AFP

German airline giant Lufthansa on Monday significantly raised its earnings forecast for 2022, citing “strong demand” for air travel in the months ahead.

The group now expects adjusted operating profits (adjusted EBIT) of “over one billion euros ($980 million)”, it said in a statement, double its previous target of “at least” 500 million euros.

Lufthansa said the optimistic outlook was “based on the positive development in the third quarter, the current booking situation, which continues to reflect strong demand for air travel in the coming months and the expectation of another record result from Lufthansa Cargo in 2022”.

Third quarter revenues almost doubled year-on-year to 10.1 billion euros, according to preliminary results released by Lufthansa.

Strike action by pilots and ground staff over the July-to-September period cost the airline around 70 million euros, it added.

Lufthansa pilots agreed last month not to strike again until at least the end of June next year, after reaching a deal with bosses on higher pay.

The Lufthansa group — which includes Eurowings, Austrian, Swiss and Brussels Airlines — made huge net losses of 6.7 billion euros in 2020 and 2.2 billion euros in 2021 as the coronavirus pandemic shut down large parts of the airline industry.

Lufthansa was saved from bankruptcy by a German government bailout in June 2020.

The strong rebound in travel and freight traffic since then allowed Lufthansa to stabilise its finances earlier than expected.

The German government sold its remaining stake in Lufthansa last month, putting the airline back in private hands.

Lufthansa will publish its full third-quarter results on October 27.

Car giant Stellantis may stop building vehicles in China, chief executive Carlos Tavares said Monday, citing building tensions with the West as a deterrent to investment there.

“Our strategy anticipates the possibility of geopolitical tensions,” Tavares told reporters at the Paris Motor Show.

“There have already been several times where we’ve been thrown out of a country when Western sanctions are imposed… can we be sure that the stability of relations between China and the world is guaranteed?” he added.

Stellantis has already dropped a joint venture that built Jeep SUVs in China after failing to take a controlling stake, and is in talks with local partner Dongfeng about its Peugeot and Citroen brands.

Unlike German rival Volkswagen, which sold three million cars in China last year, the historic mass-market French vehicles have never broken through there.

“We’re still selling Jeep and Alfa Romeo vehicles built outside China very profitably” in the world’s largest car market, Tavares said, suggesting the same model could work for Peugeot and Citroen.

“If we take our strategy all the way, we don’t need any factories in China. In a world of growing tensions, we don’t need to create vulnerabilities,” he added.

Japanese and German producers have largely stayed away from the Paris Motor Show.

But Asian manufacturers like China’s Ora and BYD or Vietnam’s VinFast have turned out in force, hoping to bring lower-cost electric vehicles to European markets.

Stellantis aims for revenues of 20 billion euros ($19.6 billion) in China by 2030 with its 14 brands, but Tavares complained of unequal treatment from Beijing.

“The red carpet is rolled out for Chinese manufacturers in Europe, and that’s not how we’re welcomed in China,” he said.

“Import taxes on vehicles coming from China should be symmetrical with those applied to Western vehicles in China.”

The Stellantis boss added that “we are in a world that’s fragmenting, states are trying to create bubbles.

“If we think these bubbles will close at some point, we’ll have to sell in Europe vehicles that are made in Europe. We will adapt,” he added.

Social network Parler announced Monday a deal for Kanye West to buy the platform popular with US conservatives, just over a week after the rapper’s Twitter and Instagram accounts were restricted over anti-Semitic posts.

West — now known as Ye — has recently alienated fans and business partners with anti-Semitic comments, interest in racist conspiracy theories and wearing a provocative “White Lives Matter” T-shirt at Paris fashion week.

“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” the billionaire artist and fashion mogul said in a statement released by Parler.

Parler said West, who has an account on the network as of Monday, was “taking a bold stance against his recent censorship from Big Tech.”

The 45-year-old’s restrictions on Twitter and Instagram earlier in October were not the first time his posts prompted punitive action from major social media platforms.

Earlier this year, West was banned from posting on Instagram for 24 hours after violating the social network’s harassment policy amid his acrimonious divorce from reality star Kim Kardashian. 

