Business

MUMBAI — Apple will launch its first online store in India next week, the Silicon Valley company said on Friday, hoping to cash in on the country's festive season and grow its tiny share of the booming market.

The company is a small player in India, where sales of its smartphones lag those of South Korean rival Samsung, with the iPhone maker pricing itself exclusively at the luxury end of the market.

Its renewed push into India comes as Asia's third-largest economy has hit a record slump due to a months-long coronavirus lockdown.

India's busiest shopping season usually kicks off in October, with stores offering steep discounts and freebies to customers looking to splurge on big-ticket items as they celebrate popular Hindu festivals including Dussehra and Diwali.

Apple's online store, which will open for business on September 23, will offer "a range of affordability options" including discounts on Macs, iPads and tech accessories for students, the company said in a press release.

Shoppers will be able to get their AirPods, iPads and Apple Pencils engraved in English, Hindi and a range of other Indian languages.

Apple currently sells through third-party retailers in India including Amazon, and the country is seen as a huge potential market for the firm due to its giant 1.3 billion population and relatively low number of smartphone owners.

The company has only a 2 per cent share of the Indian market, according to industry estimates.

An application to open Apple Stores in India in 2016 was reportedly rebuffed because of a rule that states foreign retailers must source 30 per cent of their products locally. 

New Delhi has since relaxed the rules, giving companies up to eight years to meet the sourcing requirements, as part of a push to attract foreign investment and create jobs.

Some of its smartphones, including the iPhone 11, are assembled at facilities operated by Taiwanese manufacturers Foxconn and Wistron in the southern Indian cities of Chennai and Bangalore.

LONDON — Japan’s Hitachi on Wednesday scrapped its multi-billion-pound nuclear plant project in Wales in face of the deteriorating investment environment, in a blow to Britain’s atomic energy programme. 

The project in Anglesey, already suspended for 20 months because of financial difficulties, was cancelled as “the investment environment has become increasingly severe due to the impact of Covid-19”, Hitachi said in a statement.

The company said it would consult with the UK government and others regarding the fate of its licences and the Wylfa Newydd site that would have housed two reactors.

“We recognise that this will be very disappointing news for the people of North Wales,” the British government said in a statement.

It asserted, however, that “nuclear power will play a key role in the UK’s future energy mix” as the country transitions “to a low-carbon economy”.

The cost of building the Anglesey plant had been estimated at up to £20 billion ($25.4 billion, 21.4 billion euros).

Its targeted production capacity was nearly three gigawatts — enough to supply around six per cent of Britain’s electricity needs.

As recently as last month, Hitachi’s Horizon Nuclear subsidiary had said it was still committed to the project.

Hitachi had been waiting for the British government’s latest energy strategy, which could potentially include new financing models for the nuclear industry.

‘Urgent need 

for progress’ 

Tom Greatrex, chief executive of Britain’s Nuclear Industry Association, said Hitachi’s decision “underscores the urgent need for progress on new nuclear projects in the UK if net zero carbon emissions is to become a reality”.

The government “can secure these economic and environmental opportunities for future generations by setting out a clear pathway for new nuclear power in forthcoming policy announcements”, he said in a statement. 

Britain’s nuclear power plants built in the last century have either closed or are coming to the end of their lifespan.

But the country wants to maintain the 20 per cent of electricity it generates from nuclear power to help meet its pledge to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 and tackle climate change.

The Hinkley Point scheme in southwest England, the only nuclear project under construction, is due to be completed in 2025.

However, there is mounting concern at Chinese involvement in the project and further planned British nuclear plants amid strained diplomatic ties between London and Beijing.

China General Nuclear Power (CGN) is working alongside France’s EDF in the construction of Hinkley Point, while the pair are also awaiting formal approval for a new plant at Sizewell on the Suffolk coast in eastern England.

In both cases, CGN is the minority partner. 

But in another project, the Bradwell nuclear reactor in southeastern England, it is CGN that will hold the majority stake, pending UK government approval of the project.

Strained relations 

Diplomatic relations between London and Beijing are fraught after China introduced a controversial security law in former British colony Hong Kong. 

In addition, Britain recently ordered the phased removal of equipment belonging to Chinese mobile giant Huawei from its 5G network amid alleged security concerns.

“If CGN is blocked from Bradwell, they might walk out on Hinkley leaving a huge funding gap,” Steve Thomas, a professor of energy policy at London’s University of Greenwich, told AFP. 

He described Hitachi’s decision as a “blow” to the UK government. 

Justin Bowden, a senior official at British energy union GMB, said having foreign companies and governments to fund the UK’s future energy needs was a “fanciful experiment”. 

“This utterly predictable announcement from Hitachi is the outcome of successive [UK] government failures to act decisively around new nuclear, and in particular how it is financed,” Bowden said.

