Friday 31 October 2014

Tim Cook's revelation and the foreign market

Allen Wastler | @AWastler

<p>How Tim Cook&#039;s revelations affect global business</p> <p>Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed he was gay in a Bloomberg Businessweek essay earlier Thursday. Re/code&#039;s Kara Swisher explains whether that could affect Apple&#039;s global ambitions.</p>

In the United States, Tim Cook's public revelation that he is gay is one thing. On the international front, it is quite another.
Homosexuality in some parts of the world is considered immoral, even criminal. Yet that is where a majority of Apple's business is. Nearly 60 percent of the company's revenues came from outside the Americas, according to its latest earnings report.

Kaveh Kazemi | Getty Images

A vendor stands in front of an Apple logo attending to customers in a shop that specializes in iPhone products and it's accessories in Paytakht computer mall in Tehran, Iran.

Just this morning the Wall Street Journal has a story about Apple holding talks about selling its products in Iran should U.S. sanctions on that country ease. Homosexuality is against the law in Iran, in some cases punishable by death. One wonders what stance the government there would take over importing products from a company with an openly gay CEO.
Indeed, anti-gay sentiment is prevalent in the Middle East, albeit to

Obi Mobiles

Obi Mobiles, the new kid on the smartphone block, was launched by co-founder and former Apple CEO John Sculley in Singapore on Thursday as part of the brand's global rollout.
With devices priced between $70 and $200, Obi aims to capture a market ignored by Apple, but served by several low-cost Chinese manufactures including Xiaomi and Lenovo: youth in emerging markets.
While the Android-powered handsets, which are made in China, offer similar specifications to other budget phones available in the market, Sculley says Obi will differentiate through distinctive design, branding and an extensive distribution network globally.
Read MoreChina's Xiaomi becomes third-largest smartphone maker
Obi Mobiles has recruited several Apple alumni for its design and marketing teams including Robert Brunner – the former director of industrial design at Apple and

Saudi's NCB IPO survives Sharia shakedown

Hadley Gamble | @_HadleyGamble

1 Hour AgoCNBC.com

Fayez Nureldine | AFP | Getty Images

A Saudi man walks in front of a branch of the National Commercial Bank (NCB) in the capital Riyadh.

Despite last-minute pressure from religious authorities, Saudi Arabia's first non-Sharia bank to go public will be oversubscribed, according to figures from Al Riydadh newspaper, which reported the National Commercial Bank IPO covered at 210 percent.
Billed as the Arab world's largest IPO, Saudi's $6 billion NCB offering was initially touted as a great opportunity to share the wealth with the Kingdom's growing population. NCB planned a two-week subscription period, offering a total of 500 million shares with 300 of those

Why President Sata’s Death May Breathe Life Into Foreign Investments in Zambia

Onyedimmakachukwu Economic Development & Policies, Editor's Pick, Investing

VENTURES AFRICA – Michael Sata’s death on Tuesday means he becomes the second Zambian president to die in office, the first being Levy Mwanawasa in 2008. Although both suffered protracted illnesses that adversely affected the Zambian economy, the end of Sata’s presidency is also being considered a boost to investor confidence in the Southern African Country due to his critical stance towards foreign investors.
Nicknamed “King Cobra” for his vitriolic tongue, Sata became president of Zambia in 2011 by defeating incumbent Rupiah Banda –who was Mwanawasa’s vice, in a keenly contested election. He won the election on the back of strong criticism of the actions of foreign investors especially the Chinese who he accused of very little local content in their employees in Zambia. His climb onto power caused a considerable level of uncertainty amongst foreign investors, despite his assurance of

Nigeria’s Naira Under Pressure?

