February, 2019

• 24 February

  Threat of jail caps a long fall for Indian billionaire

  

  Bloomberg Indian billionaire Anil Ambani has spent years fending off creditors and suing critics of his debt-saddled business empire. But his moment of reckoning may have arrived, as he races to pay debts or face a possible jail sentence. On February 20, India’s Supreme Court said that the Reliance Group’s phone unit had disobeyed a ruling to pay about $77 ...

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• 24 February

  Italy govt mulls Alitalia stake if talks create strong business plan

  

  Bloomberg Italian Finance Minister Giovanni Tria cautioned that the Treasury will consider taking a stake in struggling airline Alitalia SpA only if talks between potential investors produce a strong business plan. Speaking to lawmakers in the lower house of parliament, Tria confirmed that talks are underway involving Delta Air Lines Inc. and UK discounter EasyJet Plc, with state rail operator ...

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• 24 February

  Atlas Air cargo jet crashes with three passengers aboard

  

  Bloomberg An Atlas Air cargo plane with three people aboard plunged out of the sky and crashed into a Texas bay as it was preparing to land in Houston. The Boeing Co. 767-300, which had departed from Miami, lost radio contact about 30 miles (48 kilometers) from George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, the Federal Aviation Administration said. It fell ...

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• 24 February

  Online retailers urged to pay higher taxes to save UK shops

  

  Bloomberg Internet retailers such as Amazon.com Inc., Asos Plc and Boohoo Group Plc should pay higher UK taxes to help save ailing shopping districts that are losing revenue to e-commerce, according to a government report. An online sales tax, higher value-added tax and “green taxes” on shipping and packaging should all be considered to help soften the blow to physical ...

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• 24 February

  Swedish grocer braces for radical change in online shopping

  

  Bloomberg Sweden’s largest food retailer ICA is preparing for its largest transformation yet to cater to a growing number of customers who want to shop for groceries online and have them delivered home. The 81-year-old company is following in the footprints of other Swedish retail giants like Hennes & Mauritz AB and Ikea in shifting investments towards e-commerce, advanced analytics ...

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• 24 February

  Vitol sees oil to rally as Opec, Venezuela cause shortage

  

  Bloomberg The world’s largest energy trader says oil prices are set to rally further as Opec output cuts and American sanctions on Iran and Venezuela cause a “shortage” of the low-quality heavy crudes refiners rely on. “From here there’s probably the potential to be a little bit higher,” said Russell Hardy, chief executive officer of Vitol Group. “Oil supply is ...

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• 24 February

  Centrica plunges to two-decade low on a gloomy 2019 forecast

  

  Bloomberg Centrica Plc plunged to the lowest in almost two decades after tougher trading conditions in the UK energy market prompted the utility to forecast a gloomy outlook for next year. Hurt both by a government-imposed cap on consumer energy bills and by outages at nuclear plants and gas wells, a target range for average adjusted operating cash flow “is ...

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• 24 February

  British Steel may face $130mn hit from Brexit carbon hitch

  

  Bloomberg British Steel Ltd. may face a financial hit of 100 million pounds ($130 million) or more in three weeks’ time if Prime Minister Theresa May is unable to secure a Brexit deal, two people familiar with the matter said. The costs relate to the private equity-owned steelmaker’s carbon pollution bill for 2018, which is due for payment by March ...

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• 24 February

  VW sees robust year despite mounting economic challenges

  

  Bloomberg Volkswagen AG expects to boost revenue and maintain profitability this year even as the German manufacturer said it’ll face more challenging economic conditions, costly new tests on emissions and tougher competition. The world’s biggest carmaker, reporting annual earnings that met expectations, repeated its 2018 goal for an adjusted operating return on sales of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent for ...

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• 24 February

  Microsoft workers call on company to cancel $480mn US army contract

  

  Bloomberg A group of Microsoft Corp. employees are demanding that the company abandon a $480 million contract with the US Army to build versions of its HoloLens augmented reality headsets for the battlefield, the latest in a series of protests from workers at technology companies objecting to certain uses of the products they’re building. “We are alarmed that Microsoft is ...

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