Business

EDINBURGH — Scottish seafood exporters said on Friday they were facing a "perfect storm" from post-Brexit red tape and coronavirus restrictions, which could threaten the future of the industry.

Donna Fordyce, chief executive of Seafood Scotland, said companies had faced a "real challenge" with new customs checks and paperwork, on top of curbs to stop the spread of the virus.

"It's all Brexit-related," she told BBC radio, complaining of "pinch points" in IT systems on both sides of the Channel in England and France.

“We wanted a six-month grace period where we could iron out all these issues, so that when the time came it would be frictionless."

Scottish seafood is mainly exported to markets in northern France, where it is then sold on across Europe. With a live product, time is of the essence.

Exporters warned of the risk of delays before Britain left the Europe Union's customs union and single market on December 31, even with a tariff- and quota-free trade deal.

But Seafood Scotland said firms had been hit by "layer upon layer" of administrative problems which had caused "utter confusion".

In addition, the closure of the French border before Christmas due to coronavirus fears had caused lengthy delays.

Fordyce said in a statement on Thursday that consignments risked going into landfill but also the slump in exports would give fishing fleets little incentive to put to sea.

"In a very short time, we could see the destruction of a centuries-old market which contributes significantly to the Scottish economy," she added.

"It's a perfect storm for Scottish seafood exporters," she said.

Scotland's Europe and External Affairs Secretary Michael Russell said the problems at the borders were "exactly the sorts of issues that Scottish ministers have been raising since the Brexit referendum".

Scotland voted to remain in the EU in the 2016 referendum. The devolved nation's governing, pro-independence Scottish National Party has said Brexit strengthened the argument for Scotland to break away from the rest of the UK.

"The UK Government, with their bad Brexit deal, chose to impose these extra burdens on business at a time of unprecedented challenge — which is utterly unacceptable and very damaging to the economy and for jobs," Russell added. 

Jimmy Buchan, the chief executive of the Scottish Seafood Association, said earlier this week that trucks laden with fresh seafood were being held up in central Scotland due to problems with customs barcodes and lack of veterinary service capacity.

Entire trailers were being emptied so that every box and label can be checked, he said.

"Combined with computer problems on both sides of the English Channel, this is a worrying sign for the days and weeks ahead when the flow of produce will get much greater," he added.

"Ultimately our member businesses lose revenue and prices in the market become depressed in reaction to the problems.

"We are at the point now where the white-fish fleet may have to stop fishing.”

HONG KONG — Shares in China's two biggest companies Alibaba and Tencent tumbled in Hong Kong on Thursday in response to media reports that the Trump administration plans to press ahead with a ban on Americans investing in them.

E-commerce titan Alibaba sank almost four per cent and internet powerhouse Tencent shed 4.7 in morning trade after the Wall Street Journal said officials in multiple government departments were assessing the impact of an investment ban.

Such a move would be another blow to Alibaba, which has come under pressure from Chinese officials as regulators launch an anti-monopoly probe into it, while its fintech giant Ant Group was ordered to drastically change its business model.

The moves come as Beijing puts the squeeze on the once unbridled empire of tech tycoon Jack Ma.

The Wall Street Journal report came the same day the New York Stock Exchange reversed course for a second time to say it would delist three Chinese telecom equities from trading owing to new US government guidance.

Wednesday's announcement capped a dizzying few days of flip-flopping in which the stock exchange announced the removal at the weekend before making a U-turn on Monday, and then saying it would go ahead once more Wednesday.

The latest decision came after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin disagreed with Monday's reversal.

The three state-owned telecom giants plunged, with China Unicom shedding more than 11 per cent while China Telecom was down more than nine per cent and China Mobile slipped more than seven per cent.

Trump issued an executive order in November banning Americans from investing in Chinese companies deemed to be supplying or supporting the country's military and security apparatus, earning a sharp rebuke from Beijing.

On Tuesday night he signed an executive order banning transactions involving Alipay, WeChat Pay and other apps linked to Chinese companies, drawing strong criticism from Beijing.

