BUSINESSBUSINESSWednesday 11 October 2017

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EU Commission to present bad

loans roadmap

Top-performing Kia Stinger soon to hit market

Dow & Brent before going to press

Ooredoo expected to drive Q3 corporate earningsSatish Kanady The Peninsula

As the third quarter (Q3,17) earnings reports set to trickle in, Qatar’s listed companies are

poised to deliver a set of strong numbers.

A consensus estimate of Q3 earnings of 11 major Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) listed companies covered by the SICO analysts suggests a 13 percent year-on-year improvement in their profits, the second highest in the region. The YoY increase is expected to be led by Ooredoo

and to some extent banks.Ooredoo’s bottom line is

forecasted to increase by 44 per-cent higher YoY, due to forex impact in 3Q16. QNB will bene-fit from its lower provisioning benefit. QIB’s third quarter net profit is estimated to increase 10 percent YoY, according to the analysts.

Expectations on higher YoY third quarter results are seen in most GCC countries, except from Oman, which is projected to decline by 13 percent.

According to SICO analysts’ estimates, third quarter profits across the GCC are forecasted to be up 9 percent year-on-year and 8 percent higher on QoQ basis. SICO covered a total of 137

companies, including 11 in Qatar, representing 75 percent of the total market capitalisation.

QNB is expected to announce its third quarter results today, while Ooredoo has decided to disclose its financial results on October 29. In a regulatory fil-ing to QSE, QIB said it has decided to announce its third quarter results on October 18.

Kuwaiti companies’ 3Q17 earnings are forecasted to increase 6 percent YoY. Banks 3Q17 results are expected be 7 percent better YoY. In 3Q17, Omani companies’ results are expected to decline YoY, to be dragged mainly by the lower YoY

earnings in Omantel.Saudi companies’ profits are

expected to be 10 percent higher YoY. Saudi Banks’ 3Q17 results are forecasted to increase 12 per-cent YoY, on the back of NIM expansion and the rise in inter-est rates.

SABIC’s bottom line is esti-mated to decline by 15 percent YoY, Petrochem’s net income to decrease 9 percent. Almarai is expected to report 3Q17 net profit at a median of SAR 615m (-4 per-cent YoY), due to the Qatar blockade impact.

UAE companies’ aggregate earnings are estimated to go up 7 percent YoY. Etisalat’s 3Q17

bottom line is estimated to improve 12 percent YoY at median of AED 2.1bn, as the telco is expected to have better Macro operations. In Banks, consensus analysts were bullish on ENBD’s 3Q17 earnings at a median of AED 1.9bn (+14 percent YoY), with expectations on lower provision-ing charges, lower Opex and healthy net interest income growth.

Bahraini companies’ 3Q17 earnings are forecasted to be 21 percent higher YoY and 5 per-cent on QoQ basis. The total Bahraini companies covered are 8 or 63 percent of the total listed companies.

GCC profits

Third quarter profits across the GCC are forecasted to be up 9% year-on-year and 8% higher on QoQ basis. SICO covered a total of 137 companies, including 11 in Qatar, representing 75% of the total market capitalisation.

$50.96 $50.96 +1.38+1.38

BRENT

8,253.34+40.48 PTS

0.49%

22,810.07+49.00 PTS

0.22%

7,538.27+30.38 PTS

0.40%QE DOW FTSE100

22 WEDNESDAY 11 OCTOBER 2017BUSINESS

Dr Abdulbasit Ahmed Al Shaibei (fifth right), CEO of QIIB, and other senior officials and employees of the Bank standing for a group photo at a ceremony held for honouring Majdi Abdul Aziz Al Farah (sixth right), Director of E-Banking and Banking Services at QIIB, on the occasion of the end of his services which lasted for more than 25 years.

QIIB honours senior staff

Mexico looks to expand into Qatari marketThe Peninsula

The Qatar Financial Cen-tre (QFC) has announced the licens-ing of Dunn Lightweight Architec-

ture LLC; a subsidiary of the Mexican company Dunn Arqui-tectura Ligera SA de CV, which specialises in fabric and tensile structures under its umbrella. They will take part in the con-struction of stadiums for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. The agreement came through ProMexico, a trust fund of the Federal government of Mexico that promotes international trade and investment, and the Embassy of Mexico in Qatar.

Yousuf Mohamed Al Jaida, QFC Authority Chief Executive Officer commented on the licensing of Dunn Lightweight Architecture LLC as a QFC firm stating: “We are pleased to wel-come Dunn Lightweight Architecture LLC to the QFC and Qatar. It is QFC’s first Mexican firm and therefore a huge mile-stone for our entity to open new

markets. Historically, Mexico and Qatar have always shared close strategic and economic ties and this move will serve to enhance and develop this important rela-tionship.” He continued: “This is yet further proof of our open-ness and the attractiveness of the QFC platform to those looking to expand and tap into Qatar’s large-scale infrastructure projects.”

The Ambassador of Mexico in Qatar, Francisco Niembro, stated: “We are proud to see Dunn pioneering Mexican companies

into the QFC environment, and ready to work in some of the most emblematic projects in Qatar”.

ProMéxico’s Director for the Middle East, Juan Cepeda stated: “The Government of Mexico has been implementing an aggres-sive and successful strategy to bring Mexican companies to invest in Qatar. Dunn Light-weight Architecture is a clear example of this endeavour. Our aim in the near future is to expand our presence in the country as well as attract Qataris to invest in Mexico. QFC will be

a great partner in this journey.”Javier Rattia, Partner-Direc-

tor at Dunn Lightweight Architecture LLC commented on the licensing stating: “We are thrilled to expand our global presence to Qatar. QFC has played a key role in this achieve-ment. It was instrumental in its legal framework and flexibility. As a Mexican company we found the perfect ally in QFC due to its friendly business environment. We are confident that we have chosen the best partner as a business platform for the region.”

In 2015, total trade between the two nations amounted to $423m. Mexico’s exports to Qatar include trucks, vehicles and refrigerators. Qatar’s exports to Mexico include natural gas and aluminium alloy.

The QFC continues to fulfill its mandate to support Qatar’s agenda to diversify its economy. Following successful roadshows in the UK, Germany, Singapore, India and Japan, the QFC is cur-rently in the process of planning for events locally and internationally.

Yousuf Mohamed Al Jaida (centre), QFC Authority Chief Executive Officer with Mexican officials.

Trade volume

In 2015, total trade between the two nations amounted to $423m. Mexico’s exports to Qatar include trucks, vehicles and refrigerators. Qatar’s exports to Mexico include natural gas and aluminium alloy.

Top-performing Kia Stinger soon to hit global marketThe Peninsula

The new Kia Stinger (Stinger), a powerful fast-back sports sedan, closely

follows the design and engineer-ing blueprint laid down by the 2011 Kia GT Concept, and is the highest-performance production vehicle in the company’s history.

Six years after the company revealed its powerful statement of intent in the GT Concept, the Stinger will go on sale globally during the fourth quarter of 2017.

The Stinger channels the spirit of historic grand tourers – powerful, elegant vehicles capable of moving their owners in style, at speed. At every stage of development, the Stinger has been designed and engineered to be the perfect gran turismo. The car features a head-turning aesthetic, ample room to accom-modate five occupants and their luggage, a stable, unruffled ride,

and nimble handling with engag-ing, rear-biased power delivery.

In its transition from concept to production, Kia’s GT Concept was renamed ‘Stinger’, inspired by the GT4 Stinger concept revealed at NAIAS 2014. While the car is a true GT in nature, the Stinger name evokes speed and excitement, two key character-istics found in the production car.

For the majority of Kia’s glo-bal markets, the Stinger will be available with a choice of two engines: a 2.0-liter turbo gaso-line engine, and a powerful 3.3-liter twin-turbo V6.

The Stinger is the result of years of impassioned design and development work at Kia. Turn-ing a concept into a production car is no small feat. Kia’s Euro-pean design studio in Frankfurt – birthplace of the 2011 GT con-cept – has brought the Stinger to life, overseen by Peter Schreyer, Chief Design Officer of Kia

Motors, and Gregory Guillaume, Chief Designer at Kia Motors Europe.

Guillaume said: “The Kia Stinger is a true gran turismo, a car for spirited long-distance driving. It’s not about outright power, hard-edged dynamics and brutal styling, all at the

expense of luxury, comfort and grace. The Kia Stinger has noth-ing to do with being the first to arrive at the destination – this car is all about the journey. It’s about passion.”

From its sleek frontal section, through its svelte flanks, and up to its powerful haunches, the

Stinger exudes a muscular con-fidence. Key to its road presence are its rear-wheel drive propor-tions – a long bonnet and short 830mm front overhang, an extended wheelbase (2,905 mm) to deliver a spacious cabin, and a long rear overhang (1,095 mm) with strong, broad shoulders.

QIMC acquires UDC stake in Gulf FormaldehydeQATAR Industrial Manufactur-ing Company (QIMC) yesterday announced its acquisition of United Development Com-pany’s (UDC) stake in Gulf Formaldehyde Company (GFC). As per the deal, the UDC will sell its 400,000 shares in GFC, representing 10 percent of GFC capital, to QIMC. This will increase QIMC’s share-holding in Gulf Formaldehyde from 20 percent to 30 percent.

Abdulrahman Al Ansari, Chief Executive Officer of QIMC said: “We are commit-ted to strengthen our investment portfolio in the industrial sector as an active private sector company. QIMC hopes that this trans-action will have a positive impact on the company’s profits and shareholders’ div-idend in the long run”. GFC was established in 2003, with a capital of QR40m, between QAFCO, QIMC and UDC.

