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The business empire of the incoming Czech PM Babis includes everything from chickens to fertility clinics
Andrej Babis, a Czech billionaire, will be appointed prime minister by Petr Pavel on December 9 after his populist ANO won an election in October. Petr Pavel announced that he would name Babis as prime minister after the billionaire cleared up any conflict of interest concerns by agreeing for his Agrofert group to be transferred to an independent trust. BABIS HOLDINGS Babis has a net worth of $4.3 billion according to Forbes, making him one of the 10 richest Czechs. Babis acquired a part of Agrofert in the 1990s, a trading company from communist times. Separately, he holds investments in the amount of hundreds of millions of Euros through Imoba and a fund named Hartenberg. He has not stated that he will make any changes in his control over these holdings. GOVERNMENT CONNECTIONS Babis, as prime minister and member of the EU’s top council for heads of government will decide on national and pan European regulations, taxes, and subsidies. Babis' companies have received public contracts and investment incentives, such as tax reductions, worth tens and millions of Euros, from the Czechoslovak and Hungarian government. According to their annual report for 2024, they receive payments from the European Union for land farmed and animals bred. They also received EU funding for innovative investment project. Some of the projects that Babis was in charge of during his previous term from 2017-2021 are either halted or subject to legal and administration battles. Babis, when he was previously prime minister, transferred his assets into trust funds that courts and the European Commission later found to be inadequate. He said the new system is more strict, and goes beyond legal requirements. Agrofert Agrofert is an association of around 230 businesses in central Europe, including agriculture, food processing and distribution, fertilizers, plastics fuels, forestry, and other industries. The largest companies are located in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The group had a revenue of 212 billion crowns (10.2 billion dollars) in 2024, and a net attributable income of 7 billion crowns. This was up from 2.1 billion crowns in 2023. One-off profits from the sale the group's chemicals and media business helped to boost the profit. In 2024, the EU will provide 1.7 billion crowns of subsidies to support farm production. PLASTICS, ADBLUE, PLASTILISERS It is an important European manufacturer of the urea-based AdBlue diesel engine additive, as well ammonia and fertilisers. SKW Stickstoffwerke Piesteritz is one of the major players in this sector. Other companies include GreenChem and Duslo. Recent acquisitions included the 810 million-euro takeover in 2023 of Austrian energy company Borealis' nitrogen division and the purchase of Rotterdam port terminal OCI Ammonia Holding last month for 290 millions euros. WHEAT, BREAD MEAT AND EGGS It is the owner of major poultry and beef processing companies, as well as bakeries and milk processing companies in central Europe. In Czech supermarkets, Agrofert products are everywhere. It has farms covering more than 140.000 hectares. It is also a major breeder of poultry, pigs and cattle, and it has interests in forestry and wood. Other Assets Hartenberg Capital is owned by Jozef J. Janov, a professional investor who is also the leader and minority owner. Hartenberg Capital's investments include: According to the website of this company, 60 clinics have been operating in 16 European nations and have delivered 166,956 children. This includes hospitals that provide other services. Enterstore is an e-commerce company that includes brands like Astratex, Miss Mary, and real estate projects. IMOBA is the owner of several restaurants as well as Capi Hnizdo, a conference and entertainment center near Prague. Babis is facing a court case over a fraudulently claimed 2 million euro EU subsidy for the construction of the project. Babis returned the money and denies wrongdoing. Babis was acquitted in the case by an appeals court, which ordered a new trial. Babis can avoid this retrial if his allies vote to keep his immunity. $1 = 20.7350 Czech crowns (Reporting and editing by Alex Richardson).
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Sources say that Amazon paid 180 million Euros to Italy to end the tax and labour probe
Sources with knowledge of this matter confirmed on Friday that an Italian unit of the e-commerce giant Amazon had paid compensation to delivery staff and removed a monitoring system, putting an end to a probe of alleged tax fraud, and illegal labor practices. In July 2024, the logistics services unit of the group was accused by the authorities of circumventing tax and labour laws. It relied on limited liability companies or cooperatives to supply it with workers. The unit also avoided VAT tax, and reduced social security payments. Milan's prosecutors confiscated 121 million Euros from the unit at the time. The group, which has paid the Italian tax agency around 180 million Euros ($210 million), joins more than 30 companies that have settled similar investigations in the last two years. According to a document seen by the. Amazon released a statement saying, "We have clarified with the authorities our position and they have acknowledged the high standards that our collaboration model has with our delivery partners." The company said that "our engagement with Italian institutions, and other stakeholders, has improved compliance throughout the industry." Milan's prosecutor's office has conducted investigations into the hiring practices of several large companies, including Italian DHL, FedEx, UPS and Italian supermarket chain Esselunga. Il Sole 24 Ore was the first to report on Amazon's settlement. (1 dollar = 0.8579 euro) (Reporting and writing by Emilio Parodi; editing by Alvise Armilini, Elaine Hardcastle).