Parler, which describes itself as “a guiding force in the fight against Big Tech, Big Government, censorship, and cancel culture,” announced in September that it was restructuring to focus on users who risk being ousted from the internet. 

– Trump supporters –

George Farmer, Parler’s executive director, said the deal with West would “change the world, and change the way the world thinks about free speech.”

“Ye is making a groundbreaking move into the free speech media space and will never have to fear being removed from social media again,” he said.

The value of the deal, which is expected to close this year was not disclosed.

Launched in 2018, Parler became a haven for supporters of former US president Donald Trump and far-right users who say they have been censored by other social media platforms such as Twitter. It has since signed up many more traditional Republican voices.

But it was pulled from the Apple and Google online marketplaces and effectively shut down when Amazon Web Services cut ties over allegations the platform failed to stop incitement of violence ahead of the January 6, 2021, siege of the US Capitol led by Trump supporters.

Last month, Google allowed Parler back into its Play Store, more than a year after banning the platform.

The network — one of several in a crowded conservative social media marketplace — claimed to have more than 20 million users before being pulled from Apple and Google.

Competitor Truth Social — which Trump launched after being barred from Twitter over the Capitol riot — was also allowed on the Google Play Store this month, weeks before the crucial midterm elections.

The World Health Organization is sourcing rapid response financing directly from companies to help tackle international crises, through the foundation it set up to bridge the shortfall from member states.

The WHO Foundation — set up in May 2020 as the UN health agency scrambled for resources to fight the Covid-19 pandemic — was created to marshal new resources from business and philanthropists.

The foundation, which went live in January 2021, aims to “mobilise more support for the WHO, from the public, from businesses, from philanthropists,” its chief executive Anil Soni told AFP. 

“No organisation, no sector can solve the challenges that the world is facing alone,” the 46-year-old American said.

The WHO has a two-year budget of $5.8 billion but its financial independence has steadily declined. 

Its 194 member states provide barely 16 percent of the organisation’s financing through membership fees.

The rest comes from voluntary contributions, of which 88 percent are “specified”, meaning the money goes to projects earmarked by the donors.

And with national budgets tightening around the world, governments “are having to make tough decisions about where they give their money”, said Soni.

“That’s why we should do more with the private sector.”

– ‘Matchmaker’ –

The foundation says it exists because the WHO lacks sufficient resources to fulfil its mandate.

The list of health crises currently being combated by the WHO includes Covid-19, the cholera outbreak in Haiti, the war in Ukraine, the devastating floods in Pakistan, monkeypox and attempts to get aid into Ethiopia’s besieged Tigray region.

The foundation has raised $30 million since the start of 2021 — money which has mainly been focused on supporting the WHO’s emergency response to Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine.

“Part of our job is to be a matchmaker, is to make sure that we can facilitate dialogue and share information,” said Soni.

“So the WHO sees the benefit of working with the private sector, and the private sector sees the power of the WHO.”

The foundation has around 40 staff compared to more than 8,600 for the WHO, which is also based in Geneva.

– Innovation investments –

Soni admits that some — including within the WHO — fear the risk of private companies holding too much sway over the organisation, which makes decisions on the usage and approval of drugs, vaccines and treatments.

He insisted mechanisms were in place to prevent any company from influencing such decisions.

“But to close the door to all of the private sector — that doesn’t work,” he said.

On September 19, the WHO Foundation announced that it had partnered with venture capital firm OurCrowd to launch a $200 million investment fund focused on breakthrough health technologies.

OurCrowd will raise the money and a share of the profits will go to the WHO.

In addition, the companies in which the fund has invested will have to commit to ensuring fair access to their new technologies — one of the WHO’s chief gripes during the pandemic response, as poorer nations went to the back of the queue for Covid vaccines and treatments.

– Flexible friends –

On September 22, the foundation announced the launch of the Health Emergencies Alliance partnership — a vehicle for companies and philanthropists who want to support the WHO in tackling health emergencies on a regular basis.

The partnership, which is in its infancy, hopes to get financing to the front line swiftly and effectively.

“What we wanted to do was engage companies and give them an ability to more quickly respond to emergencies and also raise more flexible funding for the WHO,” said Soni.