Trump welcomes Trudeau to Washington with another NAFTA threatOttawa

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump renewed his threat to walk away from the North

American Free Trade Agreement just as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives in Wash-ington on the eve of a new round of negotiations.

Trump told Forbes, in an interview published yesterday, he thinks Nafta will have to be terminated—as signals mount the US is putting potentially deal-breaking proposals on the table and as the top US business group sounds the alarm.

The fourth round of talks resume today. The US is expected to detail a proposal for the auto sector that would raise the min-imum content requirement for parts sourced in the Nafta region and in the US specifically.

“I happen to think that Nafta will have to be terminated if we’re going to make it good. Oth-erwise, I believe you can’t negotiate a good deal,” Trump said in the Forbes interview. He said he considered it a “great accomplishment” to pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, which included the three Nafta countries, and that he favours bilateral pacts.

Trudeau is scheduled to attend the Fortune Most Powerful Women gala that Ivanka Trump may also attend. The next day, the prime minister visits the White House for meetings with Trump—with no joint press conference scheduled—after he and his for-eign minister, Chrystia Freeland, speak with members of the US House Committee on Ways and Means. Trudeau will hold a press conference on his own after he meets with Trump.

While Trump has regularly targeted the US trade deficit with Mexico in renegotiating the deal, tensions are rising with Canada, the top buyer of US exports. The

US imposed duties on Canadian manufacturer Bombardier after a trade challenge filed by US plane-maker Boeing Co. Trudeau and UK Prime Minister Theresa May have called on Trump to intervene.

Freeland, a former trade min-ister appointed to her role this year primarily to deal with Nafta talks, has begun to issue warnings and temper expectations, saying in a television interview this weekend the Trump administration is the most protectionist since the 1930s.

Nafta talks are scheduled to run Oct. 11 to Oct. 15 in Washing-ton. Speaking there on Tuesday, Freeland declined to predict what Nafta will look like in the future

and reiterated Canada believes in free trade.

“What we’d like to do with Nafta is modernize it. This is a 23-year-old agreement and the economy has moved on,” she told the Most Powerful Women sum-mit in an interview Tuesday, while also plugging Canada’s proposal to add a gender chapter to the trade deal. “If you think that’s a good idea, let the White House know.”

Trump administration officials have said they want a deal by December, a timeline that observ-ers say is increasingly unlikely. Mexican Economy Minister Ilde-fonso Guajardo said last week he

wants a deal by the end of Spring 2018. Mexican Presidential elec-tions and US mid-term elections scheduled for next year threaten to add to tensions in negotiations.

Trump can withdraw the US from the deal after giving Canada and Mexico six months’ notice, though experts debate whether the president would require congres-sional approval.

Trudeau is scheduled to visit Mexico City on October 12 and 13 after his two-day Washington trip. it’s his first official visit to Mexico, with Trudeau’s office saying he and President Enrique Pena Nieto will discuss trade issues.

Audi Qatar appoints Xavi as brand ambassador

A KIA official introducing features of the new Kia ‘Stinger’ (right).

The Peninsula

Audi Qatar, represented by its official dealer Q-Auto, yesterday announced

Xavier “Xavi” Hernández as its brand ambassador, welcoming the internationally-acclaimed footballer as its representative to the local market for the period 2017-2018.

In his new role, Xavi is des-ignated to represent Audi Qatar as an honorary spokesperson as well as serve as an opinion leader in the local community.

An agreement of brand associ-ation was signed at Audi’s flagship showroom in Qatar on Salwa Road, formalizing the new corporate relationship between the celebrated mid-fielder and Audi Qatar. In an official ceremony to mark the endorsement, Marketing Man-ager, Q-Auto, Ahmad Oughly handed over the keys of an Audi R8 to Xavi, who will now enjoy driving access to a series of Audi’s premium vehicles on a rotation basis for the duration of his ambassadorship.

China’s jobless rate falls lowest since 2012CHINA’S job market is steadily expanding, with the survey-based unemployment rate falling to its lowest level since 2012, an official said yesterday.

China’s nationwide sur-vey-based unemployment rate stood at 4.83 percent in Sep-tember, the lowest since 2012, Ning Jizhe, head of the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics said. Some 9.74 million new jobs were created in China’s urban regions from January to August, which means the country has already fulfilled 88.5 percent of its official goal to create 11 million new jobs in 2017. From 2013 to 2016, China’s surveyed unemploy-ment rate in 31 major cities stabilised at around 5 percent.China aims to maintain the urban unemployment rate at under 4.5 percent for 2017

23WEDNESDAY 11 OCTOBER 2017 BUSINESS

EU Commission to present bad loans roadmapLuxembourg

Reuters

The European Commis-sion will present today a list of measures it plans to put forward by next spring on

reducing bad loans held by Euro-pean banks, a draft document said, a move that could slow sim-ilar moves by the European Central Bank.

The ECB banking supervisor proposed last week that euro zone banks should set aside more cash from next year to cover newly classified bad loans and may also present additional measures to tackle the sector’s huge stock of bad debt which amounts to nearly ¤1 trillion.

But the ECB move may be slowed by similar legislative pro-posals which the European Commission could put forward next year to tackle non-perform-ing loans (NPLs).

In a draft document to be released today, the Commission said it could propose by spring changing banking rules “with regard to the possible introduc-tion of minimum levels of provisioning which banks must make for NPLs”.

The document said the pos-sible measures “will prevent the build-up and potential under provisioning of future NPLs stocks across member states and banks via time-bound pruden-tial deductions from own funds.”

While the aims coincide with the ECB plan, the Commission’s parallel process could slow things down. EU legislative pro-posals require the backing of EU states and parliamentarians, a process that takes usually sev-eral months or years before rules are finally agreed and enter into force.

The Commission could also decide not to put forward new legislative proposals on the issue,

one EU official said.The commission’s vice pres-

ident Valdis Dombrovskis declined to comment on the mat-ter in a news conference yesterday.

In a separate report, also to be released today, the commis-sion will provide an interpretation of current bank-ing rules and ECB powers.

E n i g m a t i c a l l y , t h e

interpretation is set to clarify that “supervisory powers allow the competent authorities to influ-ence banks’ provisioning policies with regard to NPLs within the limits of the applicable account-ing framework and to apply specific adjustments where nec-essary for prudential purposes,” the draft document seen by Reu-ters said. The 28 EU states agree in principle on the need to

reduce bad loans but have dif-ferent views on how fast to address the problem.

Italy, whose banks are sad-dled with the highest amount of bad loans in the bloc, wants a gradual reduction of soured loans, fearing that an excessively fast unloading would create large capital holes in banks’ balance sheets. Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan (pictured) openly criticised the approach taken by the ECB.

Other states want to go faster. “I can only support the ECB with its position. A large majority of European finance ministers also supported (ECB chief Mario) Draghi on this point,” Germany’s outgoing Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said after a meeting of finance ministers in Luxem-bourg yesterday.

The European Parliament said the strategy to tackle NPLs should be devised through a

regular legislative process, rather than decided by the ECB unilaterally.

“I seriously wonder whether specific additional obligations... can be imposed on supervised entities without appropriately involving the co-legislators in the decision-making process,” the parliament’s president Antonio Tajani said in a letter to Draghi.

Banks have repeatedly voiced their concerns about plans to give supervisors more powers and warned against measures that could be exces-sive and unduly increase costs.

In the documents to be released today, the commission will also propose new measures to increase financial stability in Europe.

It will reiterate plans to facil-itate banks’ recovery of soured credit, and the development of a secondary market for bad loans, so that banks can sell them at higher prices.

Bad loans

Italy banks are saddled with the highest amount of bad loans in the bloc, & it wants a gradual reduction of soured loans, fearing that an excessively fast unloading would create large capital holes in banks’ balance sheets.

Franck Terner, CEO of Air France (right) shakes hands with Duong Tri Thanh, President and CEO of Vietnam Airlines, after they signed a joint-venture agreement in Hanoi, yesterday.

Air France - Vietnam Airline, JV Britain hopes for fair ruling in Bombardier decisionLondon

Reuters

Britain hopes a provi-sional US ruling imposing tariffs on

Canadian aerospace manu-facturer Bombardier will not be politically influenced when new evidence is considered, UK Business Secretary Greg Clark said yesterday.

Clark said he was confi-dent the British government could successfully fight the complaint, which was brought by Boeing and could cost jobs in the British prov-ince of Northern Ireland.

“Following the initial determination, there is then a further call for evidence we look to the US to make sure that this is a rigorous process and is not politically influ-enced,” Clark told lawmakers.

The US Commerce Department has raised pro-posed trade duties on Bombardier CSeries jets to nearly 300 percent, backing Boeing’s complaint that the Canadian company received illegal subsidies and dumped the planes at “absurdly low” prices.

The decision could effec-tively halt sales of Bombardier’s new plane to US airlines by quadrupling the cost of the jets imported to the United States, although Clark said the jet did not directly compete with Boeing’s aircraft.

Clark said British Prime Minister Theresa May had twice discussed the dispute with US President Donald Trump, and that several members of the British gov-ernment had reinforced their “serious concerns” with the US administration over the ruling.

He added Britain would discuss the ruling with the United States, Canada and the two companies in the com-ing days.

Bombardier is the largest manufacturing employer in Northern Ireland, and the decision to impose duties on the planes has put 4,200 jobs at risk.

