Jan 27 (Reuters) – Lucid Group’s (LCID.O) shares surged 43% on Friday, paring gains after doubling on market speculation that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) wanted to buy out the electric vehicle maker.
The speculation originated from an “uncooked” alert attributed to deals website Betaville, using its term for market gossip. Lucid was the sixth-most traded stock on U.S. exchanges and third top mover on the Nasdaq mid-afternoon.
The PIF, the sovereign wealth fund that owns more than 65% of Newark, California-based Lucid, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Lucid declined to comment.
In 2018, PIF was interested in taking Tesla private, but the deal did not materialize. Tesla chief Elon Musk is under trial for allegedly misleading investors with his tweet “funding secured” for taking the company private.
Lucid has been struggling to deliver its sleek Air luxury EVs after delivering 4,369 vehicles last year.
With Tesla’s price cuts, money-losing U.S. startups like Rivian Automotive Inc (RIVN.O) and Lucid will find it difficult to grab share in an industry competing for shrinking consumer wallets.
Lucid’s short interest as a percentage of its total float is around 37% versus only 3.5% for Tesla. Still, in dollar amounts, Lucid’s short interest totals $1.6 billion, versus $15.01 billion of Musk’s car maker.
Short sellers dealt a mark-to-market loss of $685 million with Lucid’s shares spike on Friday, analytics firm S3 Partners added. Losses, however, only materialize if short sellers close out their positions.
“With Lucid short sellers’ mark-to-market losses climbing, we should expect short covering to begin in earnest after today’s short-side blood bath,” said Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director of S3, adding it has become a popular trading position.
One long-short fund manager who had no previous exposure to Lucid said it decided to short it as this person believes the spike was solely based on rumors.
Reporting by Carolina Mandl, in New York, Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru and Hyun Joo Jin; Editing by Maju Samuel and Josie Kao
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Rockets from Gaza set off alarm in Israeli communities
Cross-border fire followed Israeli raid in West Bank
Israeli raid killed at least nine Palestinians
Violence has surged in West Bank in past year
JERUSALEM/GAZA, Jan 27 (Reuters) – Israeli jets struck Gaza overnight on Friday in retaliation for two rockets fired by Palestinian militants, further escalating tensions after one of the worst days of violence in the occupied West Bank in years.
The rockets fired from Gaza overnight set off alarms in Israeli communities near the border with the southern coastal strip controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas but there were no reports of casualties.
The cross-border fire came after an Israeli raid on a refugee camp in the West Bank on Thursday that killed at least nine Palestinians, including militant gunmen and at least two civilians, the highest single-day death toll in years.
Another man died in a separate incident in al-Ramm outside Jerusalem, bringing the Palestinian death toll so far in 2023 to at least 30.
The raid, the latest in a near-daily series of clashes in the West Bank over the past year, came days before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to visit Israel and the West Bank.
Palestinian officials said CIA director William Burns, who was visiting Israel and the West Bank on a trip arranged before the latest violence, would meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday. No comment was immediately available from U.S. officials in Jerusalem.
The months of violence, which surged after a spate of lethal attacks in Israel last year, have drawn fears the already unpredictable conflict could spiral out of control, triggering a broader confrontation between Palestinians and Israel.
[1/2] Smoke and flames rise during Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City, January 27, 2023. REUTERS/Arafat Barbakh
The U.S. State Department issued a statement on Thursday saying it was “deeply concerned” with the violence in the West Bank and urged both sides to de-escalate the conflict.
The United Nations, Egypt and Qatar have also urged calm, Palestinian officials said.
In Gaza, large rallies were planned for the afternoon following Friday prayers as residents inured to years of exchanges of rockets and airstrikes between Israel and Hamas feared further clashes.
“We didn’t sleep the whole night, bombing and missiles,” said 50 year-old Abdallah Al-Husary. “There is worry and there is fear, any minute a war can happen. With any clash in the West Bank, there can be war along the borders in Gaza.”
In the aftermath of Thursday’s raid, the Palestinian Authority, which has limited governing powers in the West Bank, said it was suspending a security cooperation arrangement with Israel that is widely credited with helping to keep order in the territory and preventing attacks against Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who returned to power this year at the head of one of the most right-wing governments in Israel’s history, said Israel was not looking to escalate the situation, although he ordered security forces to be on alert.
The Israeli Defence Force said Friday’s air strikes in Gaza targeted an underground rocket manufacturing site and a military base used by Hamas.
Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch, Dan Williams and Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Editing by Gerry Doyle and Edmund Blair
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Nidal Al-Mughrabi
Thomson Reuters
A senior correspondent with nearly 25 years’ experience covering the Palestinian-Israeli conflict including several wars and the signing of the first historic peace accord between the two sides.
MUMBAI, Jan 27 (Reuters) – Shares of India’s Adani Enterprises (ADEL.NS) sank 15% on Friday as a scathing report by a U.S. short seller triggered a rout in the conglomerate’s listed firms, casting doubts on how investors will respond to the company’s record $2.45 billion secondary sale.
