Company news in brief

HSBC to cut thousands of jobs

HSBC Holdings Plc is planning to cut up to 10 000 jobs as interim chief executive officer Noel Quinn seeks to reduce costs across the banking group, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

The plan represents the lender's most ambitious attempt in years to cut costs, the newspaper said, citing two people briefed on the matter. It said the cuts will focus mainly on high-paid roles.

HSBC could announce the beginning of the latest cost-cutting drive and job cuts when it reports third-quarter results later this month, the FT said, citing one person briefed on the matter.

Quinn became interim CEO in August after the bank announced the surprise departure of John Flint, saying it needed a change at the top to address "a challenging global environment."

The reported job cuts come after the lender said it would be laying off about 4 000 people this year, and issued a gloomier business outlook with an escalation of a trade war between China and the United States, an easing monetary policy cycle, unrest in its key Hong Kong market and Brexit. – Nampa/Reuters

Final Thomas Cook holiday-makers fly home

The final contingent of holiday-makers stranded overseas after the collapse of tour company Thomas Cook last month returned to Britain on flights departing on Sunday, bringing to an end the country's biggest ever peacetime repatriation.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) launched "Operation Matterhorn" on 23 September to bring home 150 000 people, just hours after the world's oldest travel company failed to secure the creditor deal it needed to keep flying.

The CAA said 4 800 people were due to return on 24 flights on Sunday, with the final flight in the operation - a service from Orlando, Florida to Manchester - due to land yesterday morning.

CAA chief executive Richard Moriarty said: "In the first 13 days we have made arrangements for around 140 000 passengers to return to the UK and we are pleased that 94% of holiday-makers have arrived home on the day of their original departure."

British transport minister Grant Shapps has said the government will try to recoup some of the costs of the repatriation, both from third parties such as insurers and from the failed company's assets. – Nampa/Reuters

Volvo, Geely to merge some operations

Volvo Cars will merge its engine development and manufacturing assets with those of parent Geely, creating a division to supply in-house brands Lotus, LEVC, Lynk and Proton, and also potential rivals with next-generation combustion and hybrid engines.

It marks the latest example of consolidation in the engine manufacturing sector as tighter emissions rules hike development costs at a time when the expansion of electric cars calls into question the long-term demand for gas guzzlers.

Rival Volkswagen, which is in the midst of ramping up mass production of electric cars, has already warned its in-house suppliers to create structures to consolidate combustion engine assets.

Volvo currently builds 600 000 combustion engines, a number that rises to about 2 million when combined with Geely's assets, allowing for savings on components and development costs, Volvo chief executive Hakan Samuelsson told Reuters.

That will allow the Gothenburg, Sweden-based brand to more sharply focus its resources on building and developing a range of entirely electrified premium cars. – Nampa/Reuters

GM strike negotiations heat up

Negotiations to resolve a three-week-old strike at General Motors for better pay, benefits and job security have taken "a turn for the worse," a top negotiator with the United Autoworkers Union said Sunday.

"After making some progress on important issues a couple days ago, the company has shown an unwillingness to fairly compensate the great workforce of the UAW," union vice president Terry Dittes said in a statement.

Nearly 50 000 GM workers walked off the job in mid-September, launching the biggest labour dispute to hit the automaker in more than a decade.

The strike has shut down GM production in the United States, impacting its operations in Canada and Mexico where thousands of workers have been temporarily laid off. GM produces the Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC brands.

Besides better pay and benefits, the union wants GM to reactivate four factories shut down in November 2018. For its part, GM says it has proposed more than US$7 billion in new investments in US facilities, 5 400 new jobs and higher salaries.

Experts say the strike could cost the company as much as US$100 million a day. – Nampa/AFP

IKEA to face order over Dutch back taxes

IKEA brand owner Inter IKEA could be ordered to pay millions of euro in Dutch back taxes by the end of the year, two people familiar with the matter said, as EU competition enforcers push on with their crackdown against unfair tax deals granted to multinationals.

The European Commission is now racing to wrap up the two-year investigation into the brand owner of IKEA, known for its giant out-of-town budget furniture stores, but the timing may still slip as it weighs the scope of the case, the people said.

The EU executive declined to comment.

Launched in 2017, the EU's investigation focuses on Inter IKEA Systems in the Netherlands, which operates IKEA's franchise business and records all revenue from its franchise fees worldwide collected from IKEA shops.

The spotlight is on two tax rulings granted by the Dutch tax authorities in 2006 and 2011, which the European Commission said have significantly reduced Inter IKEA Systems' taxable profits in the Netherlands and given it an unfair advantage. – Nampa/Reuters