Bloomberg LVMH’s customers are curbing purchases of high-end fashion faster than the company can cut costs, and that’s hitting the Louis Vuitton owner’s profit. The French luxury conglomerate’s profit from recurring operations totalled 1.67 billion euros ($1.96 billion) in the first half, less than the 2.32 billion euros analysts expected. The shares fell as much as 4% on Tuesday in ...

Bloomberg The administrators of South African Airways (SAA), the state-owned airline that’s in bankruptcy protection, want the government to set aside 16.4 billion rand ($998 million) that it’s guaranteed to pay creditors. The Treasury says the current structure of its guarantees should suffice. The administrators want an agreement for the money to be paid into an escrow account — the ...

Bloomberg Kids have only just started their summer break yet Ryanair Holdings Plc Chief Executive Officer Michael O’Leary is already counting the days until they go back to school. With fresh travel restrictions threatening to jeopardise the long-awaited summer recovery, O’Leary said he needs the re-opening of schools in September to reignite business travel and enable Europe’s largest discount carrier ...

Bloomberg Cosmetics giant Revlon Inc is asking its bondholders for more time to repay borrowings due next year as it seeks to ride out pressures from the Covid-19 pandemic. The makeup company, hit hard by store closings to contain the virus, is seeking to exchange its 5.75% bonds due in 2021 for new notes with the same coupon maturing in ...

Bloomberg Asian airlines carried only 724,000 international passengers in June, a 98% slump from a year earlier, as restrictions on movement suppressed air travel, the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) said. Average passenger load factor was just 36.3%, AAPA said in a statement on Tuesday. The group’s director general, Subhas Menon, said the prospect of a recovery in the ...

Bloomberg Seen as a test of Malaysia’s anti-corruption credentials, the guilty verdict against former prime minister Najib Razak in the first of the 1MDB trials could strengthen the new government’s hand after months of political turmoil. The High Court on Tuesday sentenced Najib to 12 years in jail after finding him guilty of all seven charges in the case involving ...

Bloomberg When Richard Grenell left his post as US ambassador to Germany in February, government officials in Berlin were relieved. But Donald Trump’s pick for the position, retired US Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor, has them wondering if the new envoy will be just as combative as his predecessor. “It is indeed striking that Trump is sending a proven military strategist ...

Bloomberg New Zealand suspended its extradition agreement with Hong Kong, falling into step with its Western allies after China passed a national security law for the financial hub. Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said in a statement on Tuesday that New Zealand could “no longer trust that Hong Kong’s criminal justice system is sufficiently independent from China.” The statement drew ...

Bloomberg The Hong Kong government is considering postponing legislative elections amid a recent surge in coronavirus cases, media reports say, prompting criticism from pro-democracy candidates hoping to triumph in the September vote. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s advisory Executive Council was expected to meet on Tuesday to discuss postponing the September 6 legislative elections, the Hong Kong Economic Times ...

Bloomberg As other countries face renewed outbreaks, Sweden’s latest Covid-19 figures suggest it’s rapidly bringing the virus under control. “That Sweden has come down to these levels is very promising,” state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell said. Since hitting a peak in late June, Sweden’s infection rate has fallen sharply, according to the Health Agency of Sweden. That’s amid an increase in ...