Finance

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Manchester United risks losing its position as England’s top-earning soccer club as a string of management missteps and sub-par performances left it shut out of Europe’s most lucrative competition. After failing to qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the second time in four seasons, the struggling team has forecast annual revenue will slide as much as 11% from the previous year. That may put it behind Manchester City and Liverpool FC this year,…

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Acorn Holdings (Acorn), the largest student accommodation property developer in Kenya, has listed by introduction its KES 4.3 billion green bond programme, on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). To celebrate the Acorn bond programme listing, Sam Kimani, Chairman of the NSE, welcomed the Rt Hon Alok Sharma, UK Secretary of State for International Development, and Patrick P. Njoroge, Central Bank of Kenya Governor, to open trading today. The programme…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African business confidence slumped to the lowest in 34 years in 2019 as the country faced power cuts, delays in policy implementation, deteriorating public finances and the risk of losing its only remaining investment-grade credit rating. A sentiment index compiled by the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry showed business confidence declined to an average of 92.6 from a two-year high of 95.5 in 2018, according to…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa has been hit by rolling power cuts less than a month after President Cyril Ramaphosa gave renewed assurances that energy constraints were being addressed, making his pledges ring hollow and highlighting his administration’s inability to tackle the crisis. While Eskom Holdings Ltd., the state utility that provides about 95% of the nation’s electricity and is overseen by Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan, has borne the brunt of the blame for the…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – The United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson will tell European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday that the British government is only interested in negotiating a free trade agreement with its largest market, and that he’s determined to achieve it by the end of the year. In their first meeting since von der Leyen took up her post — and since Johnson won last month’s election — the U.K. prime minister…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – U.S. President Donald Trump and his top aides spent the weekend arguing that the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani would deter future attacks and make the Middle East safer. Instead, U.S. policy in the region seems to be going in the opposite direction of what Trump has long promised — with more U.S. troops going in, not fewer; an Iran defiant, not cowed and broken by sanctions; and regional allies giving…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Takeaway.com NV is set to declare final victory in the five-month takeover battle for U.K. food-delivery company Just Eat Plc, people with knowledge of the matter said. Investors holding more than half of Just Eat stock have indicated they’ll agree to Takeaway’s all-stock bid, which values the company at about 6 billion pounds ($7.8 billion), according to the people. The preliminary tally includes those who plan to formally tender in…