The move also dents Japan’s attempts to expand its nuclear businesses overseas after the Fukushima catastrophe effectively halted demand for new reactors in its home market. 

In 2018, Toshiba pulled the plug on a nuclear power plant in northwest England.

NEW YORK — Fiat Chrysler (FCA) and Peugeot Citroen (PSA) announced on Monday they had modified the terms of their mega-merger in light of business disruptions caused by COVID-19.

FCA agreed to lower the exceptional dividend to be distributed to its shareholders to 2.9 billion euros ($3.4 billion), compared to 5.5 billion euros ($6.5 billion) previously, while PSA will distribute its 46 per cent stake in French automotive equipment maker Faurecia to all shareholder of the new company, rather than to its shareholders alone as agreed to previously.

The decision was made to "take into account the impact on liquidity the COVID-19 health crisis has had on the automotive industry", the companies said in a joint press release, while "preserving the original balance of the merger" which should be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2021.

They were approved "unanimously" by the boards of directors of both companies "with the strong support of their reference shareholders”, FCA and PSA said.

The tie-up, which was announced at the end of October, will create Stellantis, set to be the world's fourth-largest automaker in terms of volume, and number three in terms of sales.

The combined company unites brands such as Peugeot, Citroen, Fiat, Chrysler, Jeep, Alfa Romeo and Maserati into a global giant, each of which will continue under its own marque.

But doubts have been raised in recent months about the equilibrium of the merger, which was advertised from the outset as a marriage of equals.

The two companies announced in May they'd waive a dividend payment of 1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion), planned as part of the merger, due to the coronavirus downturn.

The exceptional dividend that FCA was to distribute to its shareholders along with the distribution of Faurecia's shares were also issues of concern, since the French equipment makers's market capitalization has declined since the merger's announcement.

WASHINGTON — Ahead of a deadline set by US President Donald Trump over video sharing app TikTok, Washington officials will evaluate a bid that could see US tech giant Oracle become a partner to a Chinese company that has been called a national security risk.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed on Monday the government had received a bid from Oracle for TikTok’s American operations after the video-sharing app’s parent ByteDance rejected a proposal from Microsoft.

The transaction is being structured as a partnership and probably won’t be an outright sale, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources.

“I will confirm that we did get a proposal over the weekend that includes Oracle as the trusted technology partner,” Mnuchin said on CNBC, adding that the bid would be handled by a government panel that reviews foreign transactions for national security concerns. 

“We need to make sure that the code is, one, secure, Americans’ data are secure, phones are secure, and we’ll be having discussions with Oracle over the next few days with our technical teams,” Mnuchin said.

Oracle confirmed its submission, saying the company “is part of the proposal by ByteDance to the Treasury Department over the weekend in which Oracle will serve as the trusted technology provider”.

TikTok’s brand of short, quirky videos made on users’ cellphones has grown popular in the United States and beyond, but Trump’s claims that TikTok could be used by China to track the location of federal employees, build dossiers for the purpose of blackmail and conduct corporate espionage has sparked a diplomatic storm between Washington and Beijing.

Trump effectively ordered the sale of the Chinese company’s US operations by September 20, or else the app would shut down.

Microsoft bid nixed 

TikTok has rejected the charges and sued over the crackdown, contending that the US order was a misuse of its International Emergency Economic Powers Act because the platform is not “an unusual and extraordinary threat”.

In late August, China’s commerce ministry published new rules potentially making it more difficult for ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American entity by adding “civilian use” to a list of technologies that are restricted for export.

ByteDance had vowed to “strictly abide” by the new export rules.

Downloaded 175 million times in the United States, TikTok is used by as many as a billion people worldwide. It has repeatedly denied sharing data with Beijing.

Microsoft had indicated at the beginning of August that it was interested in acquiring TikTok’s US operations, but announced Sunday that bid had been rejected.

“We believe Microsoft would only buy TikTok with its core algorithm, which the Chinese government and ByteDance was not willing to budge,” Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said in a note.

“Given the need now to get a green light from Beijing after its export rules were changed a few weeks ago, TikTok’s days in the US likely are numbered with a shutdown now the next step.”

S&P warned on Monday that the transaction for TikTok could result in a downgrade of Oracle’s credit rating, depending on whether the company needs to take on significant debt for the transaction.

“A deal in which Oracle is a technology partner rather than a full owner could lower the price,” S&P said. “And if Oracle has co-bidders, that could further reduce the financial impact.”

Shares of Oracle were temporarily halted shortly after the open due to the pending new on the company. Near 1500 GMT, shares were up 6.5 per cent at $60.70.

AMMAN — Net profit after tax attributable to shareholders for the first half of 2020 for the companies listed at the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) which have provided financial reports fell to JD43.3 million, compared to JD596.9 million for the first half of 2019, a decrease of 92.7 per cent, according to ASE CEO Mazen Wathaifi. 

