COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

SAA, Kenya Airways signed an agreement

South African Airways (SAA) and Kenya Airways (KQ) have signed a cooperation agreement with a long-term view to create a pan-African airline group, the two companies said on Tuesday.

"It is not a merger but a partnership that seeks to re-organise KQ and SAA assets into an ecosystem that will make the South African and Kenyan aviation sector more competitive," Kenya Airways said in a statement.

SAA said in a separate statement that the pact did not preclude either firm from pursuing commercial cooperation with other carriers and said collaborating would help contain costs.

State-owned SAA restarted domestic flights last week and this week launches a scaled-down international service to five African capitals, after its longstanding financial woes were exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

It exited administration in April thanks to another state bailout, and the government has said it will sell a 51% stake in the airline to a local consortium. -Nampa/Reuters

Mastercard launches buy now, pay later

Mastercard Inc on Tuesday launched a buy now, pay later service, tapping into a market that is threatening to chip away at the dominance of credit cards as a main source of payments.

The buy now, pay later sector got a boost during the Covid-19 pandemic as cash-strapped shoppers were attracted to the service due to the ease of making part-payments for products they bought online or at stores, without additional costs or fees.

That, in turn, has led to a surge in business at some of the biggest players in the market, including Klarna, Affirm Holdings, Afterpay Ltd and PayPal Holdings Inc, while driving a string of big takeover deals.

In August, Square Inc the payments firm of Twitter Inc co-founder Jack Dorsey bought Afterpay in a US$29 billion deal, while earlier in September, PayPal said it would acquire Japanese BNPL firm Paidy in a US$2.7 billion deal.

Mastercard said on Tuesday its Mastercard Instalments program will allow consumers to pay for online and in-store purchases through equal and interest-free instalments, adding that it will be available in markets across the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. -Nampa/Reuters

Amazon UK to hire 20 000 workers

Amazon said on Tuesday it has started recruiting for 20 000 seasonal positions across the United Kingdom to cover upcoming peak trading times, which include Christmas, joining a battle for temporary workers in a tight labour market.

The group, which has 55 000 permanent UK employees, said the temporary jobs would be in its network of fulfilment centres, sort centres and delivery stations.

Amazon UK said pay for operations roles would start at a minimum of 10 pounds (US$13.68) an hour, rising to 11.10 pounds an hour in some parts of the country - rates in line with a pay rise given to permanent employees in June.

The group is also looking for people to deliver parcels in their spare time for between 13 pounds and 15 pounds per hour.

Reuters reported on Monday that warehouses in Britain are having to pay up to 30% more to recruit staff after a chronic shortage of workers exacerbated pressure on already buckling supply chains and threatened to derail the run up to Black Friday and Christmas. -Nampa/Reuters

Stellantis criticised by unions

Two leading trade unions at Stellantis on Tuesday criticised the way the carmaker is implementing a furlough scheme aimed at mitigating the impact of a fall in output brought on by a global chip shortage.

Stellantis and other carmakers have been hit by a series of supply chain disruptions during the Covid-19 pandemic, including chips which are key components in car manufacturing. Stellantis extended production halts at several European plants in late August.

The French furlough deal, agreed by four unions at Stellantis, enables the company to reduce the number of hours worked by staff affected by the chip shortage. The state reimburses the company for a portion of the lost hours, allowing workers to receive most of their salary on the condition they are re-trained and not laid off.

After a regular monthly meeting with management on Tuesday union representatives said too many staff were being put on the furlough scheme.

Anh-Quan Nguyen, a representative of white-collar union CFE-CGC union, said his union was concerned that France's relatively generous furlough terms meant a disproportionate number of workers were being put on partial leave compared with other Stellantis operations outside France. -Nampa/Reuters

Netflix rolls out mobile games

Netflix on Tuesday rolled out five mobile gaming titles to its subscribers in select European markets, as part of its efforts to diversify revenue sources amid intensifying competition in the booming video-streaming space.

The company has introduced "Stranger Things: 1984", "Stranger Things 3: The Game", "Card Blast", "Teeter Up" and "Shooting Hoops" titles on Android to Netflix members in Spain and Italy. Poland, where the "Stranger Things" titles are already available, will get the other three titles.

"We're still in the very early days, but we're excited to bring these exclusive games as part of the Netflix membership - with no ads and no in-app purchases," a company spokesperson told Reuters.

Netflix had mentioned its plans to enter gaming during its last quarterly earnings, as newer players including Disney+ and HBO Max have been rapidly gaining subscribers, intensifying competition in the streaming landscape.

"We view gaming as another new content category for us, similar to our expansion into original films, animation and unscripted TV," the company said in its shareholder letter. -Nampa/Reuters