Company news in brief

Govt opposes liquidation of SAA

South Africa does not want a fire sale of the assets of troubled national airline SAA nor for the carrier to be liquidated, public enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Wednesday.

Gordhan told a parliamentary committee that the government was in talks with rescue specialists in charge of state-owned South African Airways (SAA) on how best to save the airline, which entered a form of bankruptcy protection in December.

Gordhan reiterated that the government wanted to see SAA restructured into a new airline.

"We also want to indicate that there should be no fire sale of important assets of SAA, nor should there any movement towards liquidation when in fact there are many alternatives that can be pursued," Gordhan said.

Two trade unions are seeking court action to try to block layoffs at SAA. The matter was expected to be heard yesterday. – Nampa/Reuters

Uber lays off hundreds in Egypt

Uber Technologies Inc laid off hundreds of office-based staff in Egypt on Wednesday as the ride-hailing firm made wider cuts amid the fallout from the new coronavirus, one current and two former employees said.

The former employees, both of whom lost their jobs on Wednesday, and one employee who retained her post, said they had been told that about 40% of staff in Uber's Egypt offices had been laid off.

That was out of a total headcount of 650-700, they said.

It came as Uber announced it would cut about 3 700 full-time jobs globally, affecting 17% of its employee count.

An Uber spokesman declined to share details of the layoffs in Egypt but said a total of 46 countries had been affected by the changes. – Nampa/Reuters

Gold price boosts Barrick profit

Barrick Gold Corp reported a nearly 55% rise in quarterly profit on Wednesday as gold prices surged, bolstering its ability to snap up mines including in copper, its chief executive said.

Investors' anxiety about a global economy brought to its knees by the coronavirus pandemic has boosted "safe-haven" gold by 12% so far this year, while copper, seen as a bellwether for economic growth, is down about 15%.

Barrick CEO Mark Bristow has previously said the world's No. 2 gold miner aims to increase its exposure to copper because of its expected higher use in electrification. He added on Wednesday the relative price performance between copper and gold made deals more attractive.

Barrick's first quarter production fell 9% to 1.25 million ounces. Excluding one-off items, Barrick reported a profit of 16 US cents per share, in line with analyst estimates.

Bristow maintained 2020 capital expenditure guidance, but said spending could come in towards the bottom of the US$1.6 billion to US$1.9 billion range. – Nampa/Reuters

General Motors profits dive

General Motors said Wednesday it aims to reopen most US and Canadian manufacturing operations on May 18 as it reported a steep drop in first-quarter earnings due to the coronavirus.

The US auto giant reported that first-quarter earnings plunged 86% to US$294 million on lower car sales, especially in China, where the coronavirus raged for much of the quarter.

Revenues fell 6.2 percent to US$32.7 billion. Both earnings-per-share and sales topped analyst expectations.

Car sales also declined in the United States, although the impact was mitigated by gains in GM's full-size pickups.

The company, which in April suspended its dividend, ended the quarter with US$33.4 billion in liquidity. – Nampa/Reuters

Lufthansa to pay no dividend

Lufthansa shareholders on Tuesday agreed to not distribute 298 million euro ($323 million) in retained profits as a dividend for 2019, as the airline enters the final stretch of negotiations for a 10 billion euro bailout.

Lufthansa needs to be rescued after coronavirus travel bans forced the German group to ground 700 of its aircraft, leading to a 99% drop in passenger numbers and causing the group to lose about 1 million euro in liquidity reserves per hour.

The carrier, which is preparing to restart passenger flights slowly from June, is currently in talks with the German, Austrian, Swiss and Belgian authorities about a roughly 10 billion euro bailout. Chief executive Carsten Spohr said that he expected to clinch a deal with Germany shortly.

Lufthansa's rescue deal is expected to give Germany a 25.1% stake in the airline as well as supervisory board representation, people close to the matter said.

Separately, Lufthansa is expected to receive about 5 billion euro in non-voting capital as well as roughly 3 billion in state-backed loans, they added. – Nampa/Reuters