In a statement posted on the bourse website, he said the service sector profit after tax attributable to shareholders fell by 322.6 per cent, adding that energy, utilities, transport, hotels and tourism services were the hardest hit in the field. 

The financial sector, as a whole, saw a drop by 62.6 per cent, with banking seeing the biggest drop, according to the Bourse CEO.

The industrial Sector saw a 56.5 per cent decrease, with mining and quarries receiving the hardest blow, he added. 

NEW YORK — World stock markets were mixed on Friday as European traders mulled Britain's increasingly acrimonious war dance with the EU, while in the United States technology shares continued to pull back.

Sterling remained under pressure as Britain sparred with Brussels, rejecting an ultimatum to withdraw controversial Brexit legislation but agreeing to extend talks soon.

On the plus side for British industry, a stuttering currency — which hauled itself off multi-month midweek lows — has been helping to boost share prices of index multinational's earnings in dollars.

Those increases helped London's FTSE index gain ground on Friday.

After Thursday's sterling selloff, the pound was stable on Friday amid news the British economy expanded 6.6 per cent — albeit still well off pre-coronavirus levels.

"Ultimately UK investors will probably thank the UK government for pushing down sterling and allowing the FTSE the room to recover 6000 [points]," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG.

"Given time, however, we can expect the index to return to its dismal ways, as the global investing community picks the more solid performers on Wall Street over an increasingly fraught UK outlook."

Meanwhile, US stocks concluded a volatile week on a mixed note, with the Dow rising and the Nasdaq suffering its fifth decline in six sessions.

Tech shares have been under pressure since hitting a record on September 2, with investors questioning skyrocketing stock values.

Markets are also assessing the timing of vaccine candidates for Covid-19 and how much a vaccine could erode the advantage tech companies have attained from higher demand for e-commerce and digital services if the economy normalises quickly.

Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities, said September has historically been volatile month for equities. 

This year, there is also unease about the upcoming presidential election, rising tensions between Washington and Beijing and worries over coronavirus outbreaks, including at colleges, Hogan said.

"Volatility is going to be norm for the balance of this month and probably October also," he said.

PARIS — Pan-European stock market operator Euronext and Germany’s Deutsche Boerse on Friday announced rival offers to try to buy Milan’s Borsa Italiana, setting the stage for a bidding war.

Switzerland’s SIX is also reportedly considering joining the race for the Milan stock exchange.

Euronext was the first to show its hand, saying it was teaming up with Italian lender CDP to submit a joint bid for Milan’s Borsa Italiana.

Euronext — which operates the exchanges of Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Lisbon, Oslo and Paris — said in a statement that it was “currently in discussions with Cassa Depositi e Prestiti to submit an offer to London Stock Exchange Group plc. for the acquisition of the business and key operational assets of Borsa Italiana”.

“A further announcement will be made as and when appropriate,” the Paris-based company said.

According to Bloomberg, the joint bid values Borsa Italiana at 3.5-4 billion euros ($4.2-4.7 billion).

CDP would get around 8 per cent of Euronext, under the terms of the deal, Bloomberg said.

German stock exchange operator Deutsche Boerse released a statement on Friday after markets closed stating that “Deutsche Boerse has submitted a bid for Borsa Italiana Group”.

The statement did not provide any financial details.

“As a global player, we are offering a high value for the future growth and development of an autonomous Borsa Italiana Group, thereby strengthening its crucial role for the Italian economy and the European capital markets,” the DAX 30 owner added.

The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) said in July that it was prepared to sell its Borsa Italiana subsidiary in order to win approval by the EU Commission of its planned purchase of US financial data provider Refinitiv.

Shopping spree 

Euronext chief Stephane Boujnah had said at the start of the year that his company could be interested if LSEG were willing to sell. 

Euronext has been on a shopping spree recently, buying the Danish central securities depository, VP Securities, last month to expand its Nordic footprint. 

It also acquired the Scandinavian electricity exchange Nord Pool in January and the Oslo Stock Exchange in June 2019. 

By contrast, it decided not to buy the Madrid stock exchange, which was eventually snapped up Swiss operator SIX.

In Italy, state-owned CDF confirmed it was “proceeding jointly with Euronext to submit a non-binding bid for Borsa Italiana”. 

Italian news agency Radiocor, quoting sources familiar with the matter, said the deadline for bids had been set back until September 14. 

Rome has said all offers will be examined closely by the government and the regulatory authorities. 

Economy and finance minister Roberto Gualtieri said he hoped Borsa Italiana would “find its strategic place within the single market and the eurozone, with industrial and financial partners able to support and strengthen in the project for a single capital market at a European level”.