COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF
Glencore appoints Anglo American's ex-boss
Swiss commodities trader Glencore said on Tuesday it had appointed Cynthia Carroll, the former chief executive officer of London-based miner Anglo American, to its board of directors.
Carroll, who led Anglo American for more than five years until she stepped down in 2013, will join Glencore's board immediately as an independent non-executive director.
The appointment follows report of Glencore's long-time boss, Ivan Glasenberg, stepping down later this year to be replaced by Gary Nagle, head of coal assets at the mining and trading group.
A geologist by training, New Jersey-born Carroll moved from the aluminium industry to become the first non-South African, the first woman and the first outsider to take the top job at Anglo in 2007.
She is currently a non-executive director at Hitachi, Baker Hughes and Pembina Pipeline. - Nampa/Reuters
Ford to invest US$1 bln to upgrade SA operations
Ford Motor Co will invest US$1.05 billion in its South African manufacturing operations, including upgrades to expand production of its Ranger pickup truck, the US automaker said on Tuesday.
The investments aim to increase Ford's installed capacity in South Africa from 168 000 to 200 000 vehicles, said Andrea Cavallaro, operations director of Ford's International Market Group.
"It's the biggest investment in Ford's 97-year history in South Africa and one of the largest ever in the local automotive industry," he told an announcement event.
The amount includes US$683 million for technology upgrades and new facilities at its plant in Silverton, a suburb of the administrative capital Pretoria, and US$365 million to upgrade tooling at major supplier factories.
The expanded production will create 1 200 jobs with Ford in South Africa, increasing the local workforce to 5 500 employees, while adding an estimated 10 000 new jobs across the carmaker's supplier network.
Ford also aims to make the Silverton plant entirely energy self-sufficient and carbon neutral by 2024, Cavallaro said. - Nampa/Reuters
BP profit sinks as epidemic pummels demand
BP's fourth-quarter profit sank to US$115 million, missing analysts' forecasts, strike by continued weak energy demand due to the coronavirus epidemic and weak trading results.
On annual basis, BP sunk to a loss of US$5.7 billion, its first in a decade after it wrote down the value of oil and gas assets by US$6.5 billion as a result of sharply lowering its long-term energy prices.
Its fourth-quarter underlying replacement cost profit, the company's definition of net income, reached US$115 million, beating the US$360 million loss seen in a company-provided survey of analysts.
That compared with a US$86 million profit in the third quarter and a profit of US$2.6 billion a year earlier. - Nampa/Reuters
Siemens Energy to cut 7 800 jobs
Siemens Energy, which supplies turbines to the power sector, will cut 7 800 jobs to counter a drop in demand for new coal-fired energy stations that has also hit rivals General Electric and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
Siemens Energy last year announced it would no longer bid in tenders to supply turbines to coal-fired power plants, responding to a weakening market as numerous governments around the world are phasing out the polluting fuel.
The jobs to be lost represent 8.5% of the company's workforce. The bulk of the cuts will be implemented by 2023 and incur restructuring costs in a mid- to high-triple-digit million-euro range for the fiscal years 2020 to 2023, it said.
"The energy market is significantly changing which offers us opportunities but at the same time presents us with great challenges," Chief Executive Christian Bruch said.
In a sector shaped by fierce rivalry, General Electric filed a lawsuit last month accusing a unit of Siemens Energy of using stolen trade secrets to rig bids for gas turbine contracts. - Nampa/Reuters
Alibaba beats quarterly revenue estimates
China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter revenue on Tuesday, as its e-commerce business benefited from a switch to online shopping triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The results come as China clamps down on founder Jack Ma's sprawling business empire, having forced the suspension of a blockbuster US$37 billion IPO for Alibaba's financial affiliate Ant Group.
Alibaba's post-Covid-19 Singles Day sales event, the world's biggest online shopping event that eclipses the sales of US shopping holidays Black Friday and Cyber Monday, registered total sales of US$74 billion in November.
Core commerce revenue rose 38% to a record high of 195.54 billion yuan in the quarter, powered by the company's China retail marketplaces as the economy rebounded from the Covid-19 crisis.
Revenue rose 37% to 221.08 billion yuan (US$34.24 billion) in the three months ended Dec. 31, above analysts' estimates of 214.38 billion yuan, according IBES data from Refinitiv.
Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was 79.43 billion yuan, or 28.85 yuan per American depository share, compared to 52.31 billion yuan, or 19.55 yuan per American depository share, a year earlier. - Nampa/Reuters
Swiss commodities trader Glencore said on Tuesday it had appointed Cynthia Carroll, the former chief executive officer of London-based miner Anglo American, to its board of directors.
Carroll, who led Anglo American for more than five years until she stepped down in 2013, will join Glencore's board immediately as an independent non-executive director.
The appointment follows report of Glencore's long-time boss, Ivan Glasenberg, stepping down later this year to be replaced by Gary Nagle, head of coal assets at the mining and trading group.
A geologist by training, New Jersey-born Carroll moved from the aluminium industry to become the first non-South African, the first woman and the first outsider to take the top job at Anglo in 2007.
She is currently a non-executive director at Hitachi, Baker Hughes and Pembina Pipeline. - Nampa/Reuters
Ford to invest US$1 bln to upgrade SA operations
Ford Motor Co will invest US$1.05 billion in its South African manufacturing operations, including upgrades to expand production of its Ranger pickup truck, the US automaker said on Tuesday.
The investments aim to increase Ford's installed capacity in South Africa from 168 000 to 200 000 vehicles, said Andrea Cavallaro, operations director of Ford's International Market Group.
"It's the biggest investment in Ford's 97-year history in South Africa and one of the largest ever in the local automotive industry," he told an announcement event.
The amount includes US$683 million for technology upgrades and new facilities at its plant in Silverton, a suburb of the administrative capital Pretoria, and US$365 million to upgrade tooling at major supplier factories.
The expanded production will create 1 200 jobs with Ford in South Africa, increasing the local workforce to 5 500 employees, while adding an estimated 10 000 new jobs across the carmaker's supplier network.
Ford also aims to make the Silverton plant entirely energy self-sufficient and carbon neutral by 2024, Cavallaro said. - Nampa/Reuters
BP profit sinks as epidemic pummels demand
BP's fourth-quarter profit sank to US$115 million, missing analysts' forecasts, strike by continued weak energy demand due to the coronavirus epidemic and weak trading results.
On annual basis, BP sunk to a loss of US$5.7 billion, its first in a decade after it wrote down the value of oil and gas assets by US$6.5 billion as a result of sharply lowering its long-term energy prices.
Its fourth-quarter underlying replacement cost profit, the company's definition of net income, reached US$115 million, beating the US$360 million loss seen in a company-provided survey of analysts.
That compared with a US$86 million profit in the third quarter and a profit of US$2.6 billion a year earlier. - Nampa/Reuters
Siemens Energy to cut 7 800 jobs
Siemens Energy, which supplies turbines to the power sector, will cut 7 800 jobs to counter a drop in demand for new coal-fired energy stations that has also hit rivals General Electric and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
Siemens Energy last year announced it would no longer bid in tenders to supply turbines to coal-fired power plants, responding to a weakening market as numerous governments around the world are phasing out the polluting fuel.
The jobs to be lost represent 8.5% of the company's workforce. The bulk of the cuts will be implemented by 2023 and incur restructuring costs in a mid- to high-triple-digit million-euro range for the fiscal years 2020 to 2023, it said.
"The energy market is significantly changing which offers us opportunities but at the same time presents us with great challenges," Chief Executive Christian Bruch said.
In a sector shaped by fierce rivalry, General Electric filed a lawsuit last month accusing a unit of Siemens Energy of using stolen trade secrets to rig bids for gas turbine contracts. - Nampa/Reuters
Alibaba beats quarterly revenue estimates
China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter revenue on Tuesday, as its e-commerce business benefited from a switch to online shopping triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The results come as China clamps down on founder Jack Ma's sprawling business empire, having forced the suspension of a blockbuster US$37 billion IPO for Alibaba's financial affiliate Ant Group.
Alibaba's post-Covid-19 Singles Day sales event, the world's biggest online shopping event that eclipses the sales of US shopping holidays Black Friday and Cyber Monday, registered total sales of US$74 billion in November.
Core commerce revenue rose 38% to a record high of 195.54 billion yuan in the quarter, powered by the company's China retail marketplaces as the economy rebounded from the Covid-19 crisis.
Revenue rose 37% to 221.08 billion yuan (US$34.24 billion) in the three months ended Dec. 31, above analysts' estimates of 214.38 billion yuan, according IBES data from Refinitiv.
Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was 79.43 billion yuan, or 28.85 yuan per American depository share, compared to 52.31 billion yuan, or 19.55 yuan per American depository share, a year earlier. - Nampa/Reuters
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