Globaldata Share Discussion Threads

[littleredrooster] 27/6/2019 14:00

it has never been forced by a court to pay fines for stealing secrets

That's not quite the same as being innocent.



"Huawei Hits Back at Claims It Steals Secrets

Chinese technology giant Huawei defended itself against allegations that it violates other companies' intellectual-property rights, saying it has never been forced by a court to pay fines for stealing secrets."

[littleredrooster] 24/6/2019 21:05

$100bn European listing and the wrong envelopes were dispatched to shareholders.



South Africa’s Naspers postpones planned $100bn European listing

Administrative error forces group to delay Dutch move until September

Joseph Cotterill in Johannesburg June 21, 2019

South Africa’s Naspers delayed its planned $100bn European listing of global internet assets, which includes a large stake in China’s Tencent, after the wrong envelopes were dispatched to shareholders.

Johannesburg-listed Naspers said on Friday that it would postpone listing what is likely to be Europe’s biggest consumer internet group until September, following the administrative error by an external service provider.

The listing on the Euronext Amsterdam, a landmark in the rise of Africa’s most valuable listed company as a global investor, was originally scheduled for July 17.

Naspers, which also announced results for the year ending in March on Friday, said that the outside company mixed up names and addresses on circulars sent to shareholders ahead of a meeting this month to consider the listing.

“This could in some cases lead to confusion” and the company has delayed the meeting to August “so as to allow all shareholders equal opportunity to fully consider the circular and resolution,” Naspers said.

The listing is aimed at reducing a significant discount in Naspers’ share price that is being driven by the sheer size of its investment in Tencent, which it has held since 2001.

The company’s 31 per cent stake in the Chinese gaming giant — of which it sold a portion last year — has pushed its value to about a quarter of the Johannesburg stock market. South African investors have been forced to sell the stock to cut down on concentration risk as a result.

Naspers plans to retain about 75 per cent of the vehicle, which has been named Prosus, the company said on Friday. It will also include assets such as Russia’s mail.ru and India’s Swiggy as well as internet classifieds.

The free float of about 25 per cent will be offered to shareholders and is also likely to be snapped up by European investors as the company will enter major stock indices. Prosus will have a secondary listing in Johannesburg.

Naspers increased trading profits by 10 per cent to $3.3bn during the 12 months ending in March, a year in which it spun off its African pay-TV arm, MultiChoice, in Johannesburg.

“Naspers enters the 2020 financial year as a fundamentally different group, with virtually all revenues now generated from online activities, and is well positioned as a global consumer internet group,” the company said.

The group invested more than $3bn during the period as it expanded segments including classifieds, food delivery and payments.

Naspers reported $6.3bn in cash after it reduced its Tencent stake for the first time ever last year, and sold a stake in India’s Flipkart.

[littleredrooster] 19/6/2019 14:22

Such risks made Apple management nervious that the risks of placing all its eggs in the same basket were too great and rising

Makes sense to me.



Apple allegedly urges suppliers to move output from China

Caoimhe Toman

19 Jun, 2019

Apple has asked its largest suppliers to consider the cost implications of shifting between 15-30% of their output from China to Southeast Asia, the Nikkei Asian Review reported on Wednesday.

Suppliers urged to consider the costs involved in such a move included Foxconn Technology, Pegatron, Wistron, Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics, Inventec, Luxshare and GoerTek.

Not only was China the manufacturing hub for lion' share of its production, it was also Apple's largest overseas market.

But Trump’s threats to levy tariffs on another $300bn-worth of Chinese goods risked escalating tensions with Beijing and possible reprisals against Apple products. Such risks made Apple management nervious that the risks of placing all its eggs in the same basket were too great and rising.

Hence, even if the trade row with Washington was resolved, Apple was intending to carry through with its plans, several people reportedly told Nikkei.

Among the alternative host countries being considered were Mexico, India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia, with India and Vietnam the favourites to host future smartphone production, said the Nikkei.

[littleredrooster] 17/6/2019 21:40

Well, this is also nice.

Jun 17 16:30

Globaldata PLC

Share price change +60.00p

% change 8.60%

Share price 760p

Market Cap £777.0m

[littleredrooster] 14/6/2019 20:36

Well, that's nice.

7 hours ago

Globaldata hit an upwards 5 year price breakout.

[littleredrooster] 31/5/2019 00:14

the UK's freedom to negotiate its own trade deals, including with Washington, is a key positive aspect of seeking a divorce from the EU

Well, the US is the world's biggest economy.