Alipay is owned by Alibaba and WeChat is owned by Tencent. 

The Wall Street Journal reported that officials at the State Department, Department of Defense and Treasury Department had all discussed how to implement an investment ban on the two Chinese e-commerce giants. 

Any ban could have a profound effect on US markets.

While the three Chinese telecoms firms are comparative small fry for the New York Stock Exchange, Alibaba and Tencent are China's two largest companies. 

At $1.4 trillion, the combined market value of their primary listings is twice the size of Spain's stock market, according to Bloomberg News. 

"If the bans are implemented then it'd be a huge thing for the market," Steven Leung, executive director at Uob Kay Hian (Hong Kong) told Bloomberg.

"It's still too early to say. After the Biden administration starts, the policy could change again."

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple is making environmental and social values factors it will weigh when calculating bonuses for top executives, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday.

The change taking effect this year is intended to motivate Apple executives “to meet exceptionally high standards of values-driven leadership in addition to delivering strong financial results,” the Silicon Valley technology titan said in proxy documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Financial targets and thresholds for executive bonuses at Apple will not change, the iPhone maker said.

“Beginning in 2021, an environmental, social, and governance modifier based on Apple Values and other key community initiatives will be incorporated into our annual cash incentive programme,” Apple said in the filing.

Living up to Apple’s stated values regarding sustainable energy, workplace diversity and other environmental and social issues will be among factors considered when deciding whether bonuses should be increased or decreased by as much as 10 per cent, according to the company.

“We’ve led the industry in reducing our environmental footprint for years and are committed to one day sourcing 100 per cent recycled and renewable materials across all of our products and packaging,” Apple said in a section of the filing outlining its values.

“We believe diversity drives innovation and is key to our success.”

Apple is to report its earnings for the final three months of last year on January 27, and has a virtual annual shareholders meeting slated for February 23.

DUBAI — The World Bank on Tuesday predicted a moderate economic recovery for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in 2021, while highlighting the many challenges still posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Washington-based institution said the pandemic had seen the region's economies shrink by about 5 per cent in 2020, inflicting heavy job losses and a sharp increase in the number of people living below the poverty line of less than $5.50 a day. 

"Among oil exporters, growth is expected to recover to 1.8 per cent this year, supported by normalising oil demand, the scheduled easing of the OPEC+ oil production cuts, policy support, and the gradual phasing out of domestic pandemic-related restrictions," it said in a report.

Saudi Arabia, the largest economy in the Arab world, will benefit from the resumption of public projects, which had been postponed at the beginning of the crisis, and the recovery of demand after a sharp rise in VAT, it said, tipping a 2 per cent expansion.

Growth should also accelerate to 1.5 per cent in Iran thanks to the recovery of domestic consumption and tourism and the mitigation of the effects of COVID-19, they added. 

Growth in other countries in the region is expected to reach 3.2 per cent in 2021 due to the easing of travel restrictions and a slow recovery of domestic demand. 

However, it is expected to reach only 2.7 per cent in Egypt, the most populous country in the region, following the "collapse" of various sectors, notably tourism and gas extraction.

The World Bank warned that regional economies faced a variety of hurdles as they try to get back on their feet.

"The recovery is contingent on containment of the pandemic, stabilising oil prices, no further escalation of geopolitical tensions, and the assumption of a vaccine rollout in the second half of the year," it said.

WASHINGTON — Tesla delivered a record number of cars in 2020, the company said, just narrowly missing its half a million target for the year.

The pioneering high-end electric vehicle maker delivered 180,570 cars to customers and produced 179,757 in the fourth quarter of the year, it said in a statement on Saturday.

Tesla's previous record was 139,300 vehicles delivered in the third quarter of 2020.

For the full year, Tesla delivered 499,550 cars to customers, just shy of its target of half a million, and produced 509,737 units.

The firm said its delivery count was conservative and that final numbers could vary by up to half a percentage point or more.

