Company news in brief

Apple loses US$1 trillion statusShares in Apple Inc fell 6% on Friday, cutting its market value back to less than US$1 trillion after it forecast softer-than-expected sales for the holiday quarter and fuelled nerves over iPhone sales by saying it would no longer release the figures.The dip in Apple's shares to US$208.50 knocked around US$67 billion off its value, and put Amazon and Microsoft Corp back in the mix in the race among the United States' big tech players to be the world's most valuable company.The Cupertino, California-based company blamed weakness in emerging markets and foreign exchange costs for a disappointing forecast for sales in the run-up to Christmas that are crucial to results for consumer electronics producers.Most analysts were still upbeat on fourth-quarter results, and there was no obvious fallout for rest of the FAANG group of major US tech stocks. Shares in Facebook Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Netflix Inc and Google-owner Alphabet Inc all rose on a generally buoyant Wall Street.Eight brokerages cut their price targets for Apple, but only one - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - cut its rating on the stock, to neutral from buy.– Nampa/ReutersGlobal banks HSBC, UBS close Nigeria officesHSBC and UBS have closed their offices in Nigeria, the country's central bank said in a report on Friday, as it revealed foreign investment had fallen sharply from a year ago.The bank said foreign direct investment in Nigeria fell to 379.84 billion naira (US$1.2 billion) in the first half of the year from 532.63 billion naira (US$1.7 billion) a year earlier.It did not give reasons for the bank closures.HSBC was not available to comment and UBS declined to comment.The central bank said the outlook for the Nigerian economy in the second half was “optimistic” given higher oil prices and production, but rising foreign debt and uncertainty surrounding the 2019 presidential election was a drawback.Investor confidence in the West African country has been shaken since the central bank in August ordered MTN to bring back US$8.1 billion to the country, part of profits which the South African telecoms firm sent abroad.An HSBC research note dated 18 July said a second Buhari term “raises the risk of limited economic progress and further fiscal deterioration, prolonging the stagnation of his first term, particularly if there is no move towards completing reform of the exchange rate system or fiscal adjustments that diversify government revenues away from oil.”The central bank also said three lenders failed to meet its minimum liquidity ratio of 30% without naming them.It added that non-performing loans (NPLs) have dropped to 12.4% as at June 2018 from 15% a year ago, still a long way above its 5 percent threshold.– Nampa/ReutersBroadcom makes US$1 billion patent claim against VWUS semiconductor supplier Broadcom has made a patent claim for more than US$1 billion against Volkswagen and is threatening to seek a judicial ban on the production of several car models, German magazine Der Spiegel said on Friday.A Volkswagen spokesman on Friday told Reuters that a legal action had been filed by Broadcom against the German carmaker over a patent issue, without confirming the size of the claim. “Volkswagen has examined the claim and taken necessary action to protect its legal interests,” the spokesman added.Spiegel magazine, which first reported the conflict on Friday, said it concerned the use of 18 patents on Broadcom semiconductors which Volkswagen uses for navigation and the entertainment system in some of its cars.Broadcom earlier this year began legal action in the United States against Japan's Toyota and Panasonic, among other firms, for alleged patent infringement.– Nampa/ReutersAlibaba cuts sales forecast China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd lowered its full-year sales forecast on Friday due to concerns about the economic impact of a US-China trade spat, which the company expects will dent revenue ahead of its top sale season.Asia's most valuable public company said it will cut its full-year revenue forecast to between 375 billion and 383 billion yuan (US$54.4 bln-US$55.6 bln), a 4-6% drop, while sales growth in its core commerce business for the September quarter slowed to its lowest rate since 2016.In a call with analysts on Friday, executives said big ticket purchases could be affected by economic uncertainty and that they will delay efforts to make more money on some aspects of its marketplaces in an effort to retain businesses on its platform.“In light of current fluid macro-economic conditions, we have recently decided not to monetise, in the near term, incremental inventory generated from growing users and engagement on our China retail marketplaces,” said Alibaba in a statement.– Nampa/ReutersSafaricom first-half revenue jumpsKenya's Safaricom Plc posted a rise of 7.7% in first-half service revenue, driven by growth in its mobile financial services and data, the telecom firm said on Friday.The company, part-owned by South Africa's Vodacom and Britain's Vodafone, said its earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) in the first half, ended September, jumped 18.7%, resulting in a 22% increase in its earnings per share.– Nmapa/Reuters

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