Trump wants deal with UK post-Brexit

29 May, 2019 16:07

US President Donald Trump wants to strike a trade deal with the UK post-Brexit his ambassador to London, Woody Johnson said on Wednesday.

“It’s foremost in the president’s mind and he would get it done as quickly as possible,” Johnson told BBC Radio 5 Live on Wednesday. “It would be front of the line for the U.K.”

“A comprehensive free-trade deal between our countries would be a huge positive for both the US and the U.K.,” Johnson said.

More information on the subject could come from President Trump’s state visit to the UK next week, just days before Theresa May is set to step down as Prime Minister on 7 June.

The comments come at a time when the UK government is in chaos following the announcement of her resignation last week. Tories are working to appoint a new leader.

It is expected that the new leader will take a harder stance on Brexit. According to those who have defended Brexit, the UK's freedom to negotiate its own trade deals, including with Washington, is a key positive aspect of seeking a divorce from the EU.

[littleredrooster] 23/5/2019 12:12

It brings in to question whether Huawei can survive as a handset maker



Huawei's Android license has been revoked; here's what Huawei has to say about it

tech2 News Staff

May 23, 2019 16:13:10 IST

Google announced that they will be suspending all business interactions with smartphone manufacturer Huawei. This meant Google won’t be conducting any kind of business involving hardware or software with Huawei, apart from the components covered by open source licenses.

While Google already clarified earlier that services like Google Play and Google Play Protect will continue working on existing Huawei devices, it was still unclear how Huawei was handling the situation. As reported by Android Central, Huawei has released a statement on the same.

The company says that it will continue providing security updates and after-sales services to existing Huawei and Honor smartphone and tablet products. It will cover all the products that are currently being sold as well. However, whether it will be receiving security patches and updates after Android Q in the future is still unclear.

Huawei also confirmed that the trade blacklist isn’t going to affect the launch of its upcoming Honor 20 Series smartphones, which are scheduled for 21 May (tomorrow).

Here’s Huawei’s full statement:

"Huawei has made substantial contributions to the development and growth of Android around the world. As one of Android's key global partners, we have worked closely with their open-source platform to develop an ecosystem that has benefitted both users and the industry.

Huawei will continue to provide security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphone and tablet products, covering those that have been sold and that are still in stock globally.

We will continue to build a safe and sustainable software ecosystem, in order to provide the best experience for all users globally.

Plus, nothing has changed for HONOR. We will be having our exciting launch event tomorrow in London for HONOR 20 Series."



"Huawei has been working on its own operating system for some time, so it was ready for this eventuality, but by forcing them to use it, the US could well be creating an all-new rival to iOS and Android that could prove more popular in Asian markets.

Meanwhile, the decision will cause havoc for the millions of existing Huawei and Honor handset owners. Google has said that it will continue to supply security updates to these devices, which will continue to work, but are now unlikely to receive updates to Android Q - making them instantly less attractive to potential buyers.

New devices from Huawei/Honor will be required to use only the open source (AOSP) version of Android, which means no Google Play Services, no Play Store, no YouTube, no Google Pay - in fact, most of the killer features of Android will disappear.

It brings in to question whether Huawei can survive as a handset maker, despite threatening to become the biggest in the world in the coming few years, with two best-in-class handset releases last year and the well-received P30 range introduced only last month."

[mw8156] 22/5/2019 15:07

this seems on a cursory glance very expensive and an acquisition driven company operating in competitive markets eg analysing global pharamaceutical developments up against evaluate there, I guess, but Amati has bought in so must see some potential, wonder if anyone can put the bull case eg size and scale to be weighed against the negatives, loads of intangibles, an inevitable LTIP and need to dish out options to keep the staff.

[littleredrooster] 07/5/2019 16:15

NASA fingers the cause of two bungled satellite launches, $700m in losses, years of science crashing and burning...

Aluminium manufacturer accused of running 19-year supply quality scam

By Iain Thomson in San Francisco 3 May 2019 at 05:56

Scientists at NASA have accused one of their metal suppliers of lying about the strength of its aluminium in a 19-year scam that caused $700m in satellites and other parts to go up in smoke.

The space agency eggheads pointed the finger of blame at the aluminium manufacturer after probing two failed science missions: the February 24, 2009 fruitless launch of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, and the March 4, 2011 doomed launch of the Glory satellite, designed for monitoring atmospheric pollutants.

In both cases, the rocket fairing, which is the nose cone protecting the satellite payload, failed to separate after liftoff. As a result, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) plunged into the ocean off the Antarctic, and Glory swiftly crashed into the Pacific, after their rockets fell back to Earth, the satellites still attached.

