BUSINESS Saturday 17 June 2017 PAGE | 12 PAGE | 12 9,257.90 21,372.23 7,463.54 $44.71 Russian central +67.92 PTS +12.33 PTS +44.18 PTS +0.11 Germany sticks 0.74% 0.06% 0.60% bank cuts to cautious QE DOW FTSE100 BRENT interest rate growth outlook Dow & Brent before going to press Ecofin meeting in Luxembourgh Apple poaches Amazon to buy top two Sony TV executives US grocer for Bengaluru Reuters pple Inc said yesterday it has hired the co- $13.7bn Apresidents of Sony Pictures Television, Jamie All-cash deal convenience and innovation Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, to our customers," Mackey to lead the iPhone maker's Under the all-cash said. foray into television-style deal, Amazon will In May, under pressure programming. acquire the Texas- from Jana Partners, Whole The duo, responsible for based champion of Foods replaced five board shows such as "Breaking Bad," organic and members and its chief finan- "Better Call Saul," "The speciality food. cial officer. Crown" and "The Blacklist," The hedge fund said the have been Sony Pictures pres- company was undervalued idents since 2005. The hudge fund said and needed to overhaul its "Jamie and Zack are two the companyt was LEFT TO RIGHT: Dutch Finance Minister and president of Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem operations and consider "stra- of the most talented TV exec- talks with Belgian Finance minister Johan Van Overtveldt , Spain's Economy Minister udnervalued and tegice alternatives," a term utives in the world and have needed to overhaul usually used to indicate a sale. Luis de Guindos and Luxembourg's Finance Minister Pierre Gramegna during an Ecofin been instrumental in making its operations. The deal is the latest big meeting in Luxembourg. this the golden age of televi- move for Amazon and its sion," said Eddy Cue, Apple's charismatic chief executive senior vice president of Inter- New York Jeff Bezos, who grew Amazon net Software and Services. AFP from a small online bookseller Van Amburg and Erlicht’s in the 1990s into a global retail departure from Sony Pictures mazon will acquire behemoth that delivers a wide was announced on Thursday upscale US grocer range of goods and creates Boeing and Rolls-Royce not in a memo from Sony Pictures Whole Foods Mar- award-winning entertainment Entertainment Chief Execu- ket, known for its broadcasts. tive Tony Vinciquerra, pricey organic "Millions of people love according to the entertain- options,A for $13.7bn, the com- Whole Foods Market because worried about Mideast orders ment magazine Variety, panies announced yesterday, they offer the best natural and which said their contracts in a deal that underscores the organic foods, and they make Paris Boeing also said there was were set to expire in August. online retailer's growing it fun to eat healthy," Bezos Reuters not yet cause for concern. Hollywood has been influence. said. "They may be a bit more cau- awaiting the entry of deep- Under the all-cash deal, The transaction is xecutives from aircraft and tious and careful as they go pocketed Apple into the field Amazon will acquire the Texas- expected to close in the sec- engine makers Boeing and forward but we’re not seeing of original television, which based champion of organic and ond half of 2017 following ERolls-Royce said recent a significant uptake in defer- is studded with award-win- specialty food for $42 a share. regulatory approvals and a instability in the Middle East had rals or cancellations at this ning dramas and comedies Whole Foods traded in the mid- Whole Foods shareholder not so far led to deferrals or can- point," Randy Tinseth, Boeing from outlets such as Netflix $30 range for May and the first vote. cellations of plane orders. marketing vice president said and Time Warner Inc's HBO. part of June. Trading of Whole Foods Gulf carriers such as Qatar of his Middle East customers. Apple began its move into Whole Foods, which has shares was halted, while Ama- Airways and Emirates have Earlier, Rolls-Royce has the field last week, with are- faced pressure from activist zon rose 2.0 percent to grown rapidly over the last signalled that investors should ality program called "Planet investors, will continue to $983.40 in pre-market decade and have been big buy- expect few orders at n Paris air of the Apps," an unscripted operate stores under its brand trading. ers of large aircraft in recent show, issuing a downbeat show about developers try- and will be led by co-founder The grocer will continue years, but their growth has (pictured) told the Paris Air trading statement. ing to interest celebrity and chief executive John to operate stores under the slowed over the last 12 months Forum, adding that he hoped The FTSE 100 engineer mentors with a 60-second Mackey, the companies said. Whole Foods Market brand, as the low oil price hit demand the situation would settle said that the year had started pitch on an escalator. "This partnership presents the companies said. for