Hewlett-Packard Breaks Into Two Units to Stay Competitive

 

Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) is splitting into two companies, using a breakup to become nimbler after failing to keep up with the shift away from the printing and personal-computing businesses it pioneered.

Chief Executive Officer, Meg Whitman, will lead Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, a new company focusing on corporate hardware and services, while Dion Weisler, the vice president in charge of personal-computer and printer operations, will become CEO of that business, called HP Inc., Hewlett-Packard said in a statement today.

Whitman is reversing an earlier position that the company should remain a single enterprise. When she took the helm in September 2011, as the fourth CEO in 2 1/2 years, she ended plans by her predecessor to spin off the PC unit. Hewlett-Packard, which had set the pace in computers for decades, had embarked on a rapid expansion plan through acquisitions -- some of them controversial.

U.S. Stocks Decline as Small-Cap Shares Resume Selloff

U.S. stocks fell, following a second straight weekly decline for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as small-cap shares resumed a selloff to overshadow corporate deals.

The S&P 500 fell 0.3 percent to 1,962.43 at 11:46 a.m. in New York, erasing a 0.5 percent gain after failing to top its average price for the past 50 days. The Russell 2000 Index of small companies dropped 0.9 percent. Trading in S&P 500 stocks was in line with the 30-day average at this time of day.

The S&P 500 (SPX) climbed 1.1 percent on Oct. 3, paring a weekly decline, after data showed the U.S. jobless rate declined to a six-year low and employers hired more workers than economists had estimated. The dollar strengthened last week to a four-year high before weakening today.

N213bn bailout: More banks ready to join power sector financing

As the power sector investors await the disbursement of the N213 billion interventionist fund announced by the Federal Government last month, amidst the strident call for offshore investment in the Nigerian power sector, there are indications that more local banks are warming up to finance the sector.

The anticipated increase in the appetite of local banks in the power sector was coming at a period when market watchers feared that the burden of funding in the sector was weighing heavily on the participating banks. They therefore stressed the need to attract offshore banks into the Nigerian power sector.

Reports showed that the latest intervention of the Federal Government is making some banks which had hitherto developed cold feet in power sector financing to go back to their drawing boards on how to strike funding deals with the various power sector firms.

Confirming this development, Executive Director Commercial Banking, Access Bank Plc, Mr. Roosevelt Ogbonna, said although Access Bank did not participate in the power sector funding at the initial stage, it makes business sense to participate in the sector financing now.
He explained that the bank did not join the league of banks that funded power sector in the past because it did not really understand the arrangement in place then.

However, there are other bank chiefs who felt it is still too early for more banks to join the financing of power sector in view of the poor performance of power sector loans in banks.

One of such bank chiefs is the Managing Director of Guaranty Trust Bank, Mr. Segun Agbaje, who said that he didn’t think time is ripe to expect a rising appetite of banks in power sector.

Total banking loans to the power sector in 2013 was about $1.3billion for Discos and $1.7billion for Gencos. Additionally, it is expected that $5.8billion would be the loan figure for full year 2014 to the power sector.

For instance, United Bank for Africa Plc granted $700 million in loans to several investors, including Transnational, which got $215 million to buy Ughelli Power, the country’s second-biggest gas-fuelled plant with capacity for 900 megawatts.

FAAC allocates N1.17tn to SURE-P

The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee allocated a total sum of N1.17trn to federal and state governments for the implementation of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme between January 2012 and September 2014.

Reports shows that on a monthly basis, N35.549bn was deducted from the gross collectible revenue by FAAC and paid into the SURE-P account domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

SURE-P was set up in January 2012 to pacify angry Nigerians in the wake of the partial removal of subsidy on local consumption of petroleum products.

The sharing formula required the Federal Government to warehouse 41 per cent of the subsidy savings; the state and local governments shared 54 per cent, while the remaining five per cent is reserved for ecological challenges.

Of the N35.55bn distributed monthly, the Federal Government is allocated N15bn indicating a total amount of N495bn for the 33-month period, while the states, local government and ecological fund got the balance of N675bn.

An analysis of the intervention areas of the SURE-P showed that in 2012, N33.36bn representing 18.53 per cent was budgeted for railway projects while N85.50bn was allocated for the construction of roads and bridges.

Others are Niger Delta, N21.70bn; maternal and child health intervention, N15.94bn; mass transit, N8.9bn; public works, N5bn; vocational training, N8.6bn and consultancy and logistics, N1bn.


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IMF sees Rwanda inflation at 3.2 percent at end-2014

 

Rwanda's inflation rate is expected to stand at 3.2 percent at the end of this year, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday, urging the government to reduce the costs of energy and transport to facilitate growth.

General inflation, both rural and urban, stood at 3.3 percent in August, official data showed.

Paulo Drummond, the deputy division chief in the African Department of the IMF, said the economy was expected to expand by 6 percent this year, in line with the government's forecast.


He said costs of electricity, labour, transport and finance were holding back businesses while access to finance was also a problem.

Business people agreed with the IMF's assessment on the cost of doing business in the country.

Ivorian cocoa arrivals seen at 15,000 T by October 5: exporters

Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast reached around 15,000 tonnes by Oct. 5 since the start of the season on Oct. 1, about the same as the first week of the previous season, exporters estimated on Monday.

Ivory Coast harvested a record 1,740,842 tonnes of beans in the 2013/14 season, which ended last week.

Angola seen growing average 5 percent - Central Bank

Angola's Central Bank says it economy should grow at an annual average rate of 5 percent over the next four years, boosted by the increasing participation of the private sector.

The International Monetary Fund said this month that growth was likely to slow to 3.9 percent in 2014 from an estimated 6.8 percent last year, with strong agricultural production offsetting a drop in oil output.

It said that for that to happen, it was key that the financial sector becomes more competitive.

Angola's economy has grown sharply in recent years, boosted by growing oil production. Between 2010 and 2012 the oil sector represented about 45.2 percent of gross domestic product.