But Britain is also a major base for Boeing. The company has recently begun construct-ing its first European parts manufacturing site in Shef-field, northern England, and Britain has warned that Boe-ing might miss out on future business over the row.

Warba Bank syndicating first $250m Islamic loanDubai

Reuters

Warba Bank, a Kuwaiti Shariah-compliant lender, is syndicating

a $250m debt facility, its first in the syndicated loan market, sources familiar with the mat-ter said yesterday.

The financing is Warba’s latest fund-raising exercise after its issue in March of $250m of Tier 1 sukuk, as the lender seeks to boost its capital ratios and improve liquidity buffers. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Bank ABC, Boubyan Bank and First Abu Dhabi Bank are leading the three-year deal, said one of the sources. The Islamic facility was launched to syndication last

week, he added. Moody’s yes-terday affirmed Warba Bank’s Baa2 rating and maintained its outlook as stable, citing the “very high probability of gov-ernment support in case of need”. The government of Kuwait has 31 percent direct and indirect ownership in the bank, Moody’s said. Warba has participated as a lender in a number of US dollar-denomi-nated, sharia-compliant transactions in the region this year. Warba Bank’s profits improved in the first half of 2017, with profit attributable to shareholders up to KWD2.5m ($8.3m) from KWD455,000 a year earlier, as operating reve-nues climbed to KWD16.8m from KWD10.1m.

Sasol drops plan to sell $950m sharesJohannesburg

Bloomberg

Sasol Ltd., the world’s larg-est maker of fuel from coal, abandoned a plan to sell

about 13bn rand ($950m) of shares in order to repay debt owed by investors who partic-ipated in a transaction to boost black ownership of the company.

Johannesburg-based Sasol transferred a stake to about 250,000 black investors in 2008 in a so-called black economic empowerment deal. The trans-action was partly financed through the issue of preference

shares to banks, which the investors will have to repay next year as the deal unwinds. A decline in the company’s stock since the mid-2014 means their equity won’t cover that debt, leaving Sasol on the hook for the more than 12bn rand they owe, plus transaction costs.

Sasol won’t pursue its pre-ferred funding option announced on September 20 “of issuing up to 43 million ordinary shares through an accelerated book-build process” and is con-sidering other options, the company said in a statement on Monday. The new funding plan will be announced in February.

“Sasol’s intention is to mitigate the amount of shareholder dilu-tion whilst still maintaining Sasol’s investment-grade credit rating.”

South Africa has set targets for black ownership as it seeks to redress the economic ine-qualities stemming from white-minority rule under apartheid that ended in 1994. When its so-called Inzalo trans-action unwinds next year, those investors will have the option to participate in Sasol’s next leg of empowerment, Khanyisa, which aims to take black ownership of its South African unit to 25 percent.

KPMG revamps S African top management as clients dump firmJohannesburg

Bloomberg

KPMG LLP’s South African unit appointed nine new executives in an attempt

to restore trust in the auditing firm as clients continued to dis-tance themselves over its involvement with the politically connected Gupta family.

Andrew Cranston, a partner and former chief operating officer of parent KPMG Interna-tional, will be the local firm’s interim COO, while 36-year company veteran Brian Stephens will take the new position of head of risk, Nhlamu Dlomu, who was appointed chief exec-utive off icer of the Johannesburg-based operations last month, said in an emailed

statement on Monday. Gary Pickering will lead the audit practice. KPMG International said September 15 that the local business will face an independ-ent inquiry after an internal investigation found its work for companies associated with the Guptas, who are friends of Pres-ident Jacob Zuma, fell short of its own standards. Clothing retailer The Foschini Group Ltd. became the latest South African firm to replace KPMG as audi-tors on Monday, while landline provider Telkom SA SOC Ltd. said it won’t offer the firm new business until the outcome of an independent inquiry.

The announcement is unlikely to prevent clients end-ing their relationship with KPMG as the firm “has to come clean

before it can win back trust of the society,” Iraj Abedian, CEO at Pan-African Investments and Research Services in Johannes-burg, said in an emailed response to questions. “Changing a few characters around before com-ing clean is ignoring and not dealing with the issues.”

KPMG was the auditor for Gupta-linked companies Oak-bay Resources and Energy Ltd. and Linkway Trading Pty Ltd. It also produced a report for the country’s tax authority, parts of which it has since said “should no longer be relied upon.”

The Gupta family have been accused of using their relation-ship with Zuma to influence government appointments including cabinet positions and the awarding of state contracts.

Zuma and the Guptas deny any wrongdoing. Eight senior exec-utives quit in the wake of the findings of the internal investi-gation in September even though KPMG didn’t find evidence of illegal behavior or corruption. Some of them were paid sever-ance packages, Pickering told lawmakers last week.

“This is day one for the new KPMG, a KPMG where public interest will share an equally important role with enhanced governance, quality and ethics,” Dlomu said. “We understand that the immediate road ahead will be challenging, but I believe the individuals in this team have the necessary skill, experience, pas-sion and energy.” Apart from the independent investigation, KPMG is being probed by the

country’s regulatory body for auditors and the South African Institute of Chartered Account-ants. AVI Ltd., Munich Re of Africa, Sasfin Holdings Ltd., Syg-nia Asset Management and Hulisani Ltd. have previously stopped using the accountancy firm’s services.

Three of the country’s big-gest banks, including Barclays Africa Group Ltd., are reviewing their contracts with KPMG. Standard Bank Group Ltd. said on Friday the firm hasn’t yet done enough to restore its rep-utation. Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba last month called on all government entities to consider reviewing their work programs with KPMG to make sure their audit processes haven’t been compromised.

Sterling rises after strong British industry dataLondon

Reuters

Sterling rose yesterday after British industry data beat forecasts, cementing

expectations that the Bank of England will raise rates at its next policy meeting in November.

British factories had their strongest two months of 2017 in July and August, suggesting the Bank of England remains on track to raise interest rates soon, but the deficit in trade in goods hit an all-time high.

The Office for National Sta-tistics said yesterday that manufacturing output rose by a monthly 0.4 percent in August, faster than a forecast for output to rise 0.2 percent in a Reuters poll of economists.

After the data, the British pound added gains and was up 0.4 percent on the day at $1.3189 against the dollar. It was broadly unchanged against the euro. The ONS numbers showed Britain’s economy remained in a low-growth gear in the third quarter after suffering its slowest first half to the year since 2012.

24 WEDNESDAY 11 OCTOBER 2017BUSINESS

Several “Gobee.bike” bicycles, a city bike-sharing service, by Hong Kong startup Gobee.bike, are seen on a sidewalk in Paris, France. Founded by French entrepreneur Raphael Cohen, Gobee.bike plans to scale up to several thousand in coming months. Gobee’s are equipped with a GPS system and traceable with a phone app.

‘Gobee.bike’ bicycles

The new Embraer Phenom 300E corporate jet. Embraer SA’s most popular corporate jet will be revamped next year, with the Brazilian planemaker on Monday announcing a redesigned cabin and new inflight entertainment system for its eight-seater Phenom 300. Deliveries of the Phenom 300E, the new version of Embraer’s top-selling corporate plane, will begin during the first quarter of 2018, the company said. The redesign will raise the plane’s list price from $8.995m to $9.45m.

New Embraer Phenom 300E corporate jet

New York

Reuters

Diversified manufacturer Honeywell International Inc unveiled a business

makeover yesterday that will tie its growth more strongly to aer-ospace technology and spin off other businesses as two publicly-traded companies by the end of 2018.

The company also raised the low-end of its full-year 2017 earnings guidance by 5 cents to between $7.05 and $7.10 per share, and said it would spend proceeds from the spin-offs on share buybacks, acquisitions and paying down debt.

The reorganization will sim-plify Honeywell’s wide-ranging portfolio, boost growth and give it more firepower to make acquisitions, Honeywell Chief

Executive Officer Darius Adam-czyk said yesterday.

“We’ve got two exciting new businesses that we think can grow at an accelerated rate,” Adamczyk said. “I’m very excited about M&A in all four of our (remaining) businesses. And I think these two spins ... give me a lot of different levers to invest our M&A dollars.”

Analysts praised the moves, but said Honeywell had more changes to make, and warned that the aerospace business, with products ranging from jet engines to airplane WiFi systems, may need to merge to gain the size to compete with larger rivals.

An aerospace spin-off or merger with General Electric Co’s aerospace unit would make Hon-eywell a stronger competitor to United Technologies and a “more powerful supplier to Boeing Co

and Airbus SE,” Scott Davis, ana-lyst at Melius Research, wrote in a note. “That’s a deal worth think-ing about.”

Honeywell shares were down 0.3 percent at $143.16 in New York trading, after falling 2.3 percent initially. Adamczyk, like his peers at other industrial conglomerates, has been under pressure to pull apart a portfo-lio of disparate businesses that includes automotive turbo chargers, burglar alarms and the Xtratuf boots popular in Alaska’s fishing industry.

Hedge fund Third Point began agitating in April for Hon-eywell to spin off its aerospace division, which accounted for about 38 percent of revenue in 2016 and which Third Point said could generate $20bn in share-holder value if sold.

Honeywell said it will split off

its home and ADI global distribu-tion businesses, which deal with building systems ranging from air conditioning to smoke alarms, into one public company. It will spin off its transportation systems busi-ness, which includes low-margin automotive turbochargers, into a second company.

The auto parts move follows other companies, including auto supplier Delphi Automotive Plc, in that are shedding technology tied to the internal combustion engine as regulators around the world crack down on emissions and talk of mandating a switch to battery-electric vehicles over the next two decades.

