Company news
UK minister Gove says UK will get EU trade deal by end of 2020
British cabinet office minister Michael Gove said on Tuesday that the government was committed to securing a trade deal with the European Union by the end of 2020.
Britain is due to leave the EU on Jan. 31 and Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to legislate to prevent any extension to the transition period beyond the end of next year.
“We are going to make sure that we get this deal done in time,” Gove told BBC TV. “We will get a deal, and the political declaration commits both sides to that.” – Nampa/Reuters
Unilever lowers 2020 sales growth forecast
Consumer goods giant Unilever Plc said on Tuesday it expects sales growth in 2019 to be slightly below its prior expectations, citing tough trading
conditions in West Africa and a slowdown in south Asia.
The Ben & Jerry's ice cream and Dove soap maker said it now expects underlying sales growth for 2019 to be slightly below its previous guidance of sales coming in at the lower half of its 3%-5% forecast range.
Earnings, margin and cash are not expected to be affected, the company said in a statement. – Nampa/Reuters
Samsung Elec board chairman jailed on union-busting charge
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd board chairman Lee Sang-hoon was sentenced to 1-1/2 years jail on Tuesday for sabotaging legitimate union activities, a South Korean court said.
Lee and about 25 other defendants were charged with sabotaging union activities by subcontracted workers at Samsung Electronics' repair unit, Samsung Electronics Service Co Ltd.
When union activities took place at Samsung Electronics Service in 2013, Samsung Group's now-defunct elite strategy office developed and implemented strategies to hinder the union's operation, Seoul Central District Court ruled.
Samsung executives and employees were, to different degrees, involved in finding out sensitive information about union members to convince them to leave the union, inducing the closure of subcontracting firms with active unions and delaying negotiations between labour and management. Samsung Electronics declined to comment.
The verdict follows last week's ruling by the same court that gave a 16-month jail term to Samsung Electronics Vice-President Kang Kyung-hoon on charges of union-busting activities at a different Samsung affiliate. – Nampa/Reuters
Benetton holding ready to sell 49% stake in Rome airport group
The Benetton family's holding company Edizione intends to sell a stake of up to 49% in Rome airport operator Aeroporti di Roma (ADR) as part of an overhaul
of infrastructure group Atlantia, business daily Il Sole 24 Ore said on Tuesday.
The newspaper said the process of selling the stake in ADR, which is controlled by Atlantia, would begin at the start of next year. It said ADR could be worth some 5 billion euros (US$5.51 billion) according to recent valuations.
The planned sale comes amid a shake-up at Atlantia, in which the Benetton family is the largest shareholder, following last year's deadly collapse of a bridge in Genoa operated by the group's tollway unit Autostrade per l'Italia.
Il Sole said the group was also looking at selling a "significant" stake in its electronic payments business Telepass.
It said potential buyers could include investment funds, sovereign wealth funds or infrastructure funds. – Nampa/Reuters
Boeing's production pause will not end 737 Max cash burn
Boeing Co is expected to continue burning cash despite pausing production of its 737 MAX jet, as it will leave its workforce intact and likely provide support to
suppliers, analysts said.
Some estimated the cash burn at around US$1 billion a month.
The airline said on Monday it would suspend production in January, its biggest assembly-line halt in more than 20 years, as repercussions from two deadly crashes of the now-grounded aircraft drag into 2020.
Boeing, which builds the 737 south of Seattle, said it would not lay off any of the roughly 12,000 employees there during the production freeze.
"We estimate that Boeing is burning nearly US$2 billion per month on the MAX but this will not drop to zero during the halt," JPMorgan analysts said in a note to clients.
They assumed more than half of those costs will remain due to internal overhead and staff expenses as well as support for key suppliers like fuselage producer Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc.
Analysts at Jefferies estimated a cash burn of more than US$730 million a month.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration needs to certify software changes and training plans before the plane can resume flying in the United States. Other regulators then need to sign off for it to return in other parts of the world.
The duration of the production halt is uncertain, making it hard to forecast the financial impact on Boeing and its suppliers. – Nampa/Reuters
JGB futures trim losses, 20-year yield falls after auction
Japanese government bond futures trimmed losses on Tuesday after an auction of 20-year debt was greeted with reasonably strong demand ahead of a Bank of Japan
(BOJ) policy meeting that ends on Thursday.
While the central bank is unlikely to announce any major policy changes, many investors stayed on the sidelines, awaiting its assessment of a recent rise in yields on 10-year bonds.
Benchmark 10-year JGB futures fell 0.10 point to 152.22, with a trading volume of 14,674 lots. The 10-year JGB yield rose 1.5 basis points to minus 0.015%.
The 20-year JGB yield fell 0.5 basis point to 0.275% as the auction surprised some traders who were expecting demand to weaken dramatically.
The 30-year JGB yield fell 1 basis point to 0.395%, but the 40-year JGB yield rose 1 basis point to 0.435%.
In the middle of the yield curve, the five-year yield rose 1.5 basis points to minus 0.115%. At the short end, thee two-year JGB yield rose 0.5 basis point to minus 0.130%.
The government will auction 1-year treasury bills on Wednesday, which will be a chance to measure investor demand for shorter-dated paper. – Nampa/Reuters
KDDI to buy stake in convenience store chain Lawson
Japanese telecom company KDDI Corp will pay more than 12 billion yen (US$110.46 million) for about a 2% stake in convenience store chain Lawson as the pair tie up in smartphone payment services, the Nikkei Shimbun reported.
The tie-up will include Lawson's parent company, Mitsubishi Corp, the newspaper said on Monday.
