AFP

French agribusiness Danone said Friday it planned to transfer control of its essential dairy and plant-based business in Russia, retaining only its infant nutrition branch.

One of the few multinationals to have remained in Russia since the Ukraine war, Danone said the move to “transfer the effective control” of the dairy business could result in a write off of up to one billion euros ($980 million).

The arm represented five percent of Danone’s net sales in 2022 so far.

“Danone considers that this is the best option to ensure long-term local business continuity, for its employees, consumers and partners,” the group said in a statement.

The transaction will be subject to the approval of authorities, the group added.

Danone will however retain the activities of its “specialised nutrition” arm, which includes infant milk.

“Danone’s priority remains to act responsibly and respectfully to its local employees, consumers, and partners throughout the process,” the statement said Friday.

In March, the French group said it would continue its business in Russia, where it employs 8,000 people, as many international companies suspended operations in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

But Danone spoke in July of the “extremely tense” operational conditions in Russia and Ukraine.

– Multinational exodus –

A large number of major western companies have pulled out of Russia in an exodus since Moscow invaded its pro-Western neighbour on February 24.

Starbucks and McDonald’s were among American corporations to announce their exit.

McDonald’s — which had employed 62,000 workers in Russia — was bought by Russian businessman Alexander Govor and renamed “Vkusno i tochka” (“Delicious. Full Stop”).

The Russian operations of Starbucks were also bought and reopened with a new name and logo.

Denmark’s Lego, the world’s largest toymaker, said in July that it would “indefinitely cease commercial operations” in Russia, ending its partnership with the retail group that operated 81 stores on the brand’s behalf.

French automaker Renault left the country in May, handing over its assets in the country to the Russian government.

Other firms to wind down their Russian business include clothing brands Nike, Adidas and H&M, Swedish furniture giant Ikea, and US tech giant Cisco.

On November 14, 1922, the clipped tones of the BBC’s director of programmes, Arthur Burrows, crackled across the airwaves.

“This is 2LO, Marconi House, London calling,” he announced, and with that, public service broadcasting in Britain was born.

One hundred years on, the British Broadcasting Corporation is a global media giant. But its centenary comes at a time of drastic budget cuts that have raised questions about its future.

The corporation, officially founded on October 18, 1922, has a special place in Britain’s broadcasting landscape.

“The BBC is us,” said Jean Seaton, professor of media history at the University of Westminster in London, and the corporation’s official historian.

“It remains despite the attacks of this government an expression of us, unlike Netflix, which is an expression of the world,” she told AFP.

“The BBC is an expression of our sense of humour, interests or values. It belongs to us.”

For nearly seven million people, each day starts with BBC Radio 4’s flagship “Today” programme, which often sets the political agenda. 

At weekends, “Strictly Come Dancing”, which pairs celebrities with professional ballroom dancers, has had viewers glued to their sets for 20 years and is the most talked-about television programme on air.

BBC series such as “Peaky Blinders”, “Fleabag” or “Killing Eve” have been exported around the world.

The BBC’s influence extends far beyond Britain’s borders, making it one of the small island nation’s most visible and respected global brands.

It reaches an audience of 492 million around the world every week, according to the corporation’s 2021-2022 annual report.

BBC World Service broadcasts in 41 languages to about 364 million people a week globally.

For the last 100 years, the broadcaster has stuck firm with its original mission statement: to “inform, educate and entertain”.

“It underpins everything that we want to do,” said James Stirling, who is head of the BBC’s centenary celebrations.

– Impartiality –

Another word — impartiality — crops up repeatedly and has become a priority for BBC management given the frequent criticism it has received from the Conservative government.

During Brexit — Britain’s divisive divorce from the European Union — it accused the BBC of bias in favour of those who wanted to stay in the bloc.

Ministers have also alleged that it focuses too much on the concerns of urban elites rather than the working classes.

Britain’s right-wing tabloids — never shy of criticising their publicly funded competitor — have lapped it up.

But more worrying is a decision in January by Boris Johnson’s government to freeze its licence-fee funding model for two years, raising fears it could be scrapped in future.

The annual charge for households with a television set is currently set at £159 ($176).

In response to Johnson’s plans, the BBC in May announced a huge cost-cutting programme of £500 million a year, axing about 1,000 of its 22,000 staff and moving about services online.

The financial situation has been accompanied by an exodus of younger audiences towards streaming and on-demand platforms, prompting questions about why they should still pay for the BBC.

“Today” presenter Nick Robinson, a former BBC political editor, said it was vital for the broadcaster to keep proving its value.

“If my kids’ generation… just come to the view that I don’t really need that, I can get all that stuff from YouTube and get it from all these competitors… then we’re done,” he told the Daily Telegraph.

– ‘Pride’ –

Successful new formats have emerged, however, despite the BBC often being labelled as “legacy media”.