The French laboratory pharmaceutical giant Sanofi was the first to sign up, he said, with discussions ongoing with other companies.

Those who join the programme will pay a set amount to the foundation each year, without the donation being earmarked for a particular situation.

And when a health emergency suddenly springs up, these companies will, within 24 hours, have the possibility of raising additional resources for the response, from their clients, employees and the company itself, capitalising while the emotion on breaking disasters is still strong.

The British government on Monday axed almost all of its debt-fuelled tax cuts unveiled last month to avert fresh markets chaos, in a humiliating climbdown for embattled Prime Minister Liz Truss.

The shock move by new finance chief Jeremy Hunt, parachuted into the job on Friday to replace sacked Kwasi Kwarteng, leaves Truss’ position in a precarious state after a series of embarrassing U-turns.

Hunt estimated the tax changes would raise about £32 billion ($36 billion) per year, after economists estimated the government faced a £60-billion black hole. He also warned of tough spending cuts.

The chancellor of the exchequer said no government could control markets — but stressed his action would give certainty over public finances and help secure growth.

“We will reverse almost all the tax measures announced… three weeks ago,” Hunt said in a televised statement, conceding last month’s budget from his predecessor had harmed the public purse.

“The most important objective for our country right now is stability,” he added in a contrite statement, ahead of setting out further details in parliament later Monday.

– U-turns –

Hunt scrapped plans to axe the lowest rate of income tax, and curbed the government’s flagship energy price freeze — pulling the plug in April instead of late 2024.

After April, his department will “review” its energy support package, he said.

A proposed reduction in shareholder dividend tax was also binned, along with planned tax-free shopping for tourists and a freeze on alcohol duty.

The announcement comes as Truss’ governing Conservative party tanks in the opinion polls amid the reversals and Britain’s worsening cost-of-living crisis.

Truss fired her close friend Kwarteng on Friday after their recent tax-slashing budget sparked markets chaos — fuelling intense speculation over her political future one month after taking office.

“No government can control the markets but every government can give certainty about the sustainability of public finances,” Hunt added Monday.

His action sent the British pound jumping to $1.1346, while bond yields dipped.

Last month’s notorious budget had sent bond yields spiking and the pound collapsing to a record dollar-low on fears of rocketing UK debt.

– ‘Difficult decisions’ –

Tax reductions were the centrepiece of the ill-fated budget, but they were financed via huge borrowing.

Truss had already staged two embarrassing budget U-turns, scrapping tax cuts for the richest earners and on company profits.

“There will be more difficult decisions I am afraid, on both tax and spending, as we deliver our commitment to get debt falling as a share of the economy over the medium term,” Hunt added Monday.

“All departments will need to redouble their efforts to find savings, and some areas of spending will need to be cut.”

Hunt already stated that he was not taking anything off the table” amid speculation of cutbacks on areas like defence, hospitals and schools.

He met over the weekend with the governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, and the head of the Debt Management Office to discuss his plans.

In the wake of the earlier turmoil, the BoE launched emergency buying of UK government bonds — a policy that ended Friday.

The budget furore has reportedly sparked a plot to oust the prime minister.

UK media reported that senior Conservative members of parliament were plotting to unseat Truss, aghast at the party’s performance since she replaced scandal-hit Boris Johnson on September 6.

– ‘Death knell’ –

Monday’s latest massive U-turn comes after Truss was elected Tory leader on a tax-slashing platform that analysts dubbed “Trussonomics”.

“That sound you can hear is the death knell for Trussonomics, with the vast majority of her tax cutting plans now consigned to the bin,” said Laura Suter, head of personal finance at stockbroker AJ Bell.

“People have had yogurt in their fridge that’s lasted longer than some of the government’s planned tax cuts,” she added.

In two weeks’ time, Hunt will unveil his medium-term fiscal plan alongside independent economic forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility.

But the main opposition Labour party, riding high in the polls, said the ruling Tories had “lost all credibility”.

“All the chancellor’s statement underlines is that the damage has been done,” said its shadow finance minister Rachel Reeves.