COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

SA's Standard Bank expects rise in profits

South Africa's Standard Bank Group said it expects to report a 40% rise in profit for the six months to June 30, boosted by signs of recovery in the local economy.

Headline earnings per share the main gauge of corporate profit in South Africa will be around 663 cents, up from 473.8 cents in the January to June 2020 period, the bank said yesterday.

The coronavirus crisis bruised South African banks last year as the overall economic outlook darkened, with lenders setting aside large provisions for expected impairments as companies requested moratoriums on their loans.

Although the country's lenders are considered well-capitalised with strong balance sheets, they also paused dividend payments to conserve cash.

However, economic prospects have improved with a vaccination rollout and falling numbers of Covid-19 cases, with analysts predicting sectors that are dependent on the local economy, such as banking, retail and insurance, to deliver strong numbers in coming quarters. - Nampa/Reuters

No alcohol for Southwest passengers

Southwest Airlines Co said it will not resume alcohol services on board until the end of July, ditching its plans to restart next month, following a recent surge in in-flight disruptions by passengers.

"Given the recent uptick in industry-wide incidents of passenger disruptions inflight, we have made the decision to pause the previously announced re-start of alcohol service onboard June (Hawaii flights) and July," said Southwest spokesman Chris Mainz.

After airlines resumed travel following easing of Covid-19 led restrictions, they had mostly suspended in-flight services on domestic flights to avoid having passengers remove their masks while eating or drinking.

Southwest Airlines' decision comes following an incident where a passenger assaulted a flight attendant verbally and physically, during a flight from Sacramento to San Diego on Sunday. The passenger was later taken into custody by Law Enforcement Officials.

"We realize this decision may be disappointing for some customers, but we feel this is the right decision at this time in the interest of the safety and comfort of all customers and crew onboard," Mainz said. - Nampa/Reuters

Total, Chevron suspend payments

French oil and gas group Total and US energy company Chevron have suspended some payments from a gas joint venture that would have reached Myanmar's junta, earning praise from pro-democracy activists for taking an important first step.

International companies doing business in the country have come under pressure from rights groups and Myanmar's parallel civilian government to review their operations to stop payments flowing to a military government that seized power on Feb. 1.

Myanmar has been in chaos since the army overthrew the elected government and detained its leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and the junta has responded with brutal force to daily protests, marches and strikes nationwide in support of the ousted civilian administration.

In a statement, Total said "in light of the unstable context in Myanmar" after a joint proposal with Chevron shareholders at the meeting of the Moattama Gas Transportation Company voted to suspend all cash distributions.

Total is the biggest shareholder with 31.24%, while Chevron holds 28%. Thailand's PTTEP and Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise hold the remainder. - Nampa/Reuters

Medtronic beats Street estimates

Medical device maker Medtronic Plc beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit and revenue, aided by a recovery in its core business as more people opted for non-urgent procedures such as knee and hip replacements.

US medical device makers have been expecting a boost in deferred procedures to treat the purported backlog of patients who held off on treatment during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The fourth-quarter results reflect a strong recovery from the pandemic's impact on elective procedures that the company experienced in April 2020, the company said.

The United States has seen an overall improvement in utilization volumes in the medtech sector throughout the first-quarter of this year according to brokerage Credit Suisse.

Sales at Medtronic's heart devices unit, its biggest revenue driver, jumped 45.1%, meeting analysts' estimates of US$2.91 billion, according to seven analysts polled by Refinitiv.- Nampa/Reuters

Nissan plans work stoppages in Mexico

Japanese automaker Nissan will carry out temporary work stoppages at three Mexican plants for several days in June because of production adjustments needed to manage a shortage of semiconductor chips.

Nissan's Aguascalientas Plant 1 will shut down for seven days in June, while the same facility's Plant 2 will close for one day in the month. The company did not give details of which days.

Meanwhile, the company said its CIVAC plant in Morelos state will temporarily halt operations for seven days in June. It also did not specify the dates.

"We will continue to making adjustments to our production process in order to minimize impacts to the auto industry both locally and globally," the company said in a brief statement to Reuters, adding that it will work to recover lost production.

The Aguacalientes Plant 1 assembles Nissan's Versa, Kicks and March models, Plant 2 puts together the Sentra, while the CIVAC facility makes pickup trucks including the Frontier.

During the first four months of this year, Nissan was Mexico's second-biggest auto assembler after General Motors, according to data from national statistics agency INEGI. - Nampa/Reuters