Niyi Aderibigbe Advisor Network, Economic Development & Policies, Investing

VENTURES AFRICA – Ahead of the 2015 general elections in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, increased political risk and dwindling appetite among emerging markets investors for frontier assets have put the country’s currency under pressure, the Bloomberg Africa FX report has revealed.
The situation has depleted the country’s foreign exchange reserves, with policy makers now left with a difficult decision to make: either allow the currency to move in a wider range against the dollar or raise interest rates. But Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele had promised to stabilize the Naira without plying either routes.
Forex reserves fell to $37.8 billion from $43.6 billion over the first quarter of 2014, according to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) data. Leading Emerging Markets & Frontiers investment bank, Renaissance Capital (RenCap) had in a report in February forecast an

Skye Bank Pre-tax Profit Falls 15.3%

Onyedimmakachukwu Business, Finance/Money

VENTURES AFRICA – Nigerian lender Skye Bank announced on Tuesday a its nine month pretax profit fell 15.3 percent to N14.56 billion ($91.83 million) from N16.55 billion ($99.89 million) in the corresponding period of last year. However the bank’s gross earnings rose to N102.04 billion ($615.89 million), 8.4 percent higher than 94.13 billion ($568.14 million) recorded a year earlier.
Skye Bank last month won the bid to buy nationalised lender Mainstreet Bank after the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) put up for

EU Lifts Trade Sanctions On Zimbabwe

October 31, 2014 Editor Economic Development & Policies, Investing

VENTURES AFRICA – The European Union (EU) yesterday lifted trade sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe 12 years ago on allegations of human rights abuses.
The latest move will see the 28 member bloc open up aid accounts to ailing Southern African country.
In 2002 the EU suspended bilateral co-operation with the country’s government and had been channelling all humanitarian support through no-governmental organizations. The decision to lift the Zimbabwe trade sanctions will be officially endorsed this weekend.
But President Robert Mugabe and wife Grace will remain under an asset freeze and a ban on travelling to the EU for another year.
“We are most happy today to announce that the EU council confirmed this

Econet Founder’s Plan To Fight Ebola

October 31, 2014 Editor Business, Pharma & Healthcare, Telecommunication

VENTURES AFRICA – Strive Masiyiwa, the founder of pan-African telecommunications group Econet Wireless, has instructed the company to carry out programmes to curb Ebola in all the countries it operates across Africa.
“Every Econet Wireless operation was directed by our founder Strive Masiyiwa to set up an Ebola Response Task Force to work with the authorities in the countries in which Econet operates,” said Econet official Douglas Mboweni.
“To fight Ebola, you have to go to the source, but you also have to prepare for potential outbreak in other countries. We, as a group, are involved in both efforts,” he said.
This current Ebola outbreak is the most widespread in history,

ConocoPhillips Rides on Nigerian Assets Sale To Post 8% Profit Growth

October 31, 2014 Onyedimmakachukwu Business, Energy, Finance/Money

VENTURES AFRICA – American multinational energy corporation, ConocoPhillips has reported a 8 percent increase in its 3rd quarter profit, boosted by the company’s $1.5 billion sale of its Nigerian assets to local Energy giant Oando PLC in July.

The company, which has been divesting from its lower margin assets over the past few years, recorded a profit of $2.7 billion, or $2.17 per share, 8 percent higher than the $2.5 billion, or $2.00 per share, of Q3 2013. Profit figures would have however been smaller had the largest U.S. independent oil company not sold its Nigerian assets from which it gained $1.4 billion. According to Reuters, excluding items such as the proceeds from the sale of its Nigerian business in July and a tax benefit, Conoco had a profit of $1.29 per share, although analysts, on average, expected $1.20.