Journalist Ros Atkins has made his name with video “explainers” of major news stories and issues, combining them with analysis, fact-checking and vital context.

They are broadcast on television, the BBC website and via social media, where they often register millions of views around the world.

“While we still have millions of people who consume our journalism via our platforms — the BBC website, TV and radio — millions of others are consuming journalism elsewhere on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok,” he said.

“We’ve seen very big numbers on these videos. They prove this kind of journalism has an audience.”

Atkins, who started at the BBC in 2001, is well aware of the difficulties ahead. “It’s going to impact all of us who work here,” he added.

“But if you ask me how I feel about the experience of being a journalist at the BBC… I still feel I’m walking through the door at the best news organisation in the world.” 

Two French unions announced a tentative pay rise agreement with oil giant TotalEnergies early Friday following emergency negotiations to end a three-week strike that has emptied the country’s petrol stations and sparked a wider backlash to the rising cost of living.

The hard-left CGT union, which initiated the industrial action, walked out of the meeting, however, and vowed to continue striking. 

Under pressure from the government to resolve the 18-day crisis, the oil group met with four unions at its headquarters in the suburbs of Paris.

At around 3:30 am (0130 GMT), after nearly six hours of talks, representatives from CFDT and CFE-CGC said they supported the proposed seven percent pay increase and 3-6,000 euro bonus. 

“The CFDT negotiating team is in favour of the measures that are on the table,” said Geoffrey Caillon, CFDT’s coordinator. CFE-CGC coordinator Dominique Conver also called the terms “rather favourable”.

The unions have until noon on Friday to consult with their members and decide whether to sign the offer. 

Launched on September 27, the industrial action has blocked TotalEnergies’ refineries and fuel depots, causing nationwide fuel shortages and a crisis for President Emmanuel Macron’s government as calls grow for a general walkout.

Denouncing the negotiations as a “charade”, CGT representative Alexis Antonioli said TotalEnergies’ proposals were “largely insufficient”.

“It will not do anything to change the determination or outlook of the strikers,” Antonioli said. 

French railway workers and civil servants represented by CGT voted to join the striking oil refinery staff in a national day of stoppages next Tuesday, raising fears that anger over surging inflation could spiral into a series of blockages.

The famously militant CGT said it was not only pushing for higher wages for railway workers but also wanted to signal anger at the government’s intervention.

Facing frustrated businesses and an increasingly alarmed public, Macron’s administration has invoked emergency powers to compel some striking refinery workers back to their jobs.

He pledged a return to normal “in the course of the coming week”. 

– ‘A disaster’ –

Six out of seven refineries have been affected by the strikes, causing huge queues outside petrol stations and growing frustration among motorists.

“It’s been a disaster,” said Francoise Ernst, a driving instructor. “We can’t work anymore.”

Only one refinery has been able to resolve the strike so far. At the Fos-sur-Mer facility, which belongs to Esso-ExxonMobil, an agreement was signed on Monday with CFDT and CFE-CGC, but the terms were also rejected by CGT. 

“The time for a confrontation (with the government) has arrived,” left-wing opposition parliamentarian Clementine Autain from the France Unbowed party told France 2 television on Thursday.

Left-wing political parties are seizing on the strikes to ignite a protest movement against Macron and the rising cost of living, with a rally planned for Sunday.

Leading Greens lawmaker Sandrine Rousseau has said she hoped the refinery standoff would be “the spark that begins a general strike”.

But not all unions have joined the call for a general strike next Tuesday, with the country’s biggest, the CFDT, opting out.  

– Sympathy and anger –

Until Tuesday, the government had been reluctant to inflame the pay dispute at French energy group TotalEnergies and US giant Esso-ExxonMobil.

TotalEnergies made a net profit of $5.7 billion in the April-June period and is distributing billions to shareholders as its employees push for higher wages. 

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told RTL radio that given its huge profits this year, it had “the capacity… and therefore an obligation” to raise workers’ pay.

With 30 percent of French service stations with little or no fuel, particularly those in the Paris region and the north, the government has begun requisitioning fuel depot workers, which forces them to return to work or risk prosecution.

After an ExxonMobil depot Wednesday, a TotalEnergies site in northern France was requisitioned Thursday, with the first laden fuel tankers protected by police seen leaving during the afternoon.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne’s office said the emergency measures were justified because of a “real economic threat” for northern France, which relies heavily on agriculture, fishing and industry.

But the unions have reacted furiously to the government intervention.

“What we are seeing here is the Macronian dictatorship,” CGT official Benjamin Tange told AFP. The current industrial action, he said, arose out of “the anger of several months, several years and a rupture of social dialogue”.

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China’s consumer inflation hit two-year high in September, official data showed Friday, fuelled by soaring pork prices and as extreme weather hit farmers.

Consumers in China have been largely spared the impact of a global surge in food and energy costs following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But data showed Friday that the country’s consumer price index (CPI), the main gauge for retail inflation, hit 2.8 percent last month, up from 2.5 percent in August.