business travel. down. well, with trading conditions The company's future an opportunity to maximize John Mackey will continue "Any major crisis in the "Compared with the situ- in line with forecasts given at programming plans include value for Whole Foods Mar- as chief executive of Whole Middle East would affect our ation six months ago, this is a last month’s annual meeting. an adaptation of comedian ket's shareholders, while at the Foods, and the company's industry one way or another. landscape which seems to be Chief executive Warren James Corden's "Carpool same time extending our mis- headquarters will remain in We are not there yet," Rolls- less stable, but that doesn't East has predicted that 2017 Karaoke" segment from his- sion and bringing the highest Austin, Texas, Reuters Royce civil aerospace mean it will be unstable in six will be a year of “modest CBS show that will begin quality, experience, reported. president Eric Schulz months' time," he added. growth” in sales and profit. airing in August. The forward curve for oil prices looks suddenly awful for Opec London forward prices get higher all the other producing nations agreed “Nothing this week has been par- said crude inventories rose 3.3 to cut output. “Opec’s decision to Bloomberg way into the next decade. While late last year to cut production. ticularly bullish. Non-Opec supply million barrels. The structure merely extend production cuts it’s a structure that normally That view was undermined in is going to be stronger than became even more entrenched on showed a disconnected cartel, s if a mini-collapse in oil denotes weak demand for spot recent weeks by data showing that demand growth, suggesting Opec Wednesday when the IEA said which was not on the ‘market prices wasn’t bad enough cargoes, the price pattern could combined stockpiles of crude and are possibly going to have to make non-Opec producers led by shale pulse’,” said Thibaut Remoundos, Afor Opec, the pattern in also be bad news for the Organi- fuels in the US, still the biggest even more cuts or extend will add barrels more quickly than founder of Commodities Trading which futures contracts are trad- zation of Petroleum Exporting consumer, swelled by 22 million them.”Until last week, the forward any expansion in global Corporation Ltd. The increase in ing years from now has flipped Countries as it can sometimes barrels. The International Energy curves for Brent and WTI had consumption. later-dated futures has been into the worst possible structure tempt producers outside the group Agency in Paris suggested partly been trading in backwar- Brent time-spreads between driven by a surge of activity from for the exporter group. to lock in output for future years. Wednesday that there’s little sign dation, meaning some prices were December 2017 and 2018, and consumers such as shipping com- Brent and West Texas Inter- Saudi Arabia is among nations 2018 will be much better. lower further in the future. That then 2018 to 2019, are trading in panies and airlines, while bullish mediate crudes, down almost 15 that have been saying for months “It’s not good news for Opec,” flipped into full contango last the deepest contangos since mid- bets on the market’s structure percent since late May, are both that a re-balancing is under way said Warren Patterson, commod- week, as the US Energy Informa- November, the most bearish have been unwound, Remoundos trading in contango, where in the oil market after Ooec and ity strategist at ING Bank NV. tion Administration unexpectedly structure since before Opec agreed said. 12 BUSINESS SATURDAY 17 JUNE 2017 China & ADB Russian central bank cuts interest rate launch green Moscow Q3 growth and a half to two years. The cut Russian economy, which heav- AFP was more cautious than ily relies on oil revenues, the financing Russia’s GDP grew expected, said economist Oleg bank predicts that oil prices “will ussia’s central bank 0.5% in the first Kuzmin of Renaissance Capital, return toward the level close to trimmed yesterday quarter of 2017, and and could be caused by concerns $40 a barrel” next year, said Shanghai its key interest rate in a growth of 1.3 % is of future food price dynamics Nabiullina during a Reuters line with its policy to expected in the third and a move by the United States press-conference. gently invigorate the quarter. to tighten sanctions on Russia. She said oil prices could be hina and the Asia Devel- Rcountry’s economy as inflation The statement “struck a more influenced by growth of produc- opment Bank (ADB) slows, but analysts called the cautious tone than most tion in the United States, China’s Chave launched a green quarter of a percentage point cut Bank’s moderately expected,” echoed economist slowing economy and growth of financing platform to support a cautious move as the United tight policy is likely William Jackson of Capital alternative energy production, efforts by small-and medium- States moved to step up to continue for 18 to Economics.