Honeywell said the two spun-off business units together would generate annualized rev-enue of about $7.5bn. It said it would gain $3bn from the spin-offs.

Algiers

Reuters

Algeria plans to raise prices of subsidised petrol and diesel for a third straight year in 2018 to cut

domestic consumption and imports at a time of growing pressure on state finances, an official document said.

The government also plans to raise taxes and introduce new levies on local and imported goods such as tobacco next year as it seeks to diver-sify revenues from the economy due to a sharp fall in energy earnings, the document shows.

Energy revenues have fallen by more than half since crude oil prices started sliding in mid-2014, forcing the Opec member to consider reforms, including reductions in subsidies.

Oil and gas comprise 60 percent of the budget and 95 percent of total exports for the North African country, which has so far failed to develop its non-hydrocarbon sector due to bureaucratic obstacles and lack of investment. The government in 2016 approved a first rise in more than a decade for petrol and diesel prices. Under the new plan, the retail price for premium petrol, unleaded petrol and reg-ular petrol will rise by 16.65 percent, 16.84 percent and 18.20 percent per litre respectively, while the diesel price is set to go up by 11.65 percent in 2018.

The fuel price rises need approval by parliament, where government supporters have an overwhelming majority. Author-ities say that subsidies for basic

products such as cereals, sugar and cooking oil will be main-tained. Domestic prices for energy products are very low by international standards. Unleaded petrol costs now 35.33 dinars (31 US cents) per litre.

“This gradual approach of the adjustment of fuel prices is aimed at rationalising con-sumption, reducing imports, increasing tax revenue and reducing subsidies,” said the document. The petrol and die-sel price hikes will be accompanied by new and higher taxes for several prod-ucts next year, it added.

Taxes on tobacco would increase by 10 percent, while levies for instant coffee, LED torches, almonds and all dried fruits are set to reach 30 per-cent from 5 percent currently. Algeria plans also for the first time a wealth tax that will affect 90 percent of Algerians, according to the government.

Algeria need to boost tax revenues as the government said last week it wanted to increase state spending by 25 percent in 2018 to help launch delayed education, health and water resources projects. In 2016 and 2017, spending fell.

ROYAL Dutch Shell is seeking to sell its 17 percent stake in the Mukhaizna oil field in Oman, which could fetch up to $200m, banking sources said. The sale process is led by investment bank Rothschild, the sources said.

The Mukhaizna heavy oil field, operated by Occidental Petroleum, reached an aver-age oil production rate of 127,000 barrels of oil equiv-alent per day in 2016.

The stakeholders in the Mukhaizna field signed a 30-year production-sharing contract with the government of Oman in 2005 and have since increased its output by 16 fold. The sale process is part of Shell’s vast asset dis-posal programme launched in 2015 and following its $54bn acquisition of BG Group last year.

Algeria to raise petrol and diesel prices

Honeywell to spin-off two businesses

London

Reuters

Silicon Valley graphics chip-maker NVIDIA unveiled yesterday the first compu-

ter chips for developing fully autonomous vehicles and said it had more than 25 customers working to build a new class of driverless cars, robotaxis and long-haul trucks.

Deutsche Post DHL Group, the world’s largest mail and logistics company, and ZF, a top automo-tive parts supplier, plan to deploy a fleet of autonomous delivery trucks based on the new chips, starting in 2019, NVIDIA said.

The third generation of NVIDIA’s Drive PX automotive line, code-named Pegasus, is a multi-chip platform the size of car licence plates with data-center-class processing power. Pegasus can handle 320 trillion operations per second, repre-senting roughly a 13-fold increase over the calculating power of the current PX 2 line.

A single NVIDIA Xavier-class processor can be used for level 3 semi-autonomous driving, while a combination of multiple mobile and graphics processors would run level 5 full-scale driv-erless cars, the company said.

A level 5 vehicle is capable

of navigating roads without any driver input and in its purest form would have no steering wheel or brakes. A level 3 car still needs a steering wheel and a driver who can take over if the car encounters a problem, while level 4 promises driverless fea-tures in dedicated lanes.

This dramatic improvement is a pre-condition for developing and testing future autonomous cars, experts said. Shares of Nvidia were indicated 3.8 percent higher in pre-market US trading at $192.37. The high-flying stock has gained 80 percent this year.

“NVIDIA is one step ahead. But you can be sure you can expect

(rival chipmakers) Intel, NXP and Renesas not to be too far behind,” said Luca De Ambroggi, principal automotive electronics analyst with industry market research firm IHS Markit.

US computer chip giant Intel and its Mobileye automotive unit are working with German car-maker BMW and US auto supplier Delphi on their own autonomous driving platform due out in 2021.

NXP has agreed to be acquired by Qualcomm to form the world’s largest auto electron-ics supplier. Japanese chipmaker Renesas is a has a strong pres-ence in microcontrollers used to run key car functions.

NVIDIA’s automotive director Danny Shapiro said in an inter-view that many of the first 25 customers using the Pegasus plat-form would focus on robotaxis, which will be built without steer-ing wheels or brakes and used only on dedicated routes. Bigger name automakers will announce vehicles running on Pegasus at their own product launches in coming months, he said.

The Pegasus line will be avail-able by the middle of 2018 for automakers to begin developing vehicles and testing software algo-rithms needed to control future driverless cars, NVIDIA executives told a developers’ conference.

Addis Ababa

Reuters

Ethiopia’s central bank devalued the Ethiopian birr by 15 percent yester-

day, its first such move in seven years to boost lagging exports.

The birr was quoted by the National Bank of Ethiopia at a weighted average of 23.4177 against the dollar on Monday, compared to what will be 26.9215. “The devaluation was made to prop up exports, which have stagnated the last five years owing to the birr’s strong value against major currencies,” Yohannes Ayalew, the bank’s vice governor, said here.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, have both repeatedly urged

Ethiopia to consider devaluing its currency to boost exports as they are mostly unprocessed products and need to stay com-petitive on price.

Ethiopia has operated a managed floating exchange rate regime since 1992. The Horn of Africa country is the continent’s biggest coffee exporter but its total export revenue has been falling short of targets for the last few years owing to weaker commodity prices.

Addis Ababa earned $2.9bn in the 2017-2018 fiscal year, versus a target of $4bn. Yester-day, the central bank also announced that it has raised the main interest rate to 7 percent from 5 percent to stimulate sav-ings as well as to counter inflation.

Ethiopia devalues currency by 15% to boost exports

London

Reuters

US oil output could be set for a last spike in 2018 before growth

flattens for a number of years as rising costs make a big chunk of production uneco-nomic, the head of top oil trader Vitol, Ian Taylor, said.

The United States has turned into a major oil exporter in recent years on the back of a shale revolution, which created a global oil glut and sent prices plunging to below $30 per barrel last year from as high as $110 in 2014.

“I think the question, a lit-tle bit in the longer term is - is this the last big rise in US pro-duction?” said Taylor, chief executive at Vitol, which trades more than 7 percent of global oil. He said Vitol expected US output to climb by 0.5-0.6 million barrels per day (b/d) next year but the increase would cause cost inflation and make some production loss-making. “If you look at the economics on most of the big

Permian players, not many of them make a lot of money,” Taylor said, referring to the oil-rich Permian basin in the United States. The anticipated slowdown in US output combined with robust growth in global demand for oil should push prices above the current range of $50-60 per barrel, Taylor said.

US oil output may be set for last spike in 2018: Vitol

NVIDIA unveils next-generation platform for fully autonomous cars

Shell seeks buyers for Oman field stake sale

Oil and gas comprise 60 percent of the budget and 95 percent of total exports for the North African country.

25WEDNESDAY 11 OCTOBER 2017 BUSINESS

London

Reuters

The global steel sector’s recovery from a glut-fuelled slump, driven by

Chinese capacity cuts, is being put at risk by surplus capacity being built in the Middle East and Asia, sources and experts say.

Figures from China show it has cut nearly 100 million tonnes of legal steel capacity and 120 million tonnes of illegal low-grade capacity since last January, but industry analysis shows only marginal declines in overall capacity.

According to the latest esti-mate from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), global steel-making capacity stood at 2.36bn tonnes in the first half of 2017, easing just 0.6 percent from 2.37bn tonnes in 2016.

The figures are evolving and may not yet reflect the full extent of capacity reductions taking place, a source close to the OECD Steel Committee, which produced the estimates, said. But he also said the overall global overcapac-ity picture was worrisome.

“Excess capacity remains at alarmingly high levels,” OECD Steel Committee chair Lieven Top said late last month, follow-ing the release of the estimates at its bi-annual meeting.

According to the OECD steel capacity report on which the estimates were based, some 23 million tonnes of potential out-put additions are underway in the Middle East, primarily Iran. These should come on stream during 2017-2019, with another 7 million tonnes planned for pos-sible start-up during the period.

The extra capacity is headed in part for the export market

given that the World Steel Asso-ciation (worldsteel) estimates demand in the Middle East will grow by a total of just 3.7 million tonnes this year and next.

Iran, which became a net steel exporter for the first time last year, says it aims to export 20-25 mil-lion tonnes of steel annually by 2025, equivalent to almost a third the amount of steel China is set to export this year. “Frankly, any region that increases capacity poses a distinct risk to future steel pricing and profit,” Alistair Ramsay, research director at Metal Bulletin Research, said.