The blunders were traced back to the fairing release mechanism, and specifically the aluminium (or aluminum in Freedom Language) used in this component. It was supplied by Sapa Profiles Inc, of Oregon, USA, now renamed Hydro Extrusion Portland, Inc. NASA's boffins said the metals used were not up to specification, and called in the Feds.

Subsequent checks appeared to show that Sapa had been falsifying its materials testing reports for profit. The metal was supposed to have a particular tensile strength, however, company employees fudged the tests to increase profit margins, investigators said.

“NASA relies on the integrity of our industry throughout the supply chain,” said Jim Norman, NASA’s director for Launch Services, earlier this week.

"While we do perform our own testing, NASA is not able to retest every single component. That is why we require and pay for certain components to be tested and certified by the supplier.

"When testing results are altered and certifications are provided falsely, missions fail. In our case, the Taurus XLs that failed for the OCO and Glory missions resulted in the loss of more than $700 million, and years of people’s scientific work. It is critical that we are able to trust our industry to produce, test and certify materials in accordance with the standards we require. In this case, our trust was severely violated."

The Feds said they uncovered thousands of falsified records relating to the breaking point of Sapa's metal. And it wasn't just NASA that got stiffed, we're told: the same plant supplied the US military and hundreds of other customers in America and around the world.

The blame was specifically pinned on Dennis Balius, Sapa's testing lab supervisor. Prosecutors said he forced lab technicians to falsify testing results, recertify failed parts, and violate testing standards by speeding up examinations and using incorrect parts. He pleaded guilty to charges of fraud in July 2017, and was sentenced to three years in the cooler, and forced to pay over $170,000 in restitution.

In an out-of-court settlement, the company formerly known as Sapa agreed to pay $31.4m in restitution to NASA and the US military, and forfeit $1.8m in "ill-gotten gains," as the Dept of Justice put it. That ended a criminal fraud case against the biz.

To settle a related civil case, in which the manufacturer was accused of breaking the False Claims Act, the company agreed to pay $6m to NASA and $5m to the US Department of Defense’s Missile Defense Agency. It is also barred from selling to US government agencies in the future.

“Our partners at NASA and in the military – as well as hundreds of private businesses – put their faith in the integrity of this supplier and the structural integrity of its products,” said Special Agent in Charge Loren ‘Renn’ Cannon of the FBI’s Portland Field Office. “For almost two decades, this company’s greed violated that trust."

158 comments

[littleredrooster] 26/4/2019 15:09

Final dividend paid today (equivalent of 40% of my initial investment).

[littleredrooster] 16/4/2019 14:49

Oops!



SpaceX rocket falls overboard

By Chris Forrester

April 16, 2019

SpaceX lost a core rocket on April 15th. The rocket fell overboard from its floating drone barge in rough Atlantic seas off Florida.

The rocket had formed the central portion of a 3-rocket assembly which launched Arabsat 6A last week, and had landed on the barge in a textbook operation.

The two side boosters, themselves in essence complete Falcon 9 booster stages, were successfully landed just a few minutes after lift-off from Cape Canaveral.

However, the barge was waiting for the main rocket a few hundred miles down range and suffered extremely bad weather in the days following the lift-off.

SpaceX, in a statement said, “Over the weekend, due to rough sea conditions, SpaceX’s recovery team was unable to secure the center core booster for its return trip to Port Canaveral. As conditions worsened with eight-to ten-foot swells, the booster began to shift and ultimately was unable to remain upright. While we had hoped to bring the booster back intact, the safety of our team always takes precedence. We do not expect future missions to be impacted.”

[littleredrooster] 06/3/2019 08:49

Europeans double UK investment since Brexit vote

By Tim Wallace

3 March 2019 • 7:00pm

"European investors are taking major bets on the UK economy, more than doubling investment in Britain over the past three years.

Uncertainty around Brexit has not stopped companies on the continent from embarking on a major deal spree in the UK, indicating faith in the economy’s long-term prospects among foreign money managers.

Buyers in the EU have snapped up 553 UK assets through mergers and acquisitions and private placements in the past year, according to S&P Capital IQ data.

Purchases of companies, property and stakes in fast-growing firms totalled $31.1bn over the past 12 months."

[littleredrooster] 25/2/2019 19:30

Yes, I'm looking forward to the dividend appearing in my bank account.

"the Board is pleased to announce a final dividend of 7.5 pence per share (2017: 5.0 pence)"

[anusol] 25/2/2019 12:35

This share continues to be one of the most reliable and steady in my portfolio. Nice results and great Divi increase.