Tesla chief and co-founder Elon Musk hailed the figures as a "major milestone" for the firm.

"At the start of Tesla, I thought we had [optimistically] a 10% chance of surviving at all," the mercurial tech entrepreneur tweeted.

Tesla's entry-level Model 3 and its crossover Model Y accounted for nearly 86 per cent of deliveries, with the balance split between the luxury Model S sedan and the Model X SUV.

The company also said on Saturday that production of its Model Y had begun at its Chinese plant in Shanghai, with deliveries expected to begin shortly.

Tesla has long aimed to manufacture electric cars for the masses and in September Musk, the world's second richest person, said developments in battery technology meant the firm was looking at fielding a $25,000 model in around three years' time.

The company joined the prestigious Standard & Poor's 500 stock index on December 21.

Though its car production is modest compared with rivals, Tesla's growth prospects have spurred investors to push up its value so that it is now worth more than General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Honda, Fiat Chrysler and Volkswagen combined.

NEW YORK — Wall Street indices finished 2020 at all-time highs on Thursday, a surprising conclusion to a year in which the United States endured a recession caused by the deadly COVID-19 pandemic that continues to plague the country.

The Dow and S&P 500 finished at fresh records, capping a year in which they, along with the Nasdaq, scored significant gains even amid elevated joblessness, rising hunger and acute pain in sectors such as hospitality, airlines, oil and gas and the performing arts.

"For Main Street, it was a terrible year", said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare. "For Wall Street, it was a fantastic year."

The broad-based S&P 500, which swooned below the 2,200-point level at its nadir in March, finished the year at 3,756.07, up 16.3 per cent for the year.

European equity markets had a mixed year, with Frankfurt higher, but Paris declined and London suffered its worst year since the global financial crisis.

The gains in US indices seemed impossible in March, when exchanges were forced to suspend trading as stocks went into free-fall as much of the US economy was shut down to combat the coronavirus.

The US did not fully manage to get the virus under control, and concludes 2020 with its highest-ever single-day death toll of more than 3,900 people.

Yet, markets pivoted quickly from the fear of a depression-like collapse after the Federal Reserve stepped in with extraordinary stimulus and Congress mobilised to enact its biggest-ever fiscal package, the $2.2 trillion CARES Act.

Stocks began regaining ground in late March and rose for much of the summer. Volatility picked up again in the fall ahead of the November presidential election and as the infections spiked.

But Wall Street engineered a strong late-year rally as COVID-19 vaccines were approved and began to be rolled out, fueling hope for an economic recovery in the new year.

However, analysts see risks ahead in the first part of 2021.

"We've priced in a lot of the good news and not the bad news," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities.

He expects the market in the upcoming period to fixate both on weakening economic data and on the virus's worrying spread.

"In large part, the market has done so well in 2020 because it is pricing in 2021," O'Hare said.

Sterling gains, FTSE falls 

Back in Europe, Paris suffered a 7.1-per cent drop but Frankfurt gained 3.6 per cent in volatile record-breaking deals over the course of 2020.

London's FTSE 100 suffered a 14-per cent drop for the year, its worst since 2008, but the British pound zoomed to a 2.5-year dollar peak before Britain's long-awaited exit from the European single market, with a trade deal in the bag on markets' final day of a coronavirus-ravaged 2020.

The country left the bloc on January 31 but has been in a standstill transition while it sought a free-trade agreement — which was finally clinched on Christmas Eve and was approved by lawmakers on Wednesday.

That dispelled long-running fears of a chaotic no-deal departure that could have sparked a double-dip downturn, after Britain tanked into a recession earlier this year on coronavirus fallout.

"A Brexit deal may have come extremely late in the day but there will be a massive sense of relief that the UK won't be battling no-deal on top of everything else in the coming months — and that relief can be seen in the pound," OANDA analyst Craig Erlam told AFP.

"It's ending the year on a high... It's all about the recovery now for the UK as it faces another devastating [virus] surge and most of the country moves into tier four."

