhams have gone bust.

 

Next said its initial guidance for the 2022-23 year is for full-price sales to rise 7% versus the current 2021-22 year ending January 2022. It estimated its pretax profit would rise 4.6% to 860 million pounds.

 

The group said pressures on consumers' finances pointed to a tougher trading environment in 2022.

 

It forecast its prices would rise 3.7% in the first half and 6.0% in the second half due to higher freight rates and increased manufacturing costs.

 

Next also declared a further special dividend of 160 pence per share, worth 205 million pounds, to be paid at the end of January and said it intends to return to its pre-pandemic dividend cycle in the 2022-23 year.

 

Next shares, up 9% over the last year, closed Wednesday at 8,038 pence, valuing the business at 10.7 billion pounds.

 

($1 = 0.7400 pounds)

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


 


Invest Wisely!

Bulls n Bears 

 

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

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

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

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

Twitter:         @bullsbears2010

LinkedIn:       Bulls n Bears Zimbabwe

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

Skype:         Bulls.Bears 



 

 

 


 

INVESTORS DIARY 2022

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


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) 2022 Web: <http://www.bullszimbabwe.com>  www.bullszimbabwe.com Email:  <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> info at bulls.co.zw Tel: +263 4 2927658 Cell: +263 77 344 1674

 


 

 

 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20220106/5b7ad1bb/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 9458 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20220106/5b7ad1bb/attachment-0003.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.png
Type: image/png
Size: 409853 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20220106/5b7ad1bb/attachment-0004.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 22328 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20220106/5b7ad1bb/attachment-0001.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image004.png
Type: image/png
Size: 34378 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20220106/5b7ad1bb/attachment-0005.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: oledata.mso
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 65568 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20220106/5b7ad1bb/attachment-0001.obj>