Experts say that to meet demand and sustain profits, the steel industry requires at most 400 million tonnes of spare capacity over and above the cur-rent 1.63 billion tonnes it produces each year. But with global production potential at 2.36 billion, the industry has

some 730 million tonnes spare.Despite this, the OECD report

shows a total of nearly 40 mil-lion tonnes of capacity additions are underway and could come on stream in 2017-19, including the Middle East additions, and some additions in Asia.

The report also shows another 54.5 million tonnes of capacity is planned for possible start-up dur-ing the period, primarily in Asia, with some in the Middle East, Africa, Russia and Ukraine.

The numbers are gross esti-mates that do not take into account capacity cuts going for-ward, the OECD source said, but they still sound a note of caution for further investment.

“We do not expect sufficient global demand growth to justify the extent of capacity additions cited (in the OECD report). How-ever, certain individual investments can still make sense,

if very low cost or where they are best placed to serve local markets,” CRU analyst Chris Houlden said.

Global steel prices have soared 50 percent since Janusry 1, 2016, according to data from consultants MEPS. Share prices of steel companies jumped 70 percent during the period, according to the Thomson Reu-ters Global Steel Index, with the sector seeing some high profile acquisitions like ArcelorMittal’s $2.1bn offer for Italy’s Ilva, Europe’s largest and most trou-bled steel plant.

Price rises have been driven by the Chinese capacity cuts, but these should wane going for-ward. The China Iron and Steel Association said the country had essentially completed its five-year target, set last year, to cut 100-150 million tonnes of excess capacity.

Washington

Reuters

The current broad-based global economic upswing will likely be sustained this year and next, the International

Monetary Fund said yesterday, with gains in most of the world offsetting sluggish outcomes in the United States, Britain and India.

The IMF upgraded its global economic growth forecast for 2017 by 0.1 percentage points to 3.6 percent, and to 3.7 percent for 2018, from its April and July outlook, driven by a pickup in trade, investment, and consumer confidence.

Forecasts for eurozone, Japan, China, emerging market Europe and Russia were all revised upwards. The growth outlook in the United States was unchanged from the Fund’s July report at 2.2 percent for this year and 2.3 percent in 2018, as expected tax cuts under Presi-dent Trump’s administration have not yet materialized.

The US outlook for 2017 had been cut by 0.1 percentage points, and its 2018 forecast had been cut by 0.2 percentage points in the Fund’s April report, but then revised upwards in July by the same amounts.

“Given the significant policy uncertainty, IMF staff’s macr-oeconomic forecast now uses a

baseline assumption of unchanged policies, whereas the April 2017 WEO (World Eco-nomic Outlook) built in a fiscal stimulus from anticipated tax cuts,” the Fund said in its revi-sions to its US economic forecasts.

The US Republican party has presented three tax proposals

since Trump took office in Jan-uary and the latest effort by the Trump administration is already mired in political disagreements in Congress.

The Fund said that over the longer term, U.S. economic growth would moderate due to sluggish productivity growth and changing demographics. It said the economy’s potential growth rate was just 1.8 percent, far lower than the 3.0 percent or

more being targeted by Trump and his administration.

Economic growth in the euro zone was revised upwards from the July forecast by 0.2 percent-age points for both 2017 and 2018 to 2.1 percent and 1.9 per-cent respectively, reflecting an export revival, stronger domes-t ic demand due to accommodative financial con-ditions and a lowering of political risk.

The report pre-dated unrest in the Catalonia region of Spain. The Fund cautioned that euro zone growth would remain under pressure due to weak pro-ductivity, an ageing population and, in some countries, high debt.

Economic growth in Britain for 2017 had already been revised sharply lower by the Fund to 1.7 percent in the wake of the country’s vote to leave the European Union and so-far

inconclusive talks on Brexit.The Fund had already cut its

2017 forecast by 0.3 percentage points in July from April and left its latest forecast unchanged.

Since its 2016 Brexit vote, Britain has gone from being one of the fastest growing economies in the Group of Seven rich nations to one of the slowest, with only Japan and Italy fore-cast to grow more slowly than the 1.5 percent forecast for Brit-ain in 2018.

The Fund upgraded its growth rates for China all the way through 2022, on the assumption that authorities in Beijing will maintain expansion-ary policies. The Fund forecast 6.8 percent growth for this year and 6.5 percent for next, both upward revisions of 0.1 percent-age points from July.

Looking forward, the Fund warned that potential major dis-ruptions to its global outlook could come from “difficult-to-predict” U.S. regulatory, trade and fiscal policies, and from dis-ruptions relating to Britain’s exit from the European Union, as well from central banks raising inter-est rates too quickly.

The US Federal Reserve is now well into a cycle of interest rate rises that began in late 2015, although the European Central Bank and Bank of Japan have yet to move away from negative rates and bond buying.

World economic growth improving: IMF

A placard announcing the 2017 Annual Meetings adorn the World Bank Headquarters in Washington.

Dublin

AFP

The Irish government unveiled yesterday a €300m ($354m) loan

scheme for small businesses buffeted by Brexit, in a move designed to spur innovation and investment needed to tap new markets.

The loan scheme for small and medium-sized businesses was announced as part of a major Brexit-proofing spend-ing package in Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe’s 2018 budget.

The heavy reliance of Irish businesses on trade with Britain has spurred fears they could face difficulties when the UK leaves the EU in March 2019. The possible reinstate-ment of a hard border between the two countries has also caused concerns.

“As the impact of Brexit unfolds over the coming years, it is clear that there are likely to be permanent changes in our trade patterns,” he said.

“Small and medium busi-nesses will need to innovate and increasingly look to new European and international markets other than the UK,” he added. The proposal—dubbed a “Brexit Loan Scheme” — will offer competitive interest rates of around four percent on loans to businesses with up to 499 employees.

The initiative will receive funding from the Irish govern-ment as well as the European Investment Bank Group, the European Commission and the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland. Donohoe also promised that an extra €25m in loans would be set aside for farmers and food processors, noting Irish food businesses are uniquely exposed to the British market.

The British Irish Chamber of Commerce said the move would provide “much needed support” to small and medium-sized businesses.

Global steel sector’s recovery at risk: Report

$354m Ireland loan scheme to help small businesses

London

AFP

Madrid’s stock market fell yesterday, while the euro rose versus the

dollar, with all eyes on whether Catalonia’s leader will declare the region’s independence from Spain, a eurozone economy.

Outside the eurozone, Lon-don’s benchmark FTSE 100 stocks index climbed as traders shrugged off news of a widen-ing British trade deficit and slowing UK industrial growth against a background of Brexit uncertainty.

Shares in BAE Systems shed 0.3 percent to 616.5 pence after the British maker of defence equipment said it plans to cut almost 2,000 jobs, mainly owing to weaker demand for Eurofighter Typhoon and Hawk fighter jets.

In London, the FTSE 100 was up 0.4 percent at 7,538.27 points at close. In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 was ended down 0.2

percent at 12,949.25 points, while in Paris, the CAC 40 was down 0.04 percent at 5,363.65 points. In Madrid, the IBEX 35 was down 0.9 percent at 10,145.80 points.

Eurozone “equities are trad-ing lower thanks to a stronger euro and Catalonia worries”, with the single currency weigh-ing on share prices of multi-nationals earning in other currencies, said IG analyst Chris Beauchamp.

Spain’s worst political crisis in a generation comes to a head as Catalonia’s leader could declare independence from Madrid in a move that would send shock waves through Europe.

“The uncertainty is weigh-ing heavily on risk appetite but it currently only appears to be directly impacting Spanish assets, with the euro showing little or no sign of being negatively affected,” said Craig Erlam, sen-ior market analyst at Oanda currency trading platform. The

crisis has caused deep uncertainty for businesses in one of Spain’s wealthiest regions.

A string of companies have already moved their legal head-quarters — but not their employees — from Catalonia to other parts of the country.

Wall Street stocks were mixed heading towards midday, after all three major indices struck new record highs shortly after the open. “The risk-on appetite in America is still going strong as the major equity benchmarks keep setting fresh records,” said mar-ket analyst David Madden at CMC Markets UK.

Elsewhere, traders sent shares rallying in Japan and South Korea as they returned from a long weekend, while most other Asian markets tacked on gains despite a soft lead from Wall Street. Seoul’s Kospi jumped 1.6 percent and Tokyo finished up 0.6 percent at its highest level in more than two years. Hong Kong ended at a new 10-year high.

Spanish stocks slide; euro climbs against the dollar

The German share price index, DAX board, is seen at the stock exchange in Frankfurt yesterday.

Forecasts

The IMF upgraded its global economic growth forecast for 2017 by 0.1 percentage points to 3.6 percent, and to 3.7 percent for 2018, from its April and July outlook, driven by a pickup in trade, investment, and consumer confidence.

Forecasts for eurozone, Japan, China, emerging market Europe and Russia were all revised upwards. The growth outlook in the United States was unchanged from the Fund’s July report at 2.2 percent for this year and 2.3 percent in 2018.