PARIS — Bitcoin, the leading virtual currency, saw its price pass $30,000 on Saturday for the first time in just its latest record high.

The first decentralised cryptocurrency surpassed $30,823.30 at 13:13 GMT, according to data compiled by the Bloomberg news agency, having broken $20,000 on December 16.

Analyst Timo Emden noted that "the appetite for risk", which is reflected in buying of bitcoin, "remains unshakeable".

"More historic highs could follow," the Germany-based analyst added.

Just 12 years old, bitcoin has seen a meteoric rise since March, when it stood at $5,000, spurred by online payments giant PayPal saying it would enable account holders to use cryptocurrency.

After PayPal's announcement in October, analysts at investment banking giant JPMorgan Chase compared the cryptocurrency to gold.

"Bitcoin could compete more intensely with gold as an 'alternative' currency over the coming years given that millennials will become over time a more important component of investors' universe," they said.

A number of central banks have meanwhile responded to the rise of cryptocurrencies and the dwindling global use of cash by announcing plans for bank-backed digital units.

Several central banks including those of China and Sweden — but also the US Federal Reserve — are also testing digital applications in response to Facebook's recent moves to produce its own digital unit, Libra.

Unregulated by any central bank, bitcoin emerged as an attractive option for investors with an appetite for the exotic — although criminals have also picked up on its under-the-radar appeal.

Debate has meanwhile raged over the status of the digital asset, launched in late 2008, as to whether it should be seen as a form of money, an asset or a commodity.

After the unit surpassed $1,000 for the first time in 2013, it increasingly began to attract the attention of financial institutions and has experienced wild price swings.

NEW YORK — Washington's long-awaited pandemic relief package offers a lifeline to the devastated US restaurant industry, but eateries still face months of turmoil before they are clear of the coronavirus crisis.

The $900 billion bill that provides more funding for the Paycheck Protection Programme (PPP), comes too late for the estimated 110,000 restaurants that have closed their doors permanently.

Those that survived the shutdowns and restrictions on indoor dining, can borrow up to $2 million in loans that would convert to grants if at least 60 per cent is spent on payroll.

Despite some improvements from the original PPP that Congress approved in March, restaurants gave mixed reviews of the programme and some worry the funding will fall short.

Vivian Forte, who with her husband owns Pisticci in New York City, said Monday she was "exuberant" the relief bill was finally enacted. Without it she would have had to lay off the entire staff.

"Our back is completely against the wall," Forte told AFP. "None of us are making any money. We're all in this for the staff right now."

But Andrew Volk, owner of the Hunt and Alpine Club in Portland, Maine, has not decided whether to seek another PPP loan.

It "seems like a band aid", he told AFP.

"We don't know what our business is going to look like when the snow melts."

'We're just hustling' 

Nine months into the pandemic, a recent survey from the National Restaurant Association shows more than one-sixth of the nation's restaurants have closed, and a majority expect continued furloughs and layoffs for at least the next three months.

Dimitri Fetokakis, owner of Niko Niko's, a small Greek restaurant chain in Houston, said the crisis has forced eateries to adapt.

"We're just hustling," he said.

When in-person dining was banned in the early days of the pandemic, Niko Niko's cut managers' salaries by 40 per cent and they joined other staff assisting with curbside pickup.

He also organised pop-up events in the suburbs, taking orders online and setting up mass-distribution sites without delivery charges.

Fetokakis said he expects to apply for a PPP for his catering business and for the downtown location that has suffered most with many people still working from home.

RayNathan's, a North Carolina barbecue restaurant, has found it difficult to adapt as business has fluctuated, especially given the time-intensive nature of good barbeque: Smoked beef brisket, for example, requires 15 hours of prep time.

"The dining public is just a lot more emotional," said co-owner Stephen Carroll of the unpredictable flows that make it difficult to know how much food to cook.

At times the restaurant has given away surplus food to food banks.

"You've either got waste, or you lose sales when you don't have enough," he said.

Carroll said he is not sure if the restaurant will apply for another PPP.