Despite falling crude prices, Conoco’s CEO Ryan Lance expressed optimism of stronger growth next year.The company has been directing more capital to projects like

Lewis Furnitures To Acquire Struggling Retailer Beares

Mzwandile Jacks Investing, M & A

VENTURES AFRICA – JSE-listed furniture retailer, Lewis Stores, on Friday said it had submitted an offer to acquire high-end furniture retailer, Beares, from Ellerines, the struggling furniture maker owned by the ailing African Bank Investments Limited (ABIL).
Lewis said business rescue practitioners, acting on behalf of Ellerines, had accepted the offer and agreed to negotiate on an exclusive basis with a view to concluding a binding sale.
The purchase price has been determined with reference to the value of intellectual property, fixed assets and stock. The companies however opted against disclosing the purchase price.
Johan Enslin, CEO of Lewis Group, said the rationale for this

Zimbabwe Still Critical To Old Mutual – Group CEO

October 31, 2014 Mzwandile Jacks Business, Finance/Money, Strategies & Solutions

VENTURES AFRICA – Julian Roberts, CEO of Old Mutual, the Johannesburg and London-listed wealth manager, on Friday said its Zimbabwean unit remains critical to the company’s strategy because the troubled southern African country boast a wealth of intellectual capital.
Roberts, speaking at the Old Mutual Emerging Markets (OMEM) board meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe capital this week, told Fin24 that the group wants to be known as a financial services “champion” through growth of an African-based emerging markets business.
Paul Hanratty, Old Mutual COO, said the wealth manager would hold on to deploying capital and savings strategically. “We will continue in the mobilisation of capital and savings and deploying it as best as we can,” Fin24 quoted Hanratty as having said.
As a result, Old Mutual Zimbabwe is set to

Zimbabwe Still Critical To Old Mutual – Group CEO

October 31, 2014 Mzwandile Jacks Business, Finance/Money, Strategies & Solutions

Ivory Coast Cocoa Areas Getting Sun to Allow Bean Drying

By Olivier Monnier and Baudelaire Mieu

Cocoa areas in Ivory Coast, the world’s largest producer, are getting enough sun to allow drying of beans and wet weather is less frequent.
Rainfall averaged 4.1 millimeters (0.16 inch) a day in 15 cocoa-growing areas Oct. 20-26, down from 5.9 millimeters a day the previous week, according to CICO Services, an agronomy intelligence agency based in Abidjan, the commercial capital. The average temperature was 31 degrees Celsius (87.8 degrees Fahrenheit), unchanged on the week.
“The sun is shining, which is good for the drying of beans,” Tiegba Soumahoro, who owns an 8-hectare cocoa plantation in Aboisso, in the southeast of

Bank Indonesia to Manage Inflation as Costlier Fuel Looms

By Yudith Ho and Karl Lester M. Yap

Bank Indonesia will seek to ensure inflation remains manageable and any impact from an impending fuel-price increase is temporary, central bank Deputy Governor Perry Warjiyo said.
“It will depend on how much fuel prices will be raised,” Warjiyo said in an interview in Jakarta today, when asked if the central bank will raise interest rates when subsidized fuel prices are increased. Policy makers are due to decide on the benchmark rate on Nov. 13.
Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said this week the government will probably raise the prices before the end of the year to trim subsidies and create more fiscal space. President Joko Widodo, whose government is still weighing the size and timing of the change, has said he

China Snares 180 Fugitives Abroad in Global Anti-Graft Sweep

By Andrew Davis

China said it has now captured 180 economic fugitives from 40 countries as part of a campaign started in July to recover billions of dollars of illicit gains.
The suspects were apprehended under Operation Fox Hunt 2014, the official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday. Authorities arrested 104 suspects and the rest turned themselves in, Xinhua said. The number of those apprehended is up from 128 announced earlier this month.
The Communist Party under President Xi Jinping has mounted a crackdown on corruption that has netted thousands of cadres in the country and is targeting Chinese abroad. Between 2002 and 2011, $1.08 trillion of illicit funds were spirited out of

By Sharon Cho

Samsung Group companies surged, led by the biggest three-day rally in Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) in six years, amid growing speculation of a shareholder-friendly restructuring at South Korea’s biggest conglomerate.
Samsung Electronics, the world’s biggest smartphone maker, jumped 5.3 percent to 1,244,000 won at the close in Seoul, extending its three-day gain to 14 percent after saying yesterday it would detail a shareholder return policy during its fourth-quarter earnings release. Samsung Securities Co. (016360) climbed to an eight-week high on plans to buy back shares, while Samsung Life Insurance Co. (032830) closed at a record level.
Anticipation for a restructuring of the family-run group, whose revenues amount to about a quarter of Korea’s gross domestic product, escalated after the