26 WEDNESDAY 11 OCTOBER 2017BUSINESS

QATAR STOCK EXCHANGE

QE Index 8,253.34 0.49 %

QE Total Return Index 13,840.36 0.49 %

QE Al Rayan Islamic Index 3,327.99 0.94 %

QE All Share Index 2,316.15 0.33 %

QE All Share Banks &

Financial Services 2,566.15 0.04 %

QE All Share Industrials 2,596.06 1.36 %

QE All Share Transportation 1,718.23 0.08 %

QE All Share Real Estate 1,594.84 0.01 %

QE All Share Insurance 3,218.39 0.13 %

QE All Share Telecoms 1,041.03 0.83 %

QE All Share Consumer

Goods & Services 4,946.63 0.01 %

QE INDICES SUMMARY QE MARKET SUMMARY COMPARISON WORLD STOCK INDICES

GOLD AND SILVER

10-10-2017Index 8,253.34

Change 40.48

% 0.49

YTD% 20.92

Volume 6,010,024

Value (QAR) 122,484,269.99

Trades 2,136

Up 21 | Down 16 | Unchanged 0009-10-2017Index 8,212.86

Change 75.29

% 0.93

YTD% 21.31

Volume 10,127,197

Value (QAR) 186,042,088.13

Trades 2,450

EXCHANGE RATE

GOLD QR151.5454 per grammeSILVER QR2.0198 per gramme

Index Day’s Close Pt Chg % Chg Year High Year Low

All Ordinaries 5807.077 1.936 0.03 5983.2 5635.1

Cac 40 Index/D 5364.56 -1.27 -0.02 5442.1 4733.82

Dj Indu Average 22761.07 -12.6 -0.06 22803.37 17883.56

Hang Seng Inde/D 28490.83 164.24 0.58 28626.41 21883.82

Iseq Overall/D 6810.08 -7.49 -0.11 7157.43 6369.05

Kse 100 Inx/D 40610.72 -489.27 -1.19 53127.24 39869.88

S&P 500 Index/D 0 0 0 2552.51 2245.13

Currency Buying SellingUS$ QR 3.6305 QR 3.6500

UK QR 4.7722 QR 4.8393

Euro QR 4.2499 QR 4.3093

CA$ QR 2.8836 QR 2.9405

Swiss Fr QR 3.7026 QR 3.7552

Yen QR 0.03210 QR 0.03272

Aus$ QR 2.8075 QR 2.8627

Ind Re QR 0.0553 QR 0.0564

Pak Re QR 0.0342 QR 0.0350

Peso QR 0.0701 QR 0.0715

SL Re QR 0.0235 QR 0.0240

Taka QR 0.0438 QR 0.0448

Nep Re QR 0.0346 QR 0.0352

SA Rand QR 0.2631 QR 0.2683

INTERNATIONAL MARKETS - A LIST OF SHARES FROM THE WORLD

A C C-A/D 1732.65 4.7 15381

Aarti Drugs-B/D 535 16.95 1195

Aban Offs-A/D 185.2 2.05 309330

Ador Welding-B/D 585.95 -8.3 10826

Aegis Logis-A/D 228.85 -6.6 30870

Alembic-B/D 39.05 0.3 72510

Alkyl Amines-B/D 561.5 8.15 25024

Alok Indus-B/D 3.02 -0.22 2319851

Apollo Tyre-A/D 242.2 3.5 166612

Asahi I Glass-/D 379.25 -2.45 14700

Ashok Leyland-/D 126.35 2.25 1003298

Ballarpur In-B/D 12.57 0.03 658087

Banaras Bead-B/D 61.5 -0.75 3481

Bata India-A/D 778.4 18.85 134385

Beml Ltd-A/D 1729.85 24.4 27339

Bhansali Eng-B/D 113.4 -3.2 913006

Bharat Bijle-B/D 1127.55 -11.4 1057

Bharat Ele-A/D 165.35 -0.55 124895

Bharatgears-B/D 154.5 -5.2 5259

Bhartiya Int-B/D 614.05 -12.15 16349

Bhel-A/D 86.65 0.2 461506

Bom.Burmah-A/D 1377.35 23 48463

Bombay Dyeing-/D 236.75 11.25 250167

Camph.& All-Xc/D 775 14.9 2227

Canfin Homes-A/D 2631 -31.05 28445

Caprihans-Xc/D 102 1.45 4443

Castrol India-/D 368.3 7.45 67471

Century Enka-B/D 342.15 4.25 23153

Century Text-A/D 1284.9 0.8 21363

Chambal Fert-B/D 148.85 5.35 82569

Chola Invest-A/D 1130 12.95 1961

Chowgule St-Xt/D 14 -0.09 8615

Cimmco-B/D 101.15 11.75 165224

Cipla-A/D 589.3 3.85 62242

City Union Bk-/D 158.5 -3.55 21508

Colgate-A/D 1090.25 -0.3 5177

Container Cor-/D 1331.65 4.75 9826

Dai-Xc/D 420 -0.6 2163

Dcm Shram Ind-/D 335.8 9.05 73603

Dhampur Sugar-/D 302.95 20.35 278168

Dr. Reddy-A/D 2410.25 0.5 21201

E I H-B/D 135.2 -1.4 3890

E.I.D Parry-A/D 357.3 -3.6 20726

Eicher Motor-A/D 31605.65 -189.2 6572

Eimco Elecon-B/D 574.15 9.05 3338

Electrosteel-B/D 24.7 0.1 40172

Emco-T/D 19 0.5 40981

Escorts-A/D 697.1 3.2 168697

Eveready Indu-/D 330 -10.85 8945

F D C-B/D 190.5 0.55 3797

Federal Bank-A/D 118 1.05 263254

Ferro Alloys-X/D 16.9 1.01 1286885

Finolex-A/D 672 16.05 10468

Forbes-B/D 1821.1 -3.45 1398

Gail-A/D 444.4 -1.1 434209

Gammon India-Z/D 5.95 0.28 167852

Garden P -B/D 34.75 0.1 12300

Godfrey Phil-A/D 1043 14.1 33428

Goodricke-Xc/D 267.9 -2.35 9881

Goodyear I -B/D 827.35 9.55 3859

Hcl Infosys-A/D 50.2 1 1107335

Him.Fut.Comm-B/D 25.75 0.1 2501168

Himat Seide-B/D 348.2 6.8 19436

Hind Motors-B/D 7.65 0.02 336800

Hind Org Chem-/D 19.3 0.2 51524

Hind Unilever-/D 1210 -10.15 71091

Hind.Petrol-A/D 436.15 -3.55 176595

Hindalco-A/D 251.6 2.05 376228

Hous Dev Fin-A/D 1744 -5.65 51594

I F C I-A/D 23 0.1 795775

Idbi-A/D 53.15 0.15 128737

Ifb Ind.Ltd.-B/D 749.95 22.55 1354

India Cement-A/D 183.65 1.4 268410

India Glycol-B/D 324.35 31.95 1024520

Indian Card-B/D 172.55 -3.4 2047

Indian Hotel-A/D 105.4 -2.35 39789

Indo-A/D 110.6 2.45 176534

Indusind-A/D 1727 27.5 35265

J.B.Chemical-B/D 279 -2.15 2461

Jagatjit Ind-X/D 56.15 -0.65 1112

Jagson Phar-B/D 31.8 -0.15 4716

Jamnaauto-B/D 59.3 -1.95 300039

Jbf Indu-B/D 201.45 2.7 72694

Jct Ltd-Xc/D 3.39 0.07 430446

Jenson&Nich.-T/D 8.08 0.14 21243

Jindal Drill-B/D 162.75 1 8839

Jktyre&Ind-A/D 152.35 0.9 119712

Jmc Projects-B/D 457.55 58.35 22586

Kabra Extr-B/D 140.85 1.6 6283

Kajaria Cer-A/D 722 -7.1 9095

Kakatiya Cem-B/D 387.3 -0.95 5465

Kalpat Power-B/D 367 4.45 7055

Kalyani Stel-B/D 417.65 -1.1 13379

Kanoria Chem-B/D 88.25 -2.85 46961

Kg Denim-Xc/D 63.55 2.6 22290

Kilburnengg-Xd/D 80.95 1 13402

Kinetic Eng-Xc/D 68.65 -0.75 29558

Kopran-B/D 74.55 0.7 125406

Lakshmi Elec-X/D 697.95 19.7 10999

Lgb Broth-B/D 785.15 20.3 17684

Lloyd Metal-Xd/D 16.5 -0.45 59625

Lumax Ind-B/D 1452 72.65 101497

Lupin-A/D 1060.5 20.7 133914

Lyka Labs-B/D 52.9 0.15 17366

Mafatlal Ind-X/D 280.5 5 6136

Mah.Seamless-B/D 448.75 0.45 9190

Mangalam Cem-B/D 363.5 -5.1 5571

Maral Overs-B/D 37.65 -1.1 5108

Mastek-B/D 321.8 5.2 126134

Max Financial-/D 592.65 -3.2 11830

Mrpl-A/D 126.6 0.35 80397

Nagreeka Ex-B/D 34.55 -0.85 12687

Nagreeka Ex-B/D 34.55 -0.85 12687

Nahar Spg.-B/D 109.5 1.05 25613

Nation Alum -A/D 80.65 0.35 1006866

Navneet Edu-B/D 169.6 3.8 8837

Neuland Lab-B/D 1172.4 54.5 6128

Nrb Bearings-B/D 127.35 6.1 17046

O N G C-A/D 170.2 -0.75 249389

Ocl India-B/D 1280 2 1755

Oil Country-B/D 45.7 0.45 2700

Onward Tech-B/D 151.55 1.4 255863

Orchid Pharm-T/D 18.15 -0.35 49576

Orient Hotel-B/D 38.25 0.05 29628

Patspin India-/D 25.9 -0.15 10874

Punjab Chem.-B/D 413.2 -3.15 4973

Radico Khait-B/D 174 -1 90738

Rallis India-A/D 237.05 7.45 60326

Rallis India-A/D 237.05 7.45 60326

Reliance Indus/D 534.15 0.15 139640

Ruchi Soya-B/D 23.2 -0.15 163305

Saur.Cem-Xc/D 83.4 2.05 180491

Tanfac Indu-Xd/D 82.55 2.05 20618

Tanfac Indu-Xd/D 82.55 2.05 20618

Thirumalai-B/D 1624.25 -2.05 18051

Til Ltd.-B/D 510.15 3.95 8645

Timexgroup-T/D 40.8 1.9 10821

Tinplate-B/D 285.3 5.9 947305

Ucal Fuel-B/D 207.85 8.85 32369

Ucal Fuel-B/D 207.85 8.85 32369

Ultramarine-Xc/D 246.7 0.05 13973

Unitech P -A/D 6.43 -0.16 2243410

Univcable-B/D 141.9 -3.6 23783

3I Group/D 944 8 459777

Assoc.Br.Foods/D 3336 31 167584

Barclays/D 190.015 1.65 15359121

Bp/D 488.5 2.2 7447438

Brit Am Tobacc/D 4840 20.5 1279564

Bt Group/D 277.915 -1.6 4482073

Centrica/D 176.0919 3.3 9725272

Gkn/D 353.3 -2.7 1219210

Hsbc Holdings/D 762.6 7 20229773

Kingfisher/D 306.1 1.1 1412515

Land Secs./D 984 2 550714

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LONDON

People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan made a fresh call to open up the nation’s finan-cial sector, and warned that reform will become more difficult if the window of opportunity is missed. In an interview published late on Mon-