The reading is the highest since April 2020, when the country was emerging from its first wave of Covid-19 lockdowns.

It also follows weeks of record temperatures above 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), China’s hottest summer on record that caused a crippling drought in August.

“Impacted by high temperatures and low rainfall, fresh vegetable prices rose 6.5 percent” on-year, NBS senior statistician Dong Lijuan said in a statement.

The price of pork — the country’s favourite meat — shot up 36 percent, according to the NBS.

“With bullish expectations, some pork farmers are reluctant to sell, and prices continued to rise,” Dong said.

Chinese authorities have repeatedly dipped into pork reserves in recent weeks as soaring prices triggered inflation concerns.

Meanwhile, the country’s factory-gate inflation dropped to 0.9 percent, its lowest in more than a year, data showed, on the back of falling raw material prices.

The figure was down from a 2.3 percent rise in August and the lowest since January 2021, according to official data.

“In September, the international prices of crude oil and other bulk commodities continued to decline,” Dong said.

Analysts polled by Bloomberg had expected consumer prices to rise by 2.9 percent and producer prices by one percent

Asian equities soared Friday to extend a surge on Wall Street, where all three indexes saw extreme swings in response to a forecast-beating inflation report that cemented expectations for more big Federal Reserve rate hikes.

Sterling also held on to its big gains sparked by speculation the UK government was set to perform another u-turn on its controversial debt-fuelled mini-budget, though the yen remained stuck around three-decade lows against the dollar.

The hotly awaited US inflation report showed prices rose last month at a faster clip than expected despite a series of interest rate increases this year, which have fanned fears of a global recession.

The month-on-month reading came in double estimates, while core inflation — which strips out volatile energy and food prices — was also elevated.

The figures sparked a sharp plunge on Wall Street but the selling quickly reversed, and all three main indexes finished the day with gains of more than two percent with analysts suggesting several reasons for the extreme move.

Some said the initial selling may have been a knee-jerk reaction before traders accepted the data was not as bad as other recent reports, while technical factors were also flagged.

Others speculated that equities had finally reached their bottom after a year of selling that has seen many indexes plunge into correction territory having lost more than 20 percent from their recent peaks.

“The market reversal was a head-scratcher”, said OANDA’s Edward Moya. “Some investors are convinced core inflation will soon start trending lower. Fed tightening will remain aggressive at 75 basis points in November and possibly December,” he added.

“Monetary policy is quickly getting restrictive and that will undoubtedly send inflation lower. It looks like rates will peak slightly above five percent and for some that is good enough of a reason to get back into stocks.”

However, he warned that “given the path for rates is higher, this market reversal won’t last long”.

– Yen weakness –

Still, Asian investors took the opportunity to buy up some bargains after another torrid week.

Tokyo, Hong Kong and Taipei put on more than three percent apiece, while Seoul was up more than two percent. Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Wellington, Manila and Jakarta were also sharply higher.

The pound was also still enjoying some much-needed support after breaking higher Thursday on reports that the new government was looking at rowing back on more tax-cut pledges in its mini-budget, which sparked turmoil on debt markets when released two weeks ago.

Sterling was sitting well above $1.13, having been wallowing below $1.10 early Thursday, with help also coming from Bank of England cash injections to prop up financial markets and prevent a collapse of pension funds.

The pound’s stronger position came despite Prime Minister Liz Truss’s insistence that there would be no more u-turns, after she was previously forced to scrap a plan to cut the higher rate of income tax.

However, the strong inflation data pushed the already strong dollar further up against other currencies and it hit a 32-year high of 147.67 yen, with traders now looking to see if Japanese officials intervene again to protect the struggling unit.

Japanese finance minister Shunichi Suzuki told the Group of 20 gathering in Washington DC that authorities were “watching the foreign exchange markets with a high sense of urgency, and we’ll take appropriate responses against excessive moves”.

Officials refused to say if they intervened Thursday following a big drop in response to the greenback’s spike.

The yen’s weakness comes from the Bank of Japan’s refusal to lift interest rates — citing a need to support the economy — at the same time as the Fed presses ahead with a series of big rate hikes.

– Key figures around 0230 GMT –

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 3.4 percent at 27,141.18 (break)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 3.2 percent at 16,912.09

Shanghai – Composite: UP 1.4 percent at 3,059.30

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.1330 from $1.1333 Thursday

Dollar/yen: UP at 147.28 yen from 147.22 yen

Euro/dollar: UP at $0.9792 from $0.9780

Euro/pound: UP at 86.38 pence from 86.28 pence

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.1 percent at $89.22 per barrel

Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.1 percent at $94.67 per barrel

New York – Dow: UP 2.8 percent at 30,038.72 (close)

London – FTSE 100: UP 0.4 percent at 6,850.27 (close)