August, 2021

• 10 August

  UK airlines warn of more job cuts once furloughs expire

  

  Bloomberg UK airlines are warning that thousands of jobs could be lost if the government fails to reverse course and offer the industry an extension of the furlough program with travel in a slump for a second summer season. Carriers have asked the government for a short-term, sector-specific jobs support plan to tide it through the usually lean winter months, …

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• 10 August

  Virgin Atlantic Airways mulls IPO in London

  

  Bloomberg Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd is considering a public offering in London as the company gears up its business for recovery from the pandemic. Executives have been holding discussions with bankers and potential investors, and could announce the company’s plans for an IPO as soon as the autumn, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to …

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• 9 August

  Lufthansa sees long-haul recovery after $1.13b loss

  

  Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG is expecting long-haul travel to finally pick up this year alongside loosening Covid-19 restrictions and vaccine take up, giving some cause for optimism after a second-quarter loss of 952 million euros ($1.13 billion). North America could open up from late summer with Asia following from the end of the year, the company said in a statement. …

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• 9 August

  PepsiCo to sell juice brands to PAI Partners for $3.3 billion

  Bloomberg PepsiCo Inc is to sell Tropicana, Naked and other juice brands to French private equity firm PAI Partners for about $3.3 billion as it seeks to bolster its balance sheet and focus on healthier snacks and zero-calorie drinks. The US drinks giant will retain a 39% noncontrolling interest in a new holding company for the brands and has also …

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• 9 August

  Odey sells stakes in Ryanair, BA

  

  Bloomberg Odey Asset Management has sold its stakes in Ryanair Holdings Plc and British Airways’s (BA) owner International Consolidated Airlines Group, the Daily Mail reported, as the UK airline industry prepares for further job cuts. Fund manager James Hanbury sold his IAG holding after shares rebounded, the paper said. IAG rose 8.5% this year while Ryanair added 3.4%, both outperforming …

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• 9 August

  Amazon, Flipkart leading India EV transition face hurdles

  

  Bloomberg Sourabh Saini, a delivery driver for Indian online supermarket BigBasket, is thrilled by the attention he gets as he zips around Noida, a satellite city on the outskirts of Delhi, in his three-wheeled electric van. “I like how my electric van always gets noticed,” said Saini, who made the switch from fossil fuels about eight months ago as part …

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• 9 August

  BOE’s hawkish turn reignites pound’s pre-Covid strength

  

  Bloomberg The pound is about to enter a new era of strength against the euro, thanks to the Bank of England’s (BOE) hawkish turn. Traders have raised the odds of a rate hike in February to 60% after the BOE made clear last week that it’s beginning a countdown to end the era of rock-bottom borrowing costs. And it’s given …

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• 9 August

  Ecuador central bank doubles BIS credit line to $840m

  

  Bloomberg Ecuador’s central bank doubled its emergency credit line with the Bank for International Settlements to $840 million as a precautionary measure in case of a downturn, its governor said in an interview. The credit line is part of efforts to strengthen the bank after previous administrations used its funds for government spending, Guillermo Avellan said. Those actions hurt the …

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• 9 August

  JPMorgan: Digital currencies must balance inclusion, banks

  

  Bloomberg The creation of central bank digital currencies to address economic inequality with new retail loan and payments channels must be designed so they don’t “cannibalise” a country’s commercial financial system, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. If set up hastily, retail CBDCs could risk “disintermediating commercial banks” and lead to the exodus of 20% to 30% of their funding …

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• 9 August

  Westpac sells Life Insurer unit to Dai-Ichi for $660m

  Bloomberg Westpac Banking Corp has agreed to sell its life insurance unit to Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc’s Australian subsidiary TAL for $660 million as Australia’s second-largest lender continues to jettison non-core assets to focus on lending. The completion of the transaction, confirming an earlier Bloomberg report, is expected to happen in the second half of next year, Westpac said. Under …

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