day with the Chinese financial magazine Caijing, the nation’s longest-serving central bank chief defined a “troika” of three drivers needed to further open up the economy, citing greater foreign trade and investment, a more market-based foreign-exchange rate mechanism with a “reasonable and balanced” yuan rate, and the relax-ation of capital controls to allow use of the yuan to be gradually freed.

In timing his intervention just before China’s Commu-nist Party hunkers down for its once-in-five years leadership transition next week, Zhou is burnishing his position as an advocate of financial openness in the months before his expected retirement. While China has ambitions to make its currency a global means of exchange, the world’s second-largest economy still operates behind a barrier of exchange curbs and restrictions on foreign investment.

“There isn’t a single country in the world that can achieve an open economy with strict foreign exchange controls,” Zhou said in the wide-ranging interview, which looked back at the country’s financial and currency reforms over dec-ades and marked one year since the International Monetary Fund added the yuan as the fifth component of its reserve-currency basket. “The time window is very important for reforms, an appropriate window must be seized. Once missed, the cost of reform will be higher in the future.”

Since taking the central bank’s reins in December 2002, Zhou has steered the nation through global crises, overhauled monetary policy tools, ended a direct peg to the dollar, abolished a cap on deposit rates and overseen the elevation of the yuan to reserve-currency status.

“The main message of Zhou’s interview is that China has passed the point of no return,” said Raymond Yeung, chief economist for Greater China at Australia & New Zea-land Banking Group Ltd. in Hong Kong. “After 40 years of opening-up policy, foreign participation in the finan-cial industries has not been up to speed, requiring a bold reform to take it forward.”

The yuan joined the dollar, euro, yen and pound in the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights basket last year on October 1, the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic, marking a key accomplishment for Zhou, who has long been seen as one of the nation’s chief reformers. But while that reflected rising economic clout after years of financial lib-eralization, the leaders of the world’s second-largest economy soon clamped down on cross-border transactions to help prop up the weakening currency. Swift data show global transactions using yuan fell to 1.94 percent in August, down from a record 2.79 percent two years earlier.

With Zhou’s comments raising the specter of imminent reform, bets on swings in the yuan ticked higher Tuesday. One-month implied volatility jumped to the highest level since January and the currency also appreciated onshore. But the PBOC boss’ zeal for change doesn’t necessarily sig-nal that a shift will be forthcoming once the Communist Party seals its leadership transition, says Tom Orlik, chief Asia economist at Bloomberg Intelligence in Beijing.

The PBOC Governor argued that there’s no ideal sequence for reform, but instead opportunities should be taken as they come — an approach demonstrated by his push for wider international use of the yuan during the global financial crisis. “Opening-up needs to be pushed ahead further, and we could take bigger steps to increase the market access for financial institutions and the open-ing-up of the financial market,” Zhou said.

A Texas-based chain of strip clubs would go on a buying spree. A growing technology company would move fewer jobs overseas. And a regional bank would boost

its spending on cybersecurity. These are some of the uses of the tax savings that small and medium-sized US companies say they would pursue if the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress slashed corporate taxes as promised.

Small companies pay the highest taxes and they would be the main beneficiaries of such a Trump windfall. Reuters contacted the 100 largest companies by market value in the benchmark Russell 2000 index of US small and mid-cap stocks as well as another 50 in the Russell 2000 with no analyst cov-erage. None of the 17 companies that responded to Reuters queries mentioned boosting their headcount.

The administration has said the tax cuts would largely pay for themselves by spur-ring more investment and creating jobs. But companies say they look to spend on tech-nology that will allow them to improve productivity or make acquisitions rather than hire more workers. “We want to be a company of the future, and technology is one of the key ingredients,” said Keith Cargill, chief executive at Dallas-based Texas Capital Bankshares Inc, a bank with a mar-ket value of $4.2bn. The tax cut would be a “huge plus” for earnings, Cargill said, but with little impact on the bank’s workforce.

The Russell 2000 companies tend to pay the highest effective tax rates now - an aver-age of 31.9 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data - and would stand to gain the most if corporate taxes are cut to 20 per-cent from 35 percent as the Trump administration has proposed. For large com-panies in the S&P 500, the average effective tax rate is 28 percent, a reflection of a greater

share of overseas business and more lee-way in reducing their tax rates.

While few companies would discuss any details in public before outlining them to their shareholders, executives, chief finan-cial officers and treasures say they are already starting to formulate plans for a tax windfall even if they are not certain whether and in what form it will pass. Neil Hennessy, the chief executive of Novato, California-based Hennessy Advisors Inc, a mutual fund company, told Reuters he was in “acquisi-tion mode” and would keep looking for targets in the event of a tax cut passing.

One of the first firms to publicly discuss a potential tax windfall is RCI Hospitality Holdings Inc, a chain of 40 clubs headquar-tered in Houston, Texas. Its chief executive Eric Scott Langan told analysts on August 9 that a tax cut would allow him to buy more clubs and boost the share price, which he complained failed to reflect the firm’s organic growth. “I think that’s going to change and I think that’s when you’re going to see the multiple expansion come into play,” he said during an earnings call.

The tax cut would also affect companies which do not pay taxes now either because they are not yet profitable or are using past losses to offset their tax bills. Paul Auvil, the chief financial officer at cybersecurity com-pany Proofpoint Inc, said that the $4bn market-cap company expects to start pay-ing taxes in 2021 when it no longer be able to offset past losses.

By then the corporate tax rate would need to sink at least below 27 percent, Auvil said. Otherwise Proofpoint would move its intellectual property to an offshore com-pany in Europe, where corporate taxes are lower, which would mean hiring up to 100 back office staff there, said. “These are jobs that have every reason to be in the US but it will require tax reform.”

The prospects of a tax cut have helped push the iShares Russell 2000 ETF up about 10 percent over the last six weeks, compared with a 3.7 percent gain in the fund which

tracks S&P 500. If the tax package does pass, large companies will be more likely to buy back their own stock, while smaller firms will probably reinvest in their businesses, said Tom Forte, an analyst at New York based D A Davidson. “These companies are going to take every incremental cost sav-ings from a tax cut and invest it to keep up with the Amazons and Ubers,” Forte said.

For instance, Forte expects EBay Inc to spend most of the possible windfall on increasing its stock buyback program. A smaller company like Yelp Inc would prob-ably invest in artificial intelligence technology to better harness its website’s advertising potential, he said.

GrubHub Inc, meanwhile, would spend more on its service that delivers from res-taurants that do not have their own delivery staff, Forte said, while Groupon Inc would invest more in marketing and advertising. Some smaller companies are also consid-ering share buybacks rather any significant changes to their capital allocation.

Thomas Castellano, treasurer at drug delivery company Catalent Inc, said that the $5.2bn company would keep spending on maintaining its 35 locations around the globe and look for possible acquisitions. Any extra money would go to share buybacks and Cat-alent was unlikely to increase its hiring rate if a tax cut passes, Castellano said. “We

wouldn’t be adding to our headcount because that would affect our margins at a time when we would other-wise see them improving.”

More global fund managers are setting up shop in Aus-tralia, drawn to the

nation’s A$2.3 trillion ($1.8 trillion) pension savings pool and new local investment opportunities. THL Credit Inc, an alternative credit manager based in Boston, said in September that it hired a director in Australia. New York-based credit hedge fund GoldenTree Asset Man-agement opened an office in S y d n e y l a s t m o n t h

after appointing a local managing director. Oaktree Capital Manage-ment, which already manages Australian pension money, headed Down Under last year as it also sought local investments.

The developments are part of a broader global trend as low inter-est rates in North America, Europe and Asia prompt money managers to increasingly seek assets they had previously seen as too risky. There are also uniquely Australian fac-tors. The world’s fourth-largest pension pool is swelling due to mandatory retirement saving rules. Many Aussie funds have little choice but to seek overseas invest-ments as well as alternative assets as they outgrow local equity and corporate bond markets.

THL sees the Australian pen-sion market as an opportunity, according to Michael Backwell, director of THL Credit in Australia. “Capital markets in Australia are also relatively small compared to a country like the US,” he said. “And

that naturally means funds should potentially be invested offshore.”

