Company news in brief

Glencore reverses plan to shutter minesGlencore has told the Zambian government that it wants to keep operating its Zambian copper mining subsidiary Mopani Copper Mines (MCM), not shutter the operations, mines ministry permanent secretary Barnaby Mulenga said on Sunday.Glencore's decision to put MCM under "care and maintenance" sparked a backlash from Zambia's government, which threatened to revoke the firm's mining licences because it said Glencore did not give enough notice before suspending the mines."The government wants to see a win-win situation and respects investors but we need to protect the interests of Zambians," Mulenga told Reuters in a telephone interview.Zambia's ministers of mines, finance, home affairs, and labour, held a video conference with Glencore yesterday to discuss the issue, Mulenga said. "We expect to make a lot of progress in this meeting," he added.MCM, which produced 119 000 tonnes of copper in 2018, is 73.1% owned by Glencore, 16.9% by First Quantum Minerals and 10% by Zambia's mining investment arm ZCCM-IH. – Nampa/ReutersSafaricom forecasts coronavirus hitKenya's Safaricom expects a 5.5 billion shilling (US$51.64 million) hit to its revenue from M-Pesa in the three months from mid-march after it adjusted prices because of the coronavirus crisis, its chief executive told Reuters.The foregone revenue, equating to 7.3% of the mobile money platform's annual earnings, will be caused by the removal of all charges on small peer-to-peer transfers to facilitate cashless payments to help to contain the coronavirus pandemic.The company, which is part owned by South Africa's Vodacom and Britain's Vodafone, is not worried by the projection, said CEO Peter Ndegwa, who took the helm on April 1."When Kenya gets back on track, our business should get back on track," he told Reuters.Under an initial 90-day deal with the government, all charges for cash transfers of less than 1 000 shillings (US$9.39) have been removed by all operators. – Nampa/ReutersAlibaba to invest billions in cloud servicesAlibaba Group Holding Ltd said it will invest 200 billion yuan (US$28 billion) in its cloud infrastructure over three years - a plan that follows a boom in demand for business software as the coronavirus outbreak peaked in China.The company said in a statement it will spend the funds on semiconductor and operating system development as well as building out its data centre infrastructure.While most of China's white collar employees were working from home throughout February, the country's dominant cloud player saw usage surge for its software, most notably DingTalk, a workplace chat app used by both businesses and schools.Alibaba's cloud division is one of its fastest growing businesses. Fourth-quarter revenue climbed 62% to 10.7 billion yuan, the first time it has topped 10 billion yuan in a single quarter.The tech giant commanded 46.4% of China's cloud market in the fourth quarter, according to research firm Canalys. Tencent Cloud and Baidu Cloud, which have also seen demand for their products surge, had 18% and 8.8% of the market respectively. – Nampa/ReutersAston Martin to focus on SUV launchAston Martin's immediate priorities will be restarting manufacturing and launching production of its crucial first sport utility vehicle, its new boss, Canadian businessman and Formula 1 team owner Lawrence Stroll, said yesterday."In the midst of the most challenging environment, globally, that any of us have ever experienced, all of my and the management team's energies will now be dedicated to building on the inherent strengths of the Company," Stroll, now the company's executive chairman, said in a statement. – Nampa/ReutersPremier Foods sees profit from stockpilingPremier Foods said yesterday it expects annual trading profit to be at the top end of market expectations, as the coronavirus pandemic fuelled a short-term peak in volumes in March.The Mr Kipling cakes maker also said it had agreed to a segregated merger of its pensions schemes that will save it 4 million pounds annually from fiscal year 2020 and also provide "greater funding certainty" for its pension schemes members. – Nampa/ReutersPhilips drops 2020 outlookDutch health technology company Philips yesterday dropped its outlook for the rest of the year, as the global coronavirus outbreak took a large bite out of its first-quarter earnings while the second quarter was set to be even worse.Philips said earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation (EBITA) dropped 33% from a year earlier in the first quarter to 244 million euro (US$265 million), while comparable sales declined 2% to 4.15 billion euros.The novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 has increased global demand for Philips' ventilators, scanners and other hospital equipment.But that has been more than offset by a steep decline in demand for personal health products, such as toothbrushes and shavers, as lockdowns spread from China through Asia to Europe and the United States - gradually increasing the impact of the pandemic throughout the first quarter.The company had previously guided for a 4% to 6% increase in comparable sales and a 100 basis-point improvement in its profit margin this year. – Nampa/Reuters

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