Seven listed companies of the Adani conglomerate – controlled by one of the world’s richest men Gautam Adani – have lost a combined $43.5 billion in market capitalisation since Wednesday, with U.S. bonds of Adani firms also falling after Hindenburg Research flagged concerns in a Jan. 24 report about debt levels and the use of tax havens.
Adani Group has dismissed the report as baseless and said it is considering whether to take legal action against the New York-based firm.
“There were heavy positions in Adani group (shares), the way they have risen in the last couple of years,” said Neeraj Dewan, director at Quantum Securities in New Delhi.
“This is a classic case of panic selling…,” he said, noting the concerns were also spreading to Indian banks with exposure to Adani group’s debt.
The index tracking state-run banks (.NIFTYPSU) was down 4.6%, while the main Nifty Bank index (.NSEBANK) fell 2.7%.
CLSA estimates that Indian banks were exposed to about 40% of the 2 trillion Indian rupees ($24.53 billion) of Adani group debt in the fiscal year to March 2022.
The stunning selloff has cast a shadow over Adani Enterprises’ secondary sale which began on Friday. The anchor portion of the sale saw participation from investors including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority on Wednesday.
The firm has set a floor price of 3,112 rupees ($38.22) a share and a cap of 3,276 rupees. But by midday on Friday, the stock had slumped to 2,875 rupees – well below the lower end of the price offering.
As of 0700 GMT, investors, mostly retail, had bid for around 200,000 shares, compared with the 45.5 million on offer, according to BSE exchange data. Bidding for retail investors will close on Jan. 31.
Shares of other listed Adani firms also plummetted, with Adani Transmission Ltd (ADAI.NS) Adani Total Gas (ADAG.NS), Adani Green Energy (ADNA.NS) and Adani Ports (APSE.NS) sinking 20% each.
In its report, Hindenburg said key listed Adani Group companies had “substantial debt”, putting the conglomerate on a “precarious financial footing”, and that “sky-high valuations” had pushed the share prices of seven listed Adani companies as much as 85% beyond actual value.
Billionaire U.S. investor Bill Ackman said on Thursday that he found the Hindenburg report “highly credible and extremely well researched.”
Hindenburg said it held short positions in Adani through its U.S.-traded bonds and non-Indian-traded derivative instruments, meaning it is betting that their price would fall.
Adani Group has repeatedly faced and dismissed concern about debt levels. It defended itself in a presentation titled “Myths of Short Seller” on Thursday, saying deleveraging by promoters – or key shareholders – was “in a high growth phase”.
Jefferies in a client note said Adani Group had shared details of debt and leverage levels, and that it does not “see material risk arising to the Indian banking sector”.
Adani has said its debt is at a manageable level and that no investor has raised any concern.
Adani Enterprises’ net profit for the period ended Sept. 30, 2022 doubled to 9 billion Indian rupees ($110.31 million) while its total income nearly tripled to 795 billion Indian rupees, according to its share sale prospectus.
The company’s total liabilities as of September 2022 stood at 869 billion rupees ($10.64 billion), the prospectus showed.
The Adani conglomerate has been diversifying its business interests and last year bought cement firms ACC (ACC.NS) and Ambuja Cements (ABUJ.NS) from Switzerland’s Holcim (HOLN.S) for $10.5 billion. ACC was down 15% on Friday, while Ambuja plunged up to 25%.
Reporting by M. Sriram and Chris Thomas; Editing by Aditya Kalra, Christopher Cushing and Kim Coghill
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
EU border agency says 2022 irregular arrivals highest since 2016
Ministers discuss stepping up returns to states including Iraq
Hardline migration ideas return to fore
Top EU migration official says no money for ‘walls and fences’
STOCKHOLM, Jan 26 (Reuters) – European Union ministers on Thursday sought ways to curb irregular immigration and send more people away as arrivals rose from pandemic lows, reviving controversial ideas for border fences and asylum centres outside of Europe.
EU border agency Frontex reported some 330,000 unauthorised arrivals last year, the highest since 2016, with a sharp increase on the Western Balkans route.
“We have a huge increase of irregular arrivals of migrants,” Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson told talks among the 27 EU migration ministers. “We have a very low return rate and I can see we can make significant progress here.”
Denmark, the Netherlands and Latvia were among those to call for more pressure through visas and development aid towards the roughly 20 countries – including Iraq and Senegal – that the EU deems fail to cooperate on taking back their nationals who have no right to stay in Europe.
Only about a fifth of such people are sent back, with insufficient resources and coordination on the EU side being another hurdle, according to the bloc’s executive.
The ministerial talks come ahead of a Feb. 9-10 summit of EU leaders who will also seek more returns, according to their draft joint decision seen by Reuters.
“The overall economic malaise makes countries like Tunisia change from a transit country to a country where locals also want to go,” said an EU official. “That changes things. But it’s still very manageable, especially if the EU acts together.”
‘WALLS AND FENCES’
That, however, is easier said than done in the bloc, where immigration is a highly sensitive political issue and member countries are bitterly divided over how to share the task of caring for those who arrive in Europe.
The issue has become toxic since more than a million people crossed the Mediterranean in 2015 in chaotic and deadly scenes that caught the bloc off guard and fanned anti-immigration sentiment.
