The Nation Newspaper

Tag: forecasts

  • GlaxoSmithKline shares up as profits beat forecasts

    GlaxoSmithKline’s shares rose  four per cent after its third-quarter results beat expectations and it pledged to return an additional £4bn to shareholders via a special share scheme.

    The UK pharmaceuticals giant reported a pre-tax profit of £548m for the three months to the end of September, sharply down from £1.4bn a year ago.

    But the results beat analyst forecasts.

    Hargreaves Lansdown’s head of equities, Richard Hunter, said the results could prove “a turning point”.

    “The drive towards containing costs is also in evidence, whilst the company anticipates significant savings as a result of the restructure. In the medium to long term, Glaxo is also predicting a potentially lucrative pipeline, which should underpin prospects,” he added.

    GlaxoSmithKline’s shares have tumbled 14 per cent over the past three months, compared with a five per cent fall for the FTSE 100 over the same period.

    The business has been rocked by allegations of bribery in China, requiring it to pay a fine of nearly $500m, as well as patent expiries.

    A downward turn in its US business, due to pricing pressure on its key asthma drug Advair, and the impact of the strong pound on overseas profits have also weighed on the shares.

    However, GSK said it was now targeting £1bn of annual cost savings over the next three years aimed at “refocusing” the business.

    It also said it would explore a possible flotation of ViiV Healthcare, a division focusing on treatment for HIV, to “enhance visibility within the group”.

    The firm also reiterated its financial outlook for the full year, saying core earnings would be “broadly similar to 2013”.

    “We have continued to make strategic choices to create value from assets held in the group and to respond to the pressures we are facing in our operating environment,” said GSK chief executive Andrew Witty.

  • China manufacturing misses forecasts

    China’s manufacturing activity missed expectations in August, indicating that the country’s economy may be losing momentum and require more stimulus.

    The official purchasing managers index (PMI) fell to 51.1 for the first time in seven months from 51.7 in July, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

    The PMI is a key gauge of the sector’s health and any reading above 50 indicates expansion.

    The data measures activity in China’s bigger factories, many of which are government-backed businesses.

    The weaker-than-expected numbers may pressure the Chinese government into increasing easing measures in order to meet its annual growth target of 7.5 per cent.

    Julian Evans-Pritchard, China Economist at Capital Economics, said the data shows “economic conditions have softened” and that a gradual slowdown is expected in the coming months.

    “Broadly speaking, today’s PMI reading suggests that downwards pressure on the economy, as a result of slowing investment in sectors with overcapacity, particularly property, is no longer being fully offset by policy support measures.”

    Meanwhile, a closely-watched private survey by banking group HSBC also showed a fall in factory activity.

    Its final PMI reading for August slipped to 50.2 from 51.7 in July, marking its lowest level in three months.

  • FAAN forecasts 9.7m passengers for MMIA by 2017

    Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) George Uriesi has taken a look at the authority’s operations, predicting what they will look like in four years.

    Passenger traffic, he said, would rise from over 9.7million and aircraft movement to over 1,138,639 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Ikeja, Lagos in four years.

    Cargo volume, he said, would rise from 170million kilogrammes to 188 million kilogrammes in 2017.

    Uriesi said passenger traffic at the Lagos airport grew from 5,117,034 in 2008 to about 7,185,669 last year while aircraft movement increased from 84,198 to about 105, 334 during the same period.

    The same trend, he said, was replicated in cargo. Freight rose from a total of 164 million kilogrammes to 170 million kilogrammes within the period.

    Lagos airport, Uriesi said, was expected to be a hub as the on-going construction of transit in facilities would have come on stream within the next five years, adding that the number of the airlines are expected to increase as a result of improved infrastructure.

    He called for a cordial relationship with stakeholders in a bid to foster industrial relationship.

    “I am glad to say that in the years under review, we have maintained healthy relations with our stakeholders while fostering positive industrial relations in MMA. Nothing will give me greater joy than the sustenance of the existing cordial relations and industrial peace,” he said, adding that effort is being made to improve working condition for enhanced productivity.

    Uriesi said the authority was yet to get the best because of several battles he had been fighting to liberate FAAN from the clutches of some selfish Nigerians who see the agency as a cash cow and want to milk it dry with different obnoxious concessions and agreements .

    He said he was satisfied with the progress being made in some of the regions, lamenting that most of his energy is wasted on what he termed, “distractions’’.

    “I don’t normally regret anything, but I do have one regret and that is that in my estimation, I am really able to give about 10 per cent of my capacity to FAAN and that is the truth,” he said, adding: “The remaining 90 per cent is distractions, and if I had the opportunity to give even 50 per cent of my capacity, a lot of things would have been different. I keep fighting to get more capacity allocated to FAAN. So, in general, whatever is happening is 10 per cent of my capacity; that is the truth,” he stressed.

    The FAAN boss explained that the regional meeting of the airport managers has remained useful and has served as a source of feed back to him. ‘’I always feel happy when am being briefed by the Regional General Managers. I get feedback from the regional meetings. You will find out that this is very useful in the near future as we begin to realise the resources of the organisation and make it more better.’’

    The Regional General Manager, South West, Edward Olarerin said the Southwest Region of the airport authority has continued to play a leading role among airport regions, especially in operations and revenue generation.

    He said it is the resolve of the region to further consolidate its leading position.

  • World Bank forecasts $20b agric earnings for Africa

    World Bank forecasts $20b agric earnings for Africa

    THE African continent would generate an extra $20 billion in yearly earnings if African leaders can agree to dismantle trade barriers that blunt more regional dynamism, the World Bank has said. It disclosed this in a report released on the eve of an African Union (AU) ministerial summit in Addis Ababa on agriculture and trade.

    In a statement, the bank said that Africa’s farmers can potentially grow enough food to feed the continent and avert future food crises if countries remove cross-border restrictions on the food trade within the region.

    The report urged African leaders to improve trade so that food can move more freely between countries and from fertile areas to those where communities are suffering food shortages. “The World Bank expects demand for food in Africa to double by the year 2020 as people increasingly leave the countryside and move to the continent’s cities,” it said.

    According to the new report, Africa Can Help Feed Africa: Removing barriers to regional trade in food staples ¯ rapid urbanisation will challenge the ability of farmers to ship their cereals and other foods to consumers when the nearest trade market is just across a national border.

    It said that countries south of the Sahara, could significantly boost their food trade over the next several years to manage the deadly impact of worsening drought, rising food prices, rapid population growth, and volatile weather patterns.

    With many African farmers effectively cut off from the high-yield seeds, and the affordable fertilizers and pesticides needed to expand their crop production, the continent has turned to foreign imports to meet its growing needs in staple foods.

    “Africa has the ability to grow and deliver good quality food to put on the dinner tables of the continent’s families. “However, this potential is not being realised because farmers face more trade barriers in getting their food to market than anywhere else in the world. Too often borders get in the way of getting food to homes and communities, which are struggling with too little to eat,” Makhtar Diop, World Bank Vice President for Africa said.

    The new report suggests that if the continent’s leaders can embrace more dynamic inter-regional trade, Africa’s farmers, the majority of whom are women, could potentially meet the continent’s rising demand and benefit from a major growth opportunity. It would also create more jobs in services such as distribution, while reducing poverty and cutting back on expensive food imports. Africa’s production of staple foods is worth at least $50 billion a year.