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Operating losses at Irish explorer Botswana Diamonds increased by almost 45 per cent last year as the company lamented a lack of investment and a sector that is “out of favour”. The company, which has been heavily involved in diamond exploration in southern Africa since the 1980s, said losses for the year ended June 30th, 2018, grew to €556,407 from €310,898 the year before, The Irish Times reported. The company’s annual results show the increased losses can largely be attributed to a charge of €179,524 for the “impairment of exploration and evaluation assets”.
Nissan announced this morning that it planned to remove Mr. Ghosn as its chairman, saying an internal investigation had found that for years he underreported his salary by millions of dollars and committed other acts of “misconduct,” the International New York Times reported. Nissan said it was working with the Japanese authorities. According to news reports, prosecutors are preparing to arrest Mr. Ghosn. The developments could bring about a swift fall for Mr.
Euro-zone finance ministers remain worried about Italy’s budget row with the European Commission and are waiting for the next move from the EU executive this week before formally stepping up their pressure on Rome, top officials said on Monday. The ministers are in Brussels for an extraordinary meeting on euro-zone reform and Italy’s fiscal plans are not on the agenda, but Dutch finance minister Wopke Hoekstra expressed the concerns as he entered the Eurogroup talks, The Irish Times reported. “We are all worried about the existing situation.
The High Court has approved payments of more than €20 million out of the Insurance Compensation Fund to meet a 35 per cent shortfall in awards concerning motorists insured by the collapsed Malta-based insurer Setanta Insurance, The Irish Times reported. The payment orders were sought by the State Claims Agency and were granted on Monday by the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Peter Kelly. They relate to 1,268 eligible claims and will involve total payments of €20,647,966, representing an additional 35 per cent of money due.
A weak set of finance data points to a deepening Chinese growth slowdown into 2019, highlighting the government’s challenge in getting loans to private companies and other cash-starved parts of the economy, the Financial Times reported. The data were released amid a debate within the bureaucracy about how best to encourage the banking system to overcome its reservations and lend more to the private sector.
Brexit is already weakening the UK’s grip on Europe’s capital markets, denting London’s status as a hub for millions of deals each day. Key parts of the trading infrastructure for equities, sovereign debt and repo markets are setting up in the Netherlands and Italy, the Financial Times reported. Banks are moving jobs to Paris and Frankfurt. This is “an invisible revolution in the European capital markets”, says Merel van Vroonhoven, chief executive of the AFM, the Dutch regulator.
India’s central bank has given ground to government pressure and agreed to reassess its management of reserves and treatment of troubled banks, as prime minister Narendra Modi seeks to reinvigorate the economy ahead of a general election, the Financial Times reported. The moves were announced by the Reserve Bank of India following a nine-hour meeting of its board of directors, the first since differences between the RBI and the government burst into the open last month.
Shares in Noble Group Ltd, once Asia’s top commodity trader, were suspended from trading from Monday, as the company seeks to transform into an Asia-focused coal-trading business following a $3.5 billion debt restructuring deal, Reuters reported. Singapore-listed Noble said last week it had obtained the required approvals, including getting a go-ahead from courts for its restructuring and payment to creditors, clearing the final hurdle to completing its controversial debt-for-equity swap.
The head of the European Central Bank indicated a first interest rate increase could be postponed if unexpected trouble strikes the 19 countries that use the euro as their currency, the International New York Times reported on an Associated Press story. Mario Draghi warned in a speech Friday the current economic expansion remains "resilient" as unemployment continues to fall and consumers remain willing to spend. But he cautioned that slowing world trade is proving to be a drag on the eurozone economy.