Zuckerberg no-show
Facebook (US:FB) was threatened with further sanctions by lawmakers from nine countries during a hearing in front of the UK digital, culture, media and sport select committee. Committee chair Damian Collins said confidential documents seized by the panel showed an engineer had alerted the social networking giant to the fact that a Russian IP address had harvested data from the platform as early as 2014. Facebook vice president of policy solutions Richard Allan – who appeared in chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s place – said those documents belonged to a “hostile litigant” and were “at best partial and potentially misleading”. Facebook has previously said it was unaware of this type of Russian data harvesting until after the 2016 US presidential election.
GM slams brakes on production
Plant closures
General Motors (US:GM) will cease production at five production facilities across the US and Canada next year, along with two outside North America, in a bid to make cash savings of around $6bn (£4.7bn) by the end of 2020. These savings will be made up of cost reductions of $4.5bn and a lower annual capital expenditure of nearly $1.5bn. GM had previously announced the closure of a facility in South Korea. The locations of the two plants beyond North America are currently unknown.
Desperate measures
Discounts lure shoppers
Beleaguered department store John Lewis said sales during ‘Black Friday’ week were “the biggest in its history”, up 7.7 per cent on the comparative period last year. However, sales were driven by discounted offers as part of its price-matching policy, which reduces profit margins. Fashion grew at the highest rate, with sales up 13 per cent, with electricals and home technology rising 5.7 per cent. However, the partnership’s sales during the year to date were flat on last year. Sales across UK retailers were down 5.5 per cent during the ‘Black Friday’ week, according to retail analysis service Springboard.
Bitcoin tumbles
Mania subsides
The Bitcoin sell-off continued this week as the cryptocurrency slumped to below $4,000, hitting its lowest point since September 2017. The decline comes amid concerns over increased regulatory scrutiny and doubts over the long-term viability of cryptocurrencies as a secure means of exchange. In December last year, Bitcoin – which came into being in the wake of the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers – reached over $17,000, according to data from Coindesk, following a frenzied bull run. Bitcoin had regained some ground at the time of writing, but was still trading at 78 per cent below last year’s peak.
Small guys squeezed
Spark goes bust
Ovo Energy agreed to acquire the 290,000 customers of rival Spark Energy, which has become the seventh UK energy provider to go bust this year. Ovo has purchased Spark’s operating company, which is distinct from the now out-of-business entity that held the supply licence, with Spark continuing to service customers from its existing offices. Rising wholesale prices have increased pressure on smaller players, which were able to undercut established providers amid low commodity prices in recent years. Industry regulator Ofgem said it planned to make it more difficult for new entrants to begin trading amid the growing number of failed companies and poor customer service being offered by some.
Risers and fallers (%)
| ContourGlobal | 21.73 |
| Greggs | 14.99 |
| Lamprell | 13.68 |
| Sophos | 13.49 |
| Alfa Financial Software | 12.91 |
| Nostrum Oil & Gas | -23.08 |
| Allied Minds | -22.23 |
| Thomas Cook | -17.38 |
| Fresnillo | -17.13 |
| Indivior | -12.91 |
Week to 27 November 2018
Huawei barred
Security concerns
New Zealand became the latest country to block one of its large telecoms operators from using equipment from Huawei, following concerns about alleged links to the Chinese government. The New Zealand intelligence agency said allowing Spark New Zealand to use Huawei’s 5G technology would raise “significant national security risks”. It follows similar moves by Australia and the US, with the latter increasing pressure on its partners in the Five Eyes intelligence and security network – which also includes Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK – to block Huawei and Chinese telecoms group ZTE from 5G networks.
Astra win
Fasenra gains orphan drug status
US regulators have awarded Fasenra, one of AstraZeneca’s (AZN) drugs, ‘orphan drug designation’ (ODD) for the treatment of rare autoimmune disease Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (EGPA). Fasenra is currently approved as an add-on treatment for severe asthma in the US, EU, Japan and several other jurisdictions. But it is hoped that Fasenra will now move into late-stage clinical trials for EGPA. The ODD status earmarks Fasenra as a potential treatment for a rare disease affecting a patient population of 200,000 people or less in the US.
