December, 2020

• 6 December

  LG Chem recalls home battery systems in US

  

  Bloomberg LG Chem Ltd is voluntarily recalling some models of its home energy storage batteries in the US over concerns they could overheat and start fires. The South Korean industrial giant is working with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission on the recall after the company received reports of five fires with its battery systems that caused limited property damage ...

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• 6 December

  Brexit deal or not, City of London has lost its clout

  

  Back in the mid-2000s, when finance was booming and the City of London was at the peak of its powers, brokerage boss Michael Spencer joked that statues of two US politicians — Paul Sarbanes and Michael Oxley — should be put up near the London Stock Exchange. Their tough regulation of Wall Street had sent the cost of being publicly ...

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• 6 December

  Africa needs its own Singapore

  

  When it comes to economic development, China’s amazing success soaks up much of the attention. But another huge region has quietly begun what looks like a new phase of exponential growth: Southeast Asia. The sustained enrichment of this region will transform the world, and carry important lessons for struggling countries like those in Africa. Southeast Asia was once almost completely ...

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• 6 December

  Mining billionaire leaves a dirty task to successor

  It’s hard to imagine a more daunting task than taking the reins from Ivan Glasenberg, Glencore Plc’s chief executive officer, a man who put his stamp on his company like few other corporate leaders have. Thankfully, his 45-year-old successor, fellow South African Gary Nagle, has a way to make his own mark: by finding a way for the mining giant ...

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• 6 December

  Federal deficits don’t work like credit cards

  The Joe Biden administration has pledged to deploy fiscal stimulus to get the stricken US economy back on its feet, as well as increase government investment to boost long-run growth. This means the Republican opposition in Congress is back to arguing that austerity is the best way to compensate for the economic damage done by the pandemic. Even before the ...

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• 6 December

  Boeing mulling equity sale, plans new cut to 787 output

  

  Bloomberg Boeing Co is studying an equity sale and other ways to ease a debt burden that has soared to $61 billion this year amid the worst slump in aviation history. Adding to the financial stress, Boeing will trim output of its 787 Dreamliner to five planes a month by mid-2021, one less than previously planned, Chief Financial Officer Greg ...

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• 6 December

  Singapore Air to make room for Covid vaccines

  

  Bloomberg Singapore Airlines will prioritise freight capacity to ship Covid-19 vaccines and will conduct test flights soon to trial the process, the Straits Times reported, citing a company statement and an executive’s comments Cargo space will be made available to prioritise the vaccine shipments across key trade lanes, the report said. Boeing Co 747-400 freighters, as well as passenger aircraft, ...

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• 6 December

  New South African airline to fly even as crisis grips market

  

  Bloomberg A new airline is preparing to start flights in South Africa next week, entering the industry at a time when carriers near and far are going bankrupt amid the worst crisis in aviation history. Lift, owned by Johannesburg-based leasing company Global Airways, will operate three Airbus SE A320 jets and look to tap returning domestic demand after an almost ...

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• 6 December

  UK retail landlords facing a hard reality

  

  Bloomberg UK retail landlords are facing a hard reality: the rapid approval of a vaccine has come too late for thousands of their stores. The collapse of department store chain Debenhams Plc and Philip Green’s Arcadia Group this week caps an unremittingly brutal year for the owners of brick and mortar stores. The demise of these retailers alone threatens 16.6 ...

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• 6 December

  American Air sees demand slowdown

  Bloomberg American Airlines Group Inc is seeing a slowdown in demand because of surging coronavirus cases, signalling a weaker outlook heading into the year-end holidays. After a strong start for the fourth quarter, a deceleration in net bookings growth began before Thanksgiving and has persisted into this month, American said in a regulatory filing. As a result, the company expects ...

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