KDDI's president will hold a joint news conference with the presidents of Lawson and Mitsubishi Corp's consumer products group at 4:30pm in Tokyo, the telecom company said in an email. – Nampa/Reuters
British cabinet office minister Michael Gove said on Tuesday that the government was committed to securing a trade deal with the European Union by the end of 2020.
Britain is due to leave the EU on Jan. 31 and Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to legislate to prevent any extension to the transition period beyond the end of next year.
“We are going to make sure that we get this deal done in time,” Gove told BBC TV. “We will get a deal, and the political declaration commits both sides to that.” – Nampa/Reuters
Unilever lowers 2020 sales growth forecast
Consumer goods giant Unilever Plc said on Tuesday it expects sales growth in 2019 to be slightly below its prior expectations, citing tough trading
conditions in West Africa and a slowdown in south Asia.
The Ben & Jerry's ice cream and Dove soap maker said it now expects underlying sales growth for 2019 to be slightly below its previous guidance of sales coming in at the lower half of its 3%-5% forecast range.
Earnings, margin and cash are not expected to be affected, the company said in a statement. – Nampa/Reuters
Samsung Elec board chairman jailed on union-busting charge
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd board chairman Lee Sang-hoon was sentenced to 1-1/2 years jail on Tuesday for sabotaging legitimate union activities, a South Korean court said.
Lee and about 25 other defendants were charged with sabotaging union activities by subcontracted workers at Samsung Electronics' repair unit, Samsung Electronics Service Co Ltd.
When union activities took place at Samsung Electronics Service in 2013, Samsung Group's now-defunct elite strategy office developed and implemented strategies to hinder the union's operation, Seoul Central District Court ruled.
Samsung executives and employees were, to different degrees, involved in finding out sensitive information about union members to convince them to leave the union, inducing the closure of subcontracting firms with active unions and delaying negotiations between labour and management. Samsung Electronics declined to comment.
The verdict follows last week's ruling by the same court that gave a 16-month jail term to Samsung Electronics Vice-President Kang Kyung-hoon on charges of union-busting activities at a different Samsung affiliate. – Nampa/Reuters
Benetton holding ready to sell 49% stake in Rome airport group
The Benetton family's holding company Edizione intends to sell a stake of up to 49% in Rome airport operator Aeroporti di Roma (ADR) as part of an overhaul
of infrastructure group Atlantia, business daily Il Sole 24 Ore said on Tuesday.
The newspaper said the process of selling the stake in ADR, which is controlled by Atlantia, would begin at the start of next year. It said ADR could be worth some 5 billion euros (US$5.51 billion) according to recent valuations.
The planned sale comes amid a shake-up at Atlantia, in which the Benetton family is the largest shareholder, following last year's deadly collapse of a bridge in Genoa operated by the group's tollway unit Autostrade per l'Italia.
Il Sole said the group was also looking at selling a "significant" stake in its electronic payments business Telepass.
It said potential buyers could include investment funds, sovereign wealth funds or infrastructure funds. – Nampa/Reuters
Boeing's production pause will not end 737 Max cash burn
Boeing Co is expected to continue burning cash despite pausing production of its 737 MAX jet, as it will leave its workforce intact and likely provide support to
suppliers, analysts said.
Some estimated the cash burn at around US$1 billion a month.
The airline said on Monday it would suspend production in January, its biggest assembly-line halt in more than 20 years, as repercussions from two deadly crashes of the now-grounded aircraft drag into 2020.
Boeing, which builds the 737 south of Seattle, said it would not lay off any of the roughly 12,000 employees there during the production freeze.
"We estimate that Boeing is burning nearly US$2 billion per month on the MAX but this will not drop to zero during the halt," JPMorgan analysts said in a note to clients.
They assumed more than half of those costs will remain due to internal overhead and staff expenses as well as support for key suppliers like fuselage producer Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc.
Analysts at Jefferies estimated a cash burn of more than US$730 million a month.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration needs to certify software changes and training plans before the plane can resume flying in the United States. Other regulators then need to sign off for it to return in other parts of the world.
The duration of the production halt is uncertain, making it hard to forecast the financial impact on Boeing and its suppliers. – Nampa/Reuters
JGB futures trim losses, 20-year yield falls after auction
Japanese government bond futures trimmed losses on Tuesday after an auction of 20-year debt was greeted with reasonably strong demand ahead of a Bank of Japan
(BOJ) policy meeting that ends on Thursday.
While the central bank is unlikely to announce any major policy changes, many investors stayed on the sidelines, awaiting its assessment of a recent rise in yields on 10-year bonds.
Benchmark 10-year JGB futures fell 0.10 point to 152.22, with a trading volume of 14,674 lots. The 10-year JGB yield rose 1.5 basis points to minus 0.015%.
The 20-year JGB yield fell 0.5 basis point to 0.275% as the auction surprised some traders who were expecting demand to weaken dramatically.
The 30-year JGB yield fell 1 basis point to 0.395%, but the 40-year JGB yield rose 1 basis point to 0.435%.
In the middle of the yield curve, the five-year yield rose 1.5 basis points to minus 0.115%. At the short end, thee two-year JGB yield rose 0.5 basis point to minus 0.130%.
The government will auction 1-year treasury bills on Wednesday, which will be a chance to measure investor demand for shorter-dated paper. – Nampa/Reuters
KDDI to buy stake in convenience store chain Lawson
Japanese telecom company KDDI Corp will pay more than 12 billion yen (US$110.46 million) for about a 2% stake in convenience store chain Lawson as the pair tie up in smartphone payment services, the Nikkei Shimbun reported.
The tie-up will include Lawson's parent company, Mitsubishi Corp, the newspaper said on Monday.
KDDI's president will hold a joint news conference with the presidents of Lawson and Mitsubishi Corp's consumer products group at 4:30pm in Tokyo, the telecom company said in an email. – Nampa/Reuters
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