Articles

I Squared's purchase of HGC is welcome, but maintaining a pure wireline strategy would not fit the highly-competitive Hong Kong market, which is increasingly geared towards advanced multi-play services. Hong Kong Broadband Network would be a suitable acquisition, as it is an established wireline player with a growing MVNO user base.

Hutchison

In line with our expectations, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reduced its benchmark repurchase (repo) rate by 25bps to 6.00% during its August 2 meeting in view of lower-than-expected inflation and weakening growth. We expect no further interest rate cuts over the course of FY2017/18 (April-March) given the central bank's cautious and neutral

None of the deals mooted for Sprint will help the company regain its relevance in the short-term. It has struggled because it has lacked a clear strategy since the Softbank acquisition, and increasing in size alone will not be enough without adding a clear direction as to what the operator wants to be.

Sprint reported its first net income in three

New FMCG startup Brandless is targeting a number of trends in the industry that will offer it strong growth potential over the next five years. In particular, low costs, direct-to-consumer subscription model, niche branding, appealing to 'millennial' preferences and limiting choice will all help to boost sales.

July 2017 saw the official launch of

The launch of Swazi Mobile brings some much-needed competition to Swaziland's mobile market. However, incumbent MTN was quick to reduce its tariffs and will benefit financially from network sharing, demonstrating that it will not be easily displaced by the privately owned newcomer.

Swaziland's second mobile network operator launched in 28 cities

Bayer's lowered financial outlook for 2017 reflects a weaker-than-expected performance within the Consumer Healthcare business, which will remain a key concern among shareholders. As the US becomes increasingly saturated with consumer health products, further inroads into emerging markets and Europe will prove critical for Bayer towards securing

Three's purchase of Tele2 Austria will intensify competition in the converged services market. Its decision to focus on the enterprise and IoT market is sound, given the entrenched positions of A1 and UPC in the consumer space, but upselling converged services to Tele2 customers will likely meet with limited success in the crucial short to medium

Strong corporate profit momentum in Japan will be the main factor shaping our brighter outlook for the CV segment in 2017 as capital expenditure by businesses translates into spending on new LCV fleets in particular. Growth in heavy truck sales will remain subdued as weak construction sector activity tempers demand for these heavy duty vehicles.

W

Merck KGaA's emerging market growth strategies will continue to expand and diversify the company's commercial operations. While the developed markets will maintain a dominant share of the company's business operations, Merck KGaA continues to roll out a host of healthcare projects in key emerging markets. The multinational drugmaker's product

The deal between Verizon and GM reinforces our view of a Kindle Model when it comes to telematics connectivity. Car manufacturers want one single provider, which major telecoms operators are best placed to offer. Car manufacturers also need connectivity to turn vehicles from products into services.

Verizon and General Motors (GM) have announced a