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Airbus confirms November deliveries dip after industrial glitch
Airbus said that it delivered 72 planes to bring the total number of planes this year up to 657. Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury cited the figure as a sign of a poor November following an industrial glitch. The world's biggest planemaker will have to deliver a record-breaking 133 planes to reach a revised 790 goal for 2025. The November tally is down from 78 the month before and 84 last November, according to a report released this week. The company's lower delivery data comes after a difficult week, in which it announced that there was a quality problem with some metal fuselage panels in its most popular A320 family jets. This came just days after an unexpected recall to fix a bug in a computer. The planemaker reduced its commercial deliveries for the full year by 4%, to "around 790", down from 820. However, it maintained its financial targets. Airbus previously stated that it takes "around" as a 20 aircraft margin of error. Airbus said Friday it had also booked 75 new orders for November. This brings the total of this year's orders to 797 or a net 700, after cancellations. Airbus remains ahead of Boeing in deliveries, even after the fuselage issue linked to a Spanish manufacturer, as Boeing recovers from a long-running crisis. However, Airbus is behind on new orders. Boeing reported net orders of 782 for the period January-October, which is the most recent data available. (Reporting and editing by David Goodman.)
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Sources say that Amazon paid 180 million Euros to Italy to end the tax and labour probe
Sources with knowledge of this matter confirmed on Friday that an Italian unit of the e-commerce giant Amazon had paid compensation to delivery staff and removed a monitoring system, ending an investigation into alleged tax fraud. In July 2024, the logistics services unit of the group was accused by the authorities of circumventing tax and labour laws. It relied on limited liability companies or cooperatives to supply it with workers. The group also avoided VAT tax, and reduced social security payments. Milan's prosecutors confiscated 121 million Euros from the unit at the time. Two sources confirmed that the group had paid the Italian tax agency around 180 million euro ($209.83m) as part of an overall settlement worth 1 billion euros involving 33 companies which were targeted by similar investigations conducted in Milan. They added that these include Italian units DHL, FedEx and Ups as well as the Italian supermarket chain Esselunga. Il Sole 24 Ore was the first to report on this settlement. The paper and sources reported that under the agreement, the companies which were being investigated also agreed to hire directly more than 50,000 employees who had previously been hired indirectly via the cooperatives. $1 = 0.8579 Euros (Reporting and writing by Emilio Parodi; editing by Alvise Armilini)
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India's IndiGo cancels 500 flights. New Delhi and Mumbai are hard-hit as the crisis worsens
IndiGo, India's largest carrier, will cancel 500 flights in India on Friday, and all departures out of New Delhi will be grounded. The crisis has deepened at the airline, which admitted that it had not planned for new flight duty times imposed by pilots. In its fourth day of crisis, the airline has lost over 60% of market share, and thousands passengers are stranded in various parts across the country. This is the largest challenge the airline has ever faced. Airport sources informed that IndiGo intends to cancel 104 flights from Mumbai, 102 from Bengaluru and 92 from Hyderabad. Airport sources familiar with the development declined to name them because they weren't authorised to disclose information. Delhi airport has announced that all IndiGo flights have been cancelled for today. A source estimated this number at 235. IndiGo informed the regulator that its operations will be fully restored on February 10th. IndiGo asked for an exemption from certain provisions that limit the number of hours a pilot can work at night. Indigo stated that the disruptions were primarily due to "misjudgments and planning gaps" when implementing new pilot duty regulations which increased the mandatory amount of rest per week by pilots from 12 hours to 48, starting November 1. The old rule allowed six night landings per week. IndiGo shares fell nearly 3% Friday, bringing their weekly decline to 10.3%. IndiGo's performance in terms of on-time delivery dropped further to 8.5% Thursday, from 19.7% Wednesday. The airline cancelled more than 250 flights on Thursday and around 150 on Wednesday. (Editing Aditya Kahra, Kate Mayberry and Michael Perry; Editing Michael Perry).
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FT reports that Visa will be moving its European headquarters from London to Canary Wharf.
