Shares Slide As Facebook Growth Slows Politicians Slam House Of
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BUSINESS WITH PERSONALITY 49ERS GOING FOR GOLD SURFACE APPEAL CAN SAN FRANCISCO AND MICROSOFT’S NEW TOY KANSAS CITY READY FOR MATCH THE HYPE? P20 THE SUPER BOWL P23 THURSDAY 30 JANUARY 2020 ISSUE 3,545 CITYAM.COM FREE Shares slide as Facebook BOEING HIT growth slows EMILY NICOLLE @emilyjnicolle FACEBOOK’s share price fell almost eight per cent in extended trading late last night, after the firm BY FIRST LOSS disappointed investors with continued slowing growth. The social media giant reported sales growth of 24.7 per cent to $21.1bn (£16.2bn), edging past analyst forecasts of $20.9bn and marking the fourth straight quarter of growth under 30 per cent. IN 22 YEARS It also nudged up profit, AVIATION GIANT GOES INTO THE RED posting earnings per share of $2.56 compared to estimates FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MORE THAN TWO of $2.53. Total costs surged 34 per cent to $12.22bn, dragging DECADES AS 737 MAX FIASCO HITS PROFIT down operating margins. Across its family of apps — which includes Messenger, Whatsapp and Instagram as well as Facebook — the firm ALEX DANIEL involving the jet which killed 346 David Calhoun admitted the company turns to service, and how quickly Boe- said it had more than 2.89bn @alexmdaniel people. Aviation regulators the world still has “a lot of work to do”. ing can ramp up production again”. monthly users, compared to over responded by banning it from He said: “We are focused on return- The result caps off a miserable first 2.80bn a quarter earlier. AEROSPACE giant Boeing swung to its their airspace. ing the 737 Max to service safely and month of 2020, in which it emerged The firm also announced a first loss in 20 years yesterday, admit- The crashes were caused by a faulty restoring the long-standing trust that former boss Dennis Muilenburg was $10bn share repurchase ting the grounding of its 737 Max anti-stall system fitted on the plane, the Boeing brand represents with the ousted with stock and pension awards programme in the results. plane could end up costing $18.6bn designed to make the Max perform in flying public. worth more than $60m. It followed a year that (£14.3bn), more than double its previ- a similar way to early incarnations of “Safety will underwrite every deci- Days before that, emails were passed included a number of ous estimate. the 737, thereby reducing the need for sion, every action and every step we on to US investigators, which showed regulatory challenges for The crisis-stricken plane maker, an expensive pilot training. take as we move forward.” Boeing executives’ mocking their Facebook, including over the icon for American industry for the Boeing was unable to provide any One reason the crisis has been so ex- safety regulator, the Federal Aviation launch of its proposed digital last 103 years, haemorrhaged $1.98bn further clarity on when the jet might pensive is that the company carried Administration (FAA). currency programme Libra. in 2019, it said yesterday, marking the return to the skies yesterday. Belea- on building the $120m jets at a rate of They also said the 737 Max had been The firm added that it had most calamitous period in its history. guered investors made a loss per share more than 40 a month until January. “designed by clowns”. reached a $550m settlement This was down on a mammoth of $1.12 for the year, a staggering drop Jeremy Bragg, aerospace analyst at Those messages shocked aviation in principle related to a $10.5bn profit the year before. of 94 per cent from last year’s $17.90 Redburn, said that while Calhoun watchers, given the fact that Boeing lawsuit that claimed it It comes as Boeing still struggles to earning per share. “clearly wants to ‘kitchen-sink’ the had originally been allowed to certify illegally collected and stored get the 737 Max certified as safe to fly, Shares rose 3.11 per cent to $325.02 numbers, there is still considerable the Max as safe to fly without the biometric data for millions of after the second of two deadly crashes yesterday, as new chief executive uncertainty as to when 737 Max re- FAA’s blessing. users without their consent. Politicians slam House of Fraser for continuing Presidents Club clothing range EXCLUSIVE allegedly groped hostesses. includes tight-fitting dresses and retailer Ashley owns, as recently of the business select committee, POPPY WOOD The Presidents Club annual men’s leisurewear, was on sale at as a few days ago. told City A.M. AND ANNA MENIN charity dinner was plunged into multiple retailers. “It is beyond belief that anybody Sam Smethers, chief