The earlier round allowed him to avert layoffs, but the original rules mandated the money be spent within eight weeks.

Political reality 

Congress in June extended the deadline to use the funds to 24 weeks, but by then RayNathan's had already spent most of the money, Carroll said.

The PPP also has been a source of controversy, after huge amounts went to publicly-traded companies including Shake Shack and Ruth's Chris before the chains returned the funds, and after revelations about funds going to tenants of buildings owned by the Trump Organisation and the family of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and adviser.

Still, the programme has been credited with saving millions of jobs and again became the prime vehicle for providing government support to small businesses.

After months of grinding talks on the second round of stimulus, Congress approved $284 billion to fund PPP.

The programme is open to all industries, but includes some features specific to restaurants. It allows restaurants to receive loans up 3.5 times their monthly payroll, compared with 2.5 times for other industries. Restaurants also may deduct business expenses paid with PPP loans.

Industry leaders had been championing the $120 billion Restaurants Act, which would provide grants that can be used to pay back debt as well as low-interest, 10-year loans designed to put restaurants back on solid footing for the medium-term.

The Democratic-controlled House passed the Restaurants Act and it currently lists 52 bipartisan supporters in the Senate, a majority.

But Mike Whatley, a vice president with the National Restaurant Association, said given the $900 billion limit, the targeted bill "was just too much to get done".

But he said the PPP improvements would provide help in the interim as the industry prepares for another push in Washington next year.

AMMAN — Capital Bank Group and Bank Audi Group have announced the signing of the definitive agreements for the acquisition by Capital Bank of the operations of Bank Audi’s Jordan Branch Network, and the acquisition by the National Bank of Iraq — a subsidiary of Capital Bank Group — of the operations of Bank Audi’s Iraq Branch Network, including the purchase of the assets and liabilities of these branches. 

The completion of these transactions remains subject to the receipt of the final approval of the related supervisory and regulatory authorities, according to a Captial Bank statement.

The agreements were signed by Chairman of Capital Bank Group Bassem Khalil Al Salem and Chairman and Group CEO of Bank Audi Samir Hanna, who both confirmed that the acquisitions were achieved after “an in-depth due diligence exercise” conducted in accordance with the applicable legislations, and after obtaining the preliminary approvals of the Central Bank of Jordan and the Central Bank of Iraq, the statement said.

Salem stated on this occasion that “this agreement is in line with Capital Bank’s expansion strategies regionally and locally, ultimately strengthening its competitive position. This acquisition is a first in the Iraqi banking sector, and will only serve to support the National Bank of Iraq even further. 

“The move will also enhance the steadfastness of Capital Bank Group’s financial indicators, allowing it to continue providing innovative and efficient banking services to corporate and individual customers, as well as the continued development of products and solutions supported by the Bank’s bold digital transformation policy.”

Commenting on the agreement, Hanna said that “these transactions further reinforce our bank’s role in facing the considerable challenges Lebanon has been exposed to for over a year now”.

He added: “The selection of Capital Bank as exclusive bidder on this transaction was made taking into account the business continuity of Bank Audi’s entities in Jordan and Iraq, and the interests of their stakeholders, employees and customers alike, in addition to the beneficial impact which the transaction is expected to have on their future business development.”

Capital Bank’s Chief Executive Officer Dawood Al Ghoul said that all of Bank Audi client’s accounts would be retained along with its staff. 

“We will honour all commitments towards clients that were contracted by Bank Audi's units in Iraq and Jordan as they are,” he said.

Salem and Hanna seized this opportunity to thank the Central Bank of Jordan represented by its Governor Ziad Fariz Al Akram, the Central Bank of Iraq represented by its Governor Mustafa Ghaleb, as well as the Central Bank of Lebanon represented by Governor Riad Salameh, and their deputies, for their support of the operation, the statement said.