Australia’s $1.3 trillion stock market is about the same size it was 10 years ago, yet pension assets have more than doubled in the same period. Around 41 per-cent of new investment deals struck by Australian pensions this year have involved alternative money managers, rising from 31 percent last year, according to Rainmaker Information Pty.

The nation’s top performing pension fund over the past five years, Host-Plus Pty, invests 40 percent of its A$26bn portfolio in assets such as infrastructure, hedge funds and private equity. The superannuation fund is ready to pour more money into alternatives when the right opportunities arise, said Chief Invest-ment Officer Sam Sicilia.

Near-zero interest rates at cen-tral banks from Tokyo to Frankfurt have pushed more pension funds to seek alternative investments.

Japanese retirement savings

managers have become eager buy-ers of private real estate trusts. Europe’s leveraged-loan market has been fueled in part by pension and insurance firms. Canada’s pub-lic pension funds, among the world’s biggest, are piling on risk with leveraged bets, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

Many funds are now setting up to be closer to where the assets are, said Michael Gallagher, Australia general manager at the Alternative Investment Management Associ-ation. AIMA, which represents local and global alternative money man-agers in Australia, has seen its ranks double to 120 members in the past three years, Gallagher said.

Other institutional investors embracing new asset classes include the nation’s sovereign wealth fund. The Future Fund invested 15 percent of its A$133bn portfolio in alternatives as at June 30, climbing from 12.7 percent two years ago. Alternative investments represent the third-largest asset

class at the Future Fund after glo-bal equities and cash, according to a August 31 portfolio update.

Melbourne-based Emergency Services & State Super also invests in hedge funds Bridgewater Asso-ciates, Oaktree Capital and Elliott International Capital Advisors Inc., according to the firm’s 2017 annual report. Not all pension managers believe hedge funds and alterna-tive debt managers are worth the risk, with some in the US having pared back investments. Hedge funds struggled to outperform last year, with the average strategy delivering less than half the return of the S&P 500 Index of US stocks.

Still, others see opportunities in the country, including in dis-tressed debt. Billionaire Marc Lasry, head of Avenue Capital Manage-ment, recently flagged opportunities in that field. Others are also looking at leveraged loans, amid burgeoning appetite as cap-ital requirements prompt traditional lenders to pare risk.

China central bank chief calls for reform amid Congress countdownLianting Tu and Carrie HongBloomberg

Ruth Liew and Mariko IshikawaBloomberg

US small-cap firms look to spend tax savings on tech, not jobsDavid Randall Reuters

The tax cut would also affect companies which do not pay taxes now either because they are not yet profitable or are using past losses to offset their tax bills.

The developments are part of a broader global trend as low interest rates in North America, Europe and Asia prompt money managers to increasingly seek assets they had previously seen as too risky.

Global debt funds set up Aussie shops as $1.8 trillion calls

BUSINESS VIEWS 27WEDNESDAY 11 OCTOBER 2017

28 WEDNESDAY 11 OCTOBER 2017BUSINESS

BACK TO BUSINESS

Domestic banks help Britain’s FTSE edge ahead

sight

Reuters

Britain’s top share index ended at a two-month high yesterday after

domestic banks Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds rose following a broker upgrade on hopes of a softer exit from the European Union.

Britain’s blue-chip FTSE 100 index was up 0.4 percent at 7,538.27 points at its close, while the more domestically-focused mid-cap index added 0.2 percent, boosted by some well-received earn-ings updates.

After hitting record highs in May thanks to the weak-ness in the pound that followed Britain’s decision to leave the EU, the rally in the FTSE has lost steam as ster-ling strengthened and the Bank of England turned more hawkish.

Uncertainty over Prime Minister Theresa May’s grip on leadership has fuelled worries over a hard Brexit, prompting a fresh sell-off in the pound last week and supporting internationally-exposed UK blue chips.

But the pound bounced back as May vowed to ward off challenges and was up yesterday after strong monthly manufacturing data reinforced expectations of a rate hike in November.

RBS was among the big-gest gainers, up 1.9 percent, and Lloyds rose 0.8 percent after Credit Suisse upgraded the two stocks to “outper-form” and “neutral” respectively.

“We think investor sen-timent towards UK domestic

bank stocks should improve over the next 12 months as a soft Brexit becomes more likely,” analysts at the Swiss bank wrote in a note.

“Our central scenario of low growth, low unemploy-ment and moderate rate rises is supportive for domestic banks’ capital generation and we believe earnings risk is to the upside,” they added.

RBS was also supported by an upgrade from Citi which said the bank is the most geared to rising rates and has the most defensive asset mix.

Britain and its EU part-ners clashed on Monday over who should make the next move to unblock Brexit talks. However, May told business leaders on Monday that they could be certain there would be a two-year Brexit transi-tion period, a source told Reuters.

Credit Suisse also down-graded internationally exposed HSBC to underper-form but lifted their price target. The stock was up 1 percent.

BAE Systems, however, retreated 0.3 percent. The

B r i t i s h d e f e n c e company was set to announce up to 2,000 job cuts at plants involved in making the Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet, whose orders have dried up. Among mid-caps, Domino’s Pizzas rose around 9 percent, its biggest one-day gain in two years after Britain’s biggest pizza delivery firm said trading in the third quarter improved in the UK.

Capital Comment

Britain’s productivity headache is a self-inflicted wound. Years of cuts, low public investment, and rising job insecurity have taken a heavy toll.

Frances O’Grady, General Secretary, Trades Union Congress

US Mortgage

A mock-up of an autonomous car interior is shown at the Panasonic booth during the 2017 CES in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Panasonic to launch ADS in 2022Tokyo

Reuters

Panasonic Corp’s auton-omous driving system (ADS) is expected to be launched in commer-cial vehicles as early

as in 2022, in a move that will likely help the Japanese com-pany narrow its gap with rival suppliers in a highly competi-tive market.

Panasonic, the exclusive bat-tery cell supplier for Tesla Inc’s mass-market Model 3, has been reinventing itself as a provider of advanced auto parts to escape the price competition of smart-phones and other lower-margin consumer products.

The new autonomous driv-ing system will enable autonomous driving at low- and medium-speed ranges includ-ing self-valet parking, Panasonic said yesterday.

“We know we are behind our rivals right now,” said Shoichi

Goto, director in charge of vision and sensing technologies at the firm’s automotive R&D division. “But we have developed key LSI (large-scale integration) chips for advanced image processing and sonar sensing that would give us major advantages, using expertise from television sets and cameras.”

The new chips need more testing and polishing before the commercial launch of the auton-omous driving system, added Goto, previously a TV engineer.

Panasonic has been pushing to expand its range of advanced driving-related products to bet-ter compete with top suppliers such as Bosch [ROBG.UL] and Continental AG.

The firm has said it plans to nearly double its automotive business revenue to 2.5 trillion yen ($22bn) by the year to March 2022, from 1.3 trillion yen in the year to March 2017.

Panasonic established the

automotive R&D division in April, transferring about 350 engineers from TV, the compa-ny’s mainstay at the time, and other consumer electronics busi-nesses. To bolster its push into the automotive field, Panasonic took control of Spanish auto parts maker Ficosa International SA earlier this year.

The Peninsula’s further research on this innovative trend showed that Research institu-tions everywhere have been enthralled with ADS from the past two decades. Its use has been considered challenging considering its advantages. Besides the obvious pros of this technology such as lower acci-dent rates, a general increase in safety which can lead to more human life savings, there are other uses that can be attributed to automated driving.

Roads and highways will be used to their full capacity when vehicles will be keeping a safe and a reliable distance due to

automatic means. This will ulti-mately lead to the road of getting maximum utility out of infra-structures. Other than that it can also be cost effective as auto-mated vehicles will better control velocity, which will lower the acceleration profile and thus reducing fuel usage. Similarly, ADS of transportation of heavy loads can also contrib-ute to significant industrial cost reductions.

An ADS, like a person, needs to gather data, make a decision and carry out the command. It receives all its data from its equipment, infrastructure (phys-ical and digital) which could be public or private.

Most of these technological developments have been in this day and are fully equipped to control vehicles and drive them with little or no input from the driver in a few rare cases. This has been put to the test in a few test situations across varying driving surroundings.

Wal-Mart sees higher 2019 profits amid digital ramp-upNew York AFP

Wal-Mart Stores offered an upbeat outlook yesterday on its

makeover to a more digital-ori-ented shopping giant, forecasting higher profits in 2019 amid heavy investments in e-commerce and higher wages. The world’s biggest retailer confirmed its profit fore-casts for fiscal 2018, and projected a five percent growth in adjusted earnings per share in fiscal 2019. It also expects net sales to grow at or above three percent in fiscal 2019.

“We have good momentum in the business, we’re executing our strategy and moving with speed to win with the customer, who is more connected than ever and embracing tools that will save them both time and money,” said chief executive Doug McMillon (pictured).

The forecasts were greeted on Wall Street, which has pun-ished many other retailers for lacking a solid strategy for com-peting against Amazon and

other online retailers. Shares rose 1.8 percent to $82 in pre-market trading.

Wal-Mart has boosted cap-ital investment on smartphone apps and other digital technol-ogy and announced a series of e-commerce acquisitions, most notably a $3.3 billion purchase of Jet.com in 2016.

On Monday, Wal-Mart said it upgraded its procedures to allows swifter returns of items at stores, by allowing custom-ers to initiate the return on the smartphone app and then drop it off at a store. Many analysts expect stiff competition among supermarkets in home delivery of groceries following Amazon’s purchase this year of Whole Foods Market.