Company news in brief

Lufthansa cancels 23 000 flights in April

German airline Lufthansa said Wednesday it would cancel 23 000 flights across the group, a 50% reduction, as it tries to deal with the fallout from the coronavirus crisis.

"Due to the exceptional circumstances caused by the spread of the virus," Lufthansa said it would scrap 23 000 flights between March 29 and April 24, with more "expected in the coming weeks".

Up to now, Lufthansa had detailed 7 100 cancellations up to the end of its winter flight plan on March 28.

Last Friday the Frankfurt-based group, whose brands include Eurowings, Austrian Airlines and Swiss, reported "drastic declines in bookings and numerous flight cancellations", saying it would slash capacity by 50% in the weeks ahead.

Coronavirus disruption has cost Lufthansa around one-third of its share price since late February. – Nampa/AFP

Rio Tinto to pay ex-CEO's deferred bonus

Rio Tinto Ltd will pay out part of a delayed bonus to former chief executive Sam Walsh after a dispute resolution process found that the payments should not be held up, both parties said yesterday.

Rio Tinto's board and Walsh agreed to defer incentive payments from Walsh's time as chief executive in 2017 while regulators in the United Kingdom investigated payments to a consultant in relation to a Rio iron ore project in Guinea when Walsh was the head of Rio's iron ore group.

Walsh said Rio will pay him A$6.8 million (US$4.40 million) related to a portion of his long- and short-term incentive awards, plus interest. Two more payments are still to be made, one in December 2020 and another in May 2021.

The payments scandal related to US$10.5 million in payments to a consultant linked to the Simandou iron ore project in West Africa when Walsh headed the iron ore division in 2011.

Rio became aware of emails relating to the payments and self reported to regulators in 2016 after which the UK's Serious Fraud Office opened up an investigation. – Nampa/Reuters

KCB Group's full year pretax profit rises

Kenya's top lender by assets KCB Group said yesterday its pretax profit for 2019 jumped 7.5% to 36.73 billion shillings (US$358.69 million).

Kenyan bank shares surged late last year after the government removed a cap on lending rates which had been imposed in 2016 to lower costs of credit. KCB says it expects robust lending growth this year due to the removal.

Earnings per share at the group, which also operates in neighbouring Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan, increased to 8.11 shillings during the period, from 7.83 shillings a year earlier.

Total dividend per share was 3.50 shillings, unchanged from the previous year, KCB said. – Nampa/Reuters

Lukoil calls for cooperation over virus impact

Russia's second-largest oil company Lukoil urged crude producing countries on Wednesday to continue cooperating to tackle the impact of the coronavirus on the energy market.

Lukoil head Vagit Alekperov also told investors on a conference call that he expected a meeting this month of a panel of experts from OPEC and non-OPEC nations to make a proposal to stabilise the oil market, which has been roiled by the collapse of a pact between OPEC, Russia and others on limiting supplies.

Lukoil has been one of the staunchest supporters of Russia's cooperation with OPEC.

Alekperov said Lukoil was better prepared for cheaper oil than it was five years ago when the oil market was rattled by overproduction and other factors that sent prices tumbling.

He joined a meeting between Russia's energy minister and representatives from other Russian oil producers yesterday. – Nampa/Reuters

Tullow Oil shares at highest in over a year

Short positions on Tullow Oil shares hit a more than 15-month high on Monday, data from industry tracker FIS' Astec Analytics showed, in a sign of investors growing pessimism over the company's prospects ahead of its 2019 results yesterday.

Shares in Tullow have nosedived around 92% in the past six months on the back of weak output in Ghana, delays in East Africa, lower-than-hoped-for oil quality in Guyana and a dry well in Peru.

Short positions involve investors borrowing stock to bet the price will fall.

Tullow is cutting around a third of its workforce, seeking to sell stakes in some of its assets and hunting for a new chief executive.

Its shares, like those of other exploration and production-focused companies such as Premier Oil, have come under further pressure since Monday's oil price slump, the worst since 1991. – Nampa/Reuters

Intu flags going concern doubt

British mall operator Intu Properties flagged doubts over its ability to continue operations yesterday as it reported a 2 billion pound loss for 2019, while saying it expects falls in rental income to slow this year.

The owner of Manchester's Trafford Centre and the Lakeside complex in Essex said it lost 2.02 billion pounds in the 12 months to the end of December, almost double a 1.17 billion pound loss in 2018 as it suffered from the collapse of a number of major UK chains.

The company last week said it was at risk of breaching debt commitments in July after failing to gain the support of investors for its plan to raise more than a billion pounds in extra funding.

The London-listed company, which owns 20 properties in Britain and Spain, said yesterday fixing its balance sheet was its "top priority" in the short term. It reported net debt of 4.69 billion pounds, and a debt to asset ratio of 67.8%, up from 53.1% in 2018.

To shore up its balance sheet, Intu axed its dividend last year and in the past few months has sold two properties in Spain and one in Northern Ireland. – Nampa/Reuters