China’s Yuan Plan Tested by Sole Gain Versus Dollar: Currencies

By Ye Xie and Lilian Karunungan

The yuan’s best rally since 2011 is testing China’s resolve to take a less controlling approach to its exchange rate.
The yuan is the only major currency to strengthen versus the dollar since mid-year, making exports (CNFREXPY) less competitive at a time when growth is slowing. It’s only been seven months since the People’s Bank of China engineered a record slide in the currency to deter speculators, and analysts say it may need to reprise the strategy if the yuan keeps climbing.
“The central bank appears committed to currency and financial-market reforms,” Eswar Prasad, a former International Monetary Fund economist and now professor of trade policy at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, said by e-mail on Oct. 28. Present circumstances “are testing that resolve,” he said.
China is performing a balancing act. While it wants a

Sony’s Loss Widens as Xperia Struggles Against IPhone

By Pavel Alpeyev, Grace Huang and Takashi Amano

Sony Corp. (SON1) reported a quarterly loss that was seven times greater than a year earlier as the company loses ground in the smartphone market to Apple Inc. and Chinese rivals.
The net loss widened to 136 billion yen ($1.2 billion) as Sony took a 176 billion yen writedown at the Xperia phone business and cut its phone sales forecast for the second time this year. The company’s shares traded in Germany fell.
Sony is headed for losses of more than 1 trillion yen since 2010, marking the worst five-year stretch in its history, amid competition from Apple and Samsung Electronics Co. Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Hirai, who has yet to meet a goal of making Sony’s television business profitable, must now also turn around a mobile-phone unit that’s failed to gain traction against rivals that

Yen Plunges as Japan Stocks Jump on Bank of Japan Stimulus; Gold Retreats

By Nick Gentle and Adam Haigh

The yen plunged to a six-year low while stocks jumped with U.S. equity-index futures (SPX) as the Bank of Japan unexpectedly increased its target for monetary stimulus. Gold fell below $1,200 an ounce as bonds from Italy to Portugal climbed.
Japan’s currency tumbled 2.2 percent to 111.61 per dollar by 6 a.m. in New York, the weakest since January 2008. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 1.2 percent, Japan’s Topix index jumped the most since June 2013 and Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures signaled the gauge may rise to a record. Yields on 10-year notes in Italy, Portugal and Greece slid at least five basis points. Russia’s ruble weakened 1 percent while stocks gained as the central bank met. Gold retreated as

By Bloomberg News

Lenovo Group Ltd. (992) said its $2.91 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility from Google Inc. (GOOGL) will help the company boost global smartphone sales and challenge market leaders Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) and Apple Inc. (AAPL)
“Lenovo will be number three in the global smartphone market, but definitely we will not stop here,” Chief Executive Officer Yang Yuanqing said in a telephone interview yesterday. “We want to become the leader in the smartphone and mobile devices area.”
The Motorola name will help Lenovo win sales in mature markets such as the U.S. and Europe, where its own handsets have made little headway, and serve as a premium brand in emerging markets, Yang said. The acquisition, completed yesterday, also gives Lenovo a new weapon in its battle for market share with Xiaomi Corp., which surpassed the Beijing-based company in third-quarter smartphone sales.
Lenovo boosted global smartphone shipments by 38 percent in

Lack of Mobile Ebola Test Harms Effort in West Africa

By Kelly Gilblom

The largest Ebola diagnostic lab in Liberia, housed in a shabby brick building 65 miles (105 kilometers) east of the capital Monrovia, can test about 80 to 90 blood samples a day.
Sometimes it takes two days for the samples taken from patients to arrive there, often in worn coolers carried on motorbike. By then, healthy people awaiting results may have been confined to virus-ridden Ebola wards. Sick people could have been accidentally diagnosed with other, less-harmful diseases and sent back, contagious, into healthy communities.
Scientists working on the West Africa outbreak said reliance on the overworked labs far from patients has opened an opportunity for several companies that are d

