Features

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – China signaled trade talks with the U.S. are on track towards an interim deal after negotiators from both sides spoke by telephone on Tuesday. The officials “reached consensus on properly resolving relevant issues” and agreed to stay in contact on the remaining points for a so-called phase one pact, China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement. The U.S. Trade Representative’s office confirmed a meeting took place but declined…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is aiming to consolidate his lead in the polls in the final weeks of the general election campaign. On Sunday, he announced a safety-first policy package based on “sensible” promises, which included hiring 50,000 nurses for the country’s cherished National Health Service and cutting taxes for working people. Johnson carefully avoided the radical language and out-of-the-blue policy announcements that derailed his predecessor Theresa May’s campaign in 2017….

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Small and mid-sized accounting firms in the U.K. are poised to continue winning more audit business regardless of the outcome of the Dec. 12 election. The U.K.’s top parties, Conservative and Labour, both support audit market reforms and want to shift more business away from the domination of the Big Four firms. That means the inroads made this past year by three smaller firms—Mazars, MHA MacIntyre Hudson, and RSM—to…

AFSIC – Investing in Africa, scheduled for May 5th -7th 2020 in London, has confirmed over 300 speakers including a huge range of Africa’s most important investors, dealmakers and business leaders. AFSIC is focused on profiling Africa’s most compelling investment opportunities and promoting new business transactions through structured presentation sessions complemented by an array of networking events, business match-making meetings, workshops and country focussed sessions, offering multiple opportunities to network and develop strong business relationships…

NEW WORK(Capital Markers in Africa) – Current and former workers from 13 Illinois restaurants are suing McDonald’s Corp. for failing to adequately protect employees from customers who become violent. “McDonald’s breach of duty was the in-fact and proximate cause of plaintiffs’ injuries,” according to the complaint, which was filed Thursday by 17 workers in Cook County court. The lawsuit claims the workers “are regularly exposed to violent and criminal behavior by customers,” and that the defendants —…

ADISS ABABA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ethiopia’s ethnic Sidama voted Wednesday in a referendum on creating a new regional state, the likely precursor to a series of plebiscites that will test demands for more autonomy. Besides offering an indication of the Horn of Africa nation’s ability to hold a peaceful general election slated for next year, it will also gauge whether the country’s political model of ethnic federalism can accommodate growing calls for self-determination amid clashes…

ADISS ABABA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Since taking power last year, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been on a drive to open up Africa’s second-most-populous nation. He has scrapped bans on opposition and rebel groups, purged allegedly corrupt officials and ended two decades of acrimony with neighboring Eritrea — an initiative that won him the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. He has also put out the welcome mat for foreign capital in an effort…