The Financial Times reported Friday that Visa's European headquarters will be moving to London Canary Wharf. The report stated that Visa will lease 300,000 square foot at One Canada Square over a period of 15 years. It also added that the company would rent 11 floors in the building it plans to occupy by 2028. Visa and Canary Wharf Group have not responded to our requests for comment. Canary Wharf struggled to keep tenants after the COVID-19 epidemic. Now, the area is enjoying a recovery as more companies encourage their staff to return to work. JPMorgan Chase announced last week a plan to construct a tower at the Canary Wharf Financial District, which will contribute 9.9 billion pounds (13.2 billion dollars) to the local economy over the next six years - this includes the construction costs - as well as create 7,800 new jobs.
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Sources say that India's IOC and BPCL purchases Russian oil in Jan-loads which is compliant with sanctions
Trade sources familiar with the situation said that Indian Oil Corp. and Bharat Petrol Corp. placed orders in January for the loading Russian oil from nonsanctioned providers due to the widening discount. BPCL said it had purchased four cargoes: two of Russian Urals, and one of CPC. Urals were sold at a discounted price of $6 to $7 per barrel compared to Brent. They said that India's largest refiner IOC has also purchased some cargoes from Russia for loading in January. IOC has consistently purchased Russian oil cargoes that comply with sanctions since Washington imposed sanctions against top Russian oil producers Rosneft Lukoil and in October. BPCL, however, skipped the December-loading purchases of Russian oil. Kazakhstan supplies the majority of oil sold through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium system (CPC). Russia also sells oil through CPC. BPCL and IOC didn't immediately respond to a comment request. The other state refiners, including Hindustan Petroleum Corp, Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd and HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd have also stopped purchasing Russian oil. Nayara Energy, a company owned in part by Rosneft and exclusively processing Russian crude oil, has been the sole supplier of Russian oil since other suppliers withdrew following British sanctions and EU sanctions. Reliance Industries Ltd., the operator of the largest refining complex in the world, said that it would process any parcels arriving after November 20, under its agreement with Roneft, at its Indian-focused refinery. (Reporting and editing by Tom Hogue, Michael Perry, and Nidhi verma)
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Noem: US travel ban now includes more than 30 countries
U.S. plan to increase the number of countries that are covered by their travel ban from 30 to more than 30. Homeland Security Secretary Kristie Noem told reporters on Thursday that the U.S. plans to expand its travel ban beyond 30 countries. Noem was asked in an interview with Fox News "The Ingraham Angle" if the Trump administration would increase the number of countries listed on the travel ban to 32. She said, "I will not be specific about the number but it is over 30 and the president continues to evaluate countries." In June, the President signed a proclamation The bans apply to both immigrants and non-immigrants, such as tourists, students and business travelers. Bans are imposed on both immigrants and nonimmigrants such as students, tourists and business travelers. Noem didn't specify which countries will be added to the new list. Why should we let people from this country come to the United States if there is no stable government, if their country cannot sustain itself, and unless they can tell us about these individuals and help us vetting them? Noem said. Previously, it was reported that the Trump Administration is considering Ban on citizens from 36 additional countries According to a cable from the State Department, this is preventing certain peoples from entering the United States. The administration's migration measures have escalated since the introduction of the list. Shooting of two National Guard Members Washington, D.C., was the scene of a protest last week. Investigators have determined that the shooter was an Afghani national who entered the U.S. through a resettlement programme in 2021, under which officials of the Trump administration have claimed there was not enough vetting. Trump promised to " Permanent pause He did not name any or define the term "third world countries" but he said that "migration from all Third World Countries". Before that, officials at the Department of Homeland Security claimed Trump had ordered an Widespread review of asylum claims Green Cards were issued to citizens from 19 countries under the presidency of Democratic President Joe Biden. Since taking office again in January, Trump prioritizes immigration enforcement. He has sent federal agents to the major U.S. Cities and turned away asylum seekers on the U.S. Mexico border. His administration has often highlighted its deportation drive, but has not placed as much emphasis on efforts that would reshape the legal immigration. (Reporting and editing by Jasper Ward in Toronto, Leslie Adler, and Ryan Patrick Jones)
Sources: Discounts on Russian ESPO blend crude oils to China are increasing
Four sources reported on Friday that the ESPO blend crude cargoes from Russia, which loaded in Chinese ports in December, were sold at a discount between $5 and $6 per barrel compared to ICE Brent, marking the lowest differential in history.
Discounts in China have widened due to a drop in demand, after state refiners stopped buying as a result of recent Western sanctions. Private players are also more cautious.
Traders said that ESPO blend oil cargoes were being sold at discounts between $0.50 and $1 per barrel under ICE Brent, as recently as October.
In October, the United States imposed sanctions against Russian oil suppliers Lukoil, and Rosneft, resulting in a drop in demand, even from India and China, two of its largest buyers.
Traders reported that some ESPO blend cargoes loaded in December had yet to be positioned.
(source: Reuters)