Kuroda Surprises With Stimulus Boost as Japan Struggles

By Toru Fujioka and Masahiro Hidaka

Photographer: Junko Kimura-Matsumoto/Bloomberg

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda led a divided board to expand what was already an unprecedentedly large monetary-stimulus program, boosting stocks and sending the yen tumbling.
Kuroda, 70, and four of his eight fellow board members voted to raise the BOJ’s annual target for enlarging the monetary base to 80 trillion yen ($724 billion), up from 60 to 70 trillion yen, the central bank said. An increase was foreseen by just three of 32 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. The BOJ also cut its forecasts for inflation and growth in Japan, the world’s third-biggest economy.
Facing projections for failure to reach the BOJ’s 2 percent inflation target in about two years, and with the pressure from a higher sales tax, enlarging the stimulus at

Japan Pension Fund Said to Unveil Asset Allocations Today

By Adam Haigh, Yoshiaki Nohara and Shigeki Nozawa

Japan’s public pension fund will announce new asset allocations today, a government official said, buoying the nation’s stocks before the Bank of Japan’s unexpected easing added even more impetus to the rally.
The 127.3 trillion yen ($1.2 trillion) Government Pension Investment Fund will raise its targets for Japanese and foreign stocks to 25 percent each, while reducing its domestic debt allocation to 35 percent of assets and increasing overseas bonds to 15 percent, the Nikkei newspaper reported, without saying where it got the information. The figures are exclusive of short-term assets. The government official who spoke on the timing asked not to be named due to not being authorized to comment publicly on the matter.
The Topix index soared as much as 4.4 percent in Tokyo after

Burkina Faso Army Seizes Power After Protests

By Simon Gongo and Pauline Bax

Burkina Faso’s army said it took power in the West African country after several days of protests demanding the removal of President Blaise Compaore, who vowed to stay on to oversee a transition.
The army has dissolved all the country’s institutions, and plans to appoint a new head of state before restoring the constitution in 12 months, Colonel Aboubacar Ba told reporters late yesterday at army headquarters in the capital, Ouagadougou.
Compaore’s situation wasn’t immediately clear. The president, who’s held power since 1987, said in a televised address after the army statement that he’ll hand over to an elected successor after a “transition period.” He thanked the armed forces for “their professionalism and

British Airways Owner Says Economy Holds No Fear After Cost Cuts

By Chris Jasper

British Airways parent IAG SA (IAG) said it’s unperturbed by evidence of a slowing European economy as cost cuts at Spanish arm Iberia and a focus on buoyant U.S. markets put it in a stronger position than most major rivals.
IAG said today it’s sticking with a 1.8 billion euro ($2.3 billion) 2015 operating profit goal after Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA) this week cut its outlook for the second time in six months and Air France-KLM Group (AF) warned of sluggish fourth-quarter sales.
“The general economic environment is slightly weaker than three to six months ago, but we have anticipated that,” Chief Executive Officer Willie Walsh said on a conference call. “Our market focus is good and restructuring is showing benefits.”
IAG, Europe’s third-biggest airline, has expanded British Airways to

Oil Rout Seen Diluting Price Appeal of U.S. LNG Exports

By Ann Koh and Christine Buurma

Oil’s collapse is eroding the appeal of potential U.S. LNG exports to Asia as it cuts the cost of competing supplies linked to the price of crude.
Brent’s 22 percent drop this year outpaced the 8.9 percent decline in natural gas at Henry Hub, the benchmark for U.S. liquefied natural gas shipments that are scheduled to begin in 2015. When the cost of processing and shipping American supplies to Asia is taken into account, the price advantage over oil-linked cargoes from producers such as Qatar has more than halved, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
While the U.S. shale boom prompts the world’s biggest natural gas producer to plan exports of the fuel, it’s also boosting the country’s crude output to the most in 30 years, helping drive down global oil prices.
“The U.S. will not sell cheap gas,” Umar Jehangir, the deputy secretary of development and joint ventures at Pakistan’s Petroleum and Natural Resources Ministry, said in

