Company news in brief

Massmart’s anti-competitive complaint dismissed

South Africa's Competition Tribunal on Tuesday dismissed a complaint brought by Massmart accusing grocery retailers of anti-competitive behaviour, saying the unit of Wal-Mart had failed to present a strong case.

The decision is a blow for Massmart's ambitions to expand further into the grocery market, which is dominated by industry giants such discounter Shoprite and upmarket retailer Woolworths.

Massmart is in the middle of transforming its flagship Game chain from a primarily electronics retailer to one that sells groceries.

It lodged the complaint in 2014, saying its expansion into the fresh grocery sector was being hampered by lease arrangements that restrict malls from renting out space to rival food retailers.

The tribunal upheld, for the second time, arguments made by retailers Shoprite Checkers, Pick n Pay and Spar Group and found that Massmart had failed to make a strong case of anti-competitive conduct. – Nampa/Reuters

Uber's Q4 loss narrows

Uber Technologies Inc narrowed its fourth-quarter loss to US$1.1 billion from a loss of US$1.46 billion in the previous quarter, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The ride-hailing company's quarterly revenue rose 11.8% to US$2.2 billion from its previous quarter, the source said.

Uber has gone on to raise more than US$14 billion in new funding and last month closed a deal with SoftBank Group Corp in which the Japanese conglomerate, along with other investors, took about a 17.5% stake in the company.

The company had previously reported third-quarter net loss of US$1.46 billion on net revenue of US$2 billion. Uber had gross bookings of US$9.7 billion in

Twitter downplays chatter about acquisition

Twitter Inc Chief Executive Jack Dorsey said on Tuesday that he saw value in the social media network remaining an independent company, downplaying recent speculation by analysts that it could be an acquisition target.

"I've always thought that there's a lot of strength to our independence. We can work on every device. We can work through any medium," Dorsey said in a response to a question at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference.

Pernod: No impact yet from legal cannabis

Pernod Ricard, the world's second-largest spirits maker, has not yet seen any impact from the legalisation of cannabis in some parts of North America but is monitoring the situation closely, its chief executive said.

Eight US states, including California and Nevada, have legalised marijuana, already widely approved for medicinal use, for recreational use and some studies show consumers would buy the drug instead of alcohol if it was freely available.

Rival Constellation Brands in October bought a near 10 percent stake in Canadian cannabis maker Canopy Growth Corp to take advantage of any boom as legalisation proliferates.

Analysts at Bryan, Garnier & Co say the global legal cannabis market is set to grow more than 1 000% to reach US$140 billion by 2027. – Nampa/Reuters

Apple sheds light on special dividend

Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook downplayed a suggestion that the company might issue a special dividend to shareholders with some of the US$285 billion in cash that the company is now able to bring back from overseas.

At an annual shareholder meeting at Apple Park in Cupertino on Tuesday, Cook responded to a question on whether the company might double its dividend in the wake of changes to United States tax laws that allowed corporations to bring back overseas cash at lower tax rates than before.

"Special dividends, I'm not really a fan of," Cook responded. "But in terms of annual increases in the dividend, it is something that this board and management are committed to doing." – Nampa/Reuters