Pursuant to these agreement, Capital Bank Group acquires the operations of Bank Audi — Jordan Branch Network and Bank Audi Iraq Branch Network encompassing14 branches in Jordan and five branches in Iraq, which brings the total number of Capital Bank’s branches to 28 in Jordan and the total number of National Bank of Iraq’s branches to 18.

At end-September 2020, Bank Audi’s assets in Jordan reached JD506 million, while those of its Iraq branches reached 275 billion Iraqi dinars. Accordingly, these acquisitions will contribute to increasing the consolidated assets of Capital Bank to JD3.6 billion, while its shareholders’ equity will reach JD 400million, according to the statement.

The acquisition of Bank Audi’s operations in Jordan and Iraq falls within Capital Bank Group’s development and expansion strategy, as well as within its plans to develop its digital performance and transformation, which guarantees the highest levels of speed, accuracy and customer satisfaction, read the statement.

WEST PALM BEACH, United States — After delaying for nearly a week and under pressure from all sides, US President Donald Trump finally signed a massive $900 billion stimulus bill on Sunday, in a long-sought boost for millions of Americans and businesses battered by the coronavirus pandemic.

The package "providing coronavirus emergency response and relief" is part of a larger spending bill that, with Trump's signature, will avoid a government shutdown on Tuesday.

"I am signing this bill to restore unemployment benefits, stop evictions, provide rental assistance, add money for PPP [Paycheck Protection Programmes], return our airline workers back to work, add substantially more money for vaccine distribution, and much more," the president said in a statement from his Christmas vacation at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

The turnaround came after a day marked by calls from all sides of the political spectrum for action to avert an economic and social disaster, especially for America's vulnerable populations.

Two federal unemployment benefit programs approved in March as part of an initial COVID-19 relief plan expired at midnight on Saturday, cutting off an estimated 12 million Americans, according to The Century Foundation think tank.

The relief package, which was first passed by Congress on December 21, extends those benefits as well as others set to expire in the days ahead.

But for days, Trump had refused to put his signature on it, calling the bill a "disgrace" and catching both Democrats and Republicans off guard with his complaints, which came after months of negotiations.

Influential Republican senator Mitt Romney said he was "relieved" at the signing. "Help is now on the way to workers, families, and small businesses across the country who are desperately in need," he tweeted.

Earlier Sunday, he had urged Trump to "immediately sign or veto the COVID-19 relief package so Congress can act before it's too late”.

Crucial aid 

In his statement Sunday, the president continued to push for the $600 direct payments to US taxpayers spelled out in the bill to be more than tripled, and argued the legislation included too much excess spending on unrelated programs.

He has not said why he waited until the bill was already approved to make his views known.

The new stimulus package extends federal aid to the unemployed until mid-March, and provides guaranteed loans and billions of dollars in aid to small businesses, restaurants, hotels, airlines and other companies.

It extends the moratorium on evictions of people unable to pay their rent, suspends foreclosures and provides funds for the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

The aid is essential to the world's largest economy, hit hard by restrictions put in place to halt the spread of COVID-19.

"I applaud the President's decision to get billions of dollars of crucial COVID-19 relief out the door and into the hands of American families," tweeted Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi called the bill "a down payment on what is needed to crush the virus, put money in Americans' pockets & honour our heroes".

"We must quickly take further action," she added in a tweet.

'Chaos and misery' 

Romney was not the only politician to have urged the president to change course on Sunday.

"I understand he wants to be remembered for advocating for big checks, but the danger is he'll be remembered for chaos and misery and erratic behavior if he allows this to expire," Republican Senator Pat Toomey told Fox News on Sunday.

Senator Bernie Sanders said that "what the president is doing right now is unbelievably cruel".

"Many millions of people are losing their extended unemployment benefits," he said on ABC.

"They're going to be evicted from their apartments because the eviction moratorium is ending."

Sanders said increased direct payments could be approved in the coming days.

Democrats in Congress sought Thursday to approve a measure to increase the direct payments in line with what Trump wants, but Republicans blocked it.

It was seen largely as a theatrical move with little hope of passage designed to expose the rift between Republicans and the outgoing president.