Bloomberg Absa Group Ltd said it’s unlikely to pay an ordinary dividend this year as the South African bank conserves cash to deal with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Earnings before one-time items and accounting adjustments will probably decline more than 40% from a year earlier, Johannesburg-based Absa said. It’s withholding payouts despite having strong buffers and forecasting …

Bloomberg Apple slammed Facebook and other internet giants for their ad-targeting practices in response to a letter questioning a decision by the iPhone maker to delay a new privacy feature. The Cupertino, California-based technology company criticised Facebook’s approach to advertising and user tracking, according to a written reply sent to several human rights and privacy organisations, including the Electronic Frontier …

Bloomberg Ford Motor Co’s Lincoln luxury line hopes some interior redecorating will revive its slowest selling sport-utility vehicle (SUV): the mid-sized Nautilus. Lincoln has built its comeback on brash behemoths like the Navigator SUV. But sales of the Nautilus, with two rows of seats, have fallen 31.2% this year even as the brand’s total SUV deliveries rose. So Ford overhauled …

Bloomberg General Motors (GM) is laying the groundwork for a bigger bet on electric vehicles, telling investors at a virtual conference it plans to boost spending on them by more than a third to $27 billion as part of a push to introduce 30 battery-powered models by 2025. The initiative represents an increased investment of $7 billion and 10 more …

Bloomberg Nikon Corp plans to reduce about 2,000 employees, or 10% of its total workforce, due to a slump in its core camera business, Nikkei reported. Its business was also impacted by the performance of Intel Corp, one of Nikon’s key clients of semiconductor equipment, the daily reported, without saying where it got the information. In the company’s reform agenda, …

Bloomberg Oil rose on expectations that further progress in vaccines against the coronavirus will revive global demand, and amid signs of robust consumption in Asia. Brent futures advanced 1.4% as Pfizer Inc said a final analysis of clinical-trial data indicated its Covid-19 vaccine was 95% effective. The overall price structure of the market also showed the outlook is brightening, with …

Dubai/ WAM Emirates announced plans to operate its popular A380 aircraft four times a day to London Heathrow from November 27 and six times a week to Manchester from December 2, and to deploy additional A380 services to Moscow from the current two-a-week, to a daily service from November 25. Emirates will also increase flights to Birmingham and Glasgow from …

Bloomberg Keystone XL is receiving an investment from Canadian indigenous groups in a deal that TC Energy Corp hopes will help save its embattled oil pipeline project from being scrapped by US President-elect Joe Biden. Natural Law Energy, a group of five first nations in Alberta and Saskatchewan, will make an equity investment of as much as C$1 billion ($765 …

Bloomberg Perenco is in talks to become the main operator in one of four oil and gas producing blocks in Ivory Coast, according to two people familiar with the matter. The Anglo-French oil company is seeking to buy a controlling stake in block CI-11, currently operated by a consortium that includes the state-run company Petroci, which has a 68% stake. …

Bloomberg European stocks slipped with US futures as new virus cases continue to mount in major cities around the world. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.2% and the Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 1.1% after Tokyo reported a record number of new Covid-19 infections. Treasury yields and the dollar extended declines after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the …