executive of @poppyeh @annafmenin scandal in 2018 after details The stockists include House of would want to use the name of a the Fawcett Society, said the brand emerged of attendees’ behaviour Fraser and USC, both owned by dinner that degraded and was “openly trading off the back of POLITICIANS, businesswomen and revealing dresses hostesses high street tycoon Mike Ashley, objectified women to sell a one of the most appalling examples and equality campaigners have were told to wear. The charity shut and Footasylum, which is owned by clothing label. I call on House of in recent years of the sexual called on House of Fraser to stop down shortly afterwards. JD Sports’ parent company. Fraser and all the other stores exploitation of women. House of selling a clothing line appearing to Earlier this week, it came to light According to web caches, the stocking this range to think again Fraser should discontinue selling reference the Presidents Club that a clothing range emblazoned range also appears to have been and take this brand off the these products now.” dinner where businessmen with a Presidents Club logo, which stocked by Sports Direct, another shelves,” Rachel Reeves MP, chair Ashley declined to comment. FTSE 100 ▲ 7,483.57 +2.88 FTSE 250 ▲ 21,468.99 +35.93 DOW▲ 28,734.45 +11.60 NASDAQ ▲ 9,275.16 +5.48 £/$▲ 1.301 +0.002 £/€ ▲ 1.182 +0.002 €/$▼ 1.100 -0.001 02 NEWS THURSDAY 30 JANUARY 2020 CITYAM.COM PANDA EYES Berlin’s furriest residents play up for the cameras ahead of going on show to the public for the first time tomorrow THE CITY VIEW City will be caught up in the Brexit fish fight AST night, the European Parliament ratified the UK’s withdrawal agreement. After years of torturous wrangling Lfollowing the Brexit referendum, MEPs delivered the final moment of theatre — complete with a rather touching rendition of Auld Lang Syne. Though the general message was one of friendship and enduring bonds, nobody should be in any doubt that a hard road lies ahead — for everyone. The UK will cease to be a member of the European Union at 11pm tomorrow night. That’s midnight, Brussels time. When the sun rises on Saturday morning, what will have changed? In short: everything — and nothing. The result of the 2016 referendum will have been delivered, but the transition period included in the withdrawal agreement will keep relations at a stand-still until the end of TWIN cubs Pit and Paule have been living in a €10m (£8.5m) enclosure in Berlin Zoo since being born in captivity in August last this year. And what a year it’s set to be. Boris Johnson has set an year, the first born in Germany. In the wild, pandas raise one child at a time — scientists and staff at the zoo have been “cycling” ambitious timetable for the completion of a trade deal and has the cubs’ time with their mother Meng Meng. There are believed to be fewer than 2,000 pandas remaining in the wild. vowed not to extend the transition period. EU leaders have politely scoffed at the idea of getting everything wrapped up by Christmas, but there is talk of a bare-bones trade agreement being put in place, which would be followed by further negotiations. With talks due to kick off in March, each side is Wizz Air takes preparing its teams and drawing up red lines. One of the first BA suspends all great clashes will be over fishing, where the EU is set to demand flight as firm continued access to British waters and quota shares. Ireland’s Leo Varadkar has made it clear that this issue will be linked directly to financial services. Who’d have thought it? Fish for flights to China ups guidance finance. It may seem like a sensible swap, given that the fishing industry is an economic minnow whereas one in 60 people JAMES BOOTH employed in the UK work in the City of London. Across the ANGHARAD CARRICK Virgin Atlantic has told passengers @jamesdbooth1 country, more than 1m people work in financial services, a with flights booked to, through or EUROPEAN budget airline Wizz Air sector which generates more than ten percent of the total UK @angharadcarrick from China that they cannot complete yesterday increased its profit tax take. But Johnson has vowed to “take back control” of our BRITISH Airways yesterday announced their journeys and Lufthansa yesterday guidance for its financial year to it was halting flights to mainland announced it would suspend all flights between €350m (£296m) and €355m waters, and — in contrast — he has said very little about how he China for the all next two days in to mainland China until 9 February on strong third-quarter results. intends to safeguard the City. It’s no surprise, therefore, that the an attempt to curb the spread of the yesterday.