Ex-UBS Trader Defense Could Be Threat to U.S. Forex Cases

By Tom Schoenberg and David McLaughlin

Currency traders from London to Singapore seeking to escape the clutches of U.S. prosecutors may get help from the first banker to contest charges in an earlier crackdown on interest-rate rigging.
Roger Darin, a former UBS AG (UBSN) trader in Zurich charged with conspiring to manipulate benchmark interest rates, is asking a judge to throw out the case, saying his alleged conduct had no connection to the U.S. The Justice Department’s response to the challenge is due today.
A win by the Swiss national could make it harder for the U.S. to ensnare foreign traders in its probe of currency manipulation, which has been under way for more than a year and may dwarf the long-running investigation into the rigging of benchmark interest rates set in London. While the currency probe has yet to result in any charges, prosecutors say they are coming soon.
“A government loss would

Goldman Sees Russia Ending Easy Ruble Short-Seller Trade

By Matthew Brown and Vladimir Kuznetsov

Currency traders who have been taking advantage of the Russian central bank’s predictable market interventions are about to find making money a lot harder, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
The bank’s analysts said they expect policy makers will abandon rules-based currency interventions at a meeting today, freeing themselves up to sell enough dollars and euros when needed to support the ruble. The central bank will also raise the benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point to 8.5 percent, they said, in line with the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
Speculation that policy makers will act to stabilize the currency triggered the biggest daily appreciation since at least 2003 yesterday. The ruble slumped to records against the dollar on seven consecutive days before the rebound, even as the central bank spent $28 billion on

Friday 31 October 2014

Tim Cook's revelation and the foreign market

Meet Obi: Ex-Apple CEO's new smartphone brand

Saudi's NCB IPO survives Sharia shakedown

Why President Sata’s Death May Breathe Life Into Foreign Investments in Zambia

Nigeria’s Naira Under Pressure?

Skye Bank Pre-tax Profit Falls 15.3%

EU Lifts Trade Sanctions On Zimbabwe

Econet Founder’s Plan To Fight Ebola

ConocoPhillips Rides on Nigerian Assets Sale To Post 8% Profit Growth

Lewis Furnitures To Acquire Struggling Retailer Beares

Zimbabwe Still Critical To Old Mutual – Group CEO

Zimbabwe Still Critical To Old Mutual – Group CEO

Ivory Coast Cocoa Areas Getting Sun to Allow Bean Drying

Bank Indonesia to Manage Inflation as Costlier Fuel Looms

China Snares 180 Fugitives Abroad in Global Anti-Graft Sweep

Samsung Electronics Jumps Most Since 2008 on Revamp Bets

Related

China’s Yuan Plan Tested by Sole Gain Versus Dollar: Currencies

Sony’s Loss Widens as Xperia Struggles Against IPhone

Yen Plunges as Japan Stocks Jump on Bank of Japan Stimulus; Gold Retreats

Related

Lenovo Won’t Stop at No.3 in Smartphones After Motorola

Lack of Mobile Ebola Test Harms Effort in West Africa

Kuroda Surprises With Stimulus Boost as Japan Struggles

Japan Pension Fund Said to Unveil Asset Allocations Today

Burkina Faso Army Seizes Power After Protests

British Airways Owner Says Economy Holds No Fear After Cost Cuts

Oil Rout Seen Diluting Price Appeal of U.S. LNG Exports

Ex-UBS Trader Defense Could Be Threat to U.S. Forex Cases

Related

Goldman Sees Russia Ending Easy Ruble Short-Seller Trade

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