The EU has since tightened its external borders and asylum laws. With people on the move again following the COVID pandemic, the debate is returning to the fore, as are some proposals previously dismissed as inadmissible.
Denmark has held talks with Rwanda on handling asylum applicants in East Africa, while others called for EU funds for a border fence between Bulgaria and Turkey – both ideas so far seen as taboo.
“We are still working to make that happen, preferably with other European countries but, as a last resort, we’ll do it only in cooperation between Denmark and, for example Rwanda,” Immigration Minister Kaare Dybvad said on Thursday.
Dutch minister Eric van der Burg said he was open to EU financing for border barriers.
“EU member states continue making access to international protection as difficult as possible,” the Danish Refugee Council, an NGO, said in a report on Thursday about what it said were systemic pushbacks of people at the bloc’s external borders, a violation of their right to claim asylum.
While EU countries protest against irregular immigration, often comprising Muslims from the Middle East and North Africa, Germany is simultaneously seeking to open its job market to much-needed workers from outside the bloc.
“We want to conclude migration agreements with countries, particularly with North African countries, that would allow a legal route to Germany but would also include functioning returns,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in Stockholm.
Additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Bart Meiejer, Writing by Gabriela Baczynska, Editing by Bernadette Baum
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Jan 25 (Reuters) – Tesla Inc’s (TSLA.O) aggressive price cuts have ignited demand for its electric vehicles, Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Wednesday, playing down concerns that a weak economy would throttle buyers’ interest.
The company slightly beat Wall Street targets for fourth-quarter revenue and profit earlier on Wednesday despite a sharp decline in vehicle profit margins, and it sought to reassure investors that it can cut costs to cope with recession and as competition intensifies in the year ahead.
Deep price cuts this month have positioned Tesla as the initiator of a price war, but its forecast of a 37% rise in car volume for the year, to 1.8 million vehicles, was down from 2022’s pace.
However, Musk, who has missed his own ambitious sales targets for Tesla in recent years, said 2023 deliveries could hit 2 million vehicles, absent external disruption.
Tesla’s sales prospects, as it confronts a weaker economy, are a key focus for investors. The company said it maintains a long-term target of a compounded 50% annual rise in sales.
Musk addressed the issue at the start of a call with investors and analysts.
“These price changes really make a difference for the average consumer,” he said, adding that vehicle orders were roughly double production in January, leading the automaker to make small price increases for the Model Y SUV.
He said he expected a “pretty difficult recession this year,” but demand for Tesla vehicles “will be good despite probably a contraction in the automotive market as a whole.”
Shares rose 5.3% in extended trading.
CYBERTRUCK
The company is relying on older products and Musk said its Cybertruck, its next new electric pickup truck, would not begin volume production until next year. Reuters in November reported that the highly anticipated model would not be produced in volume until late this year.
Tesla will detail plans for a “next-generation vehicle platform” at its investor day in March.
Tesla’s vehicles “are all in desperate need of updates beyond software,” said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds’ executive director of insights. She said Tesla will largely depend on the cheaper unit as well as Model 3 and Model Y to bring EVs to the masses.
“It’s unlikely that the Cybertruck will attempt to achieve mass-market volumes like the Detroit competitors.”
Reuters Graphics
[1/5] A Tesla supercharging station is seen in the early morning sun, in Kettleman City, California, U.S., January 25, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Blake
Reuters Graphics
Analysts said Tesla’s goal is bullish given the macroeconomic uncertainties.
“I think that you’re going to see some severe demand destruction across consumer spending and I think cars are going to take a big hit,” Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA, said.
Tesla said it does not expect meaningful near-term volume growth from China, since its Shanghai factory was running near full capacity, rebounding from production challenges last year.
“Even a small cooling of demand will have significant implications for the bottom line,” said Sophie Lund-Yates, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Tesla said that its automotive gross margins, which dropped to a two-year low of 25.9% in the reported quarter, were pressured by the costs of ramping up battery production and new factories in Berlin and Texas, as well as higher raw material, commodity, logistics and warranty costs.
Tesla expected its automotive gross margin to remain above 20%.
Margins generally are expected to be under further pressure from its aggressive price cuts. Tesla, which had made a series of price increases since early 2021, reversed course and offered discounts in December in the United States, followed by price cuts of as much as 20% this month.
Analysts had said Tesla’s profitability gave it room to cut prices and pressure rivals. The company’s $9,000 in net profit per vehicle in the past quarter was more than seven times the comparable figure for Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) in the third quarter. But it was down from almost $9,700 in the third quarter.
“In severe recessions, cash is king, big time,” Musk said, adding that Tesla is well positioned to cope with an economic downturn because of its $20 billion of cash.
The company’s stock posted its worst drop last year, hit by demand worries and Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, which fueled investor concerns he would be distracted from running Tesla.
Musk dismissed surveys that suggest his political comments on Twitter are damaging the Tesla brand. “I might not be popular” with some, he said, “but for the vast majority of people, my follow count speaks for itself.” He has 127 million followers.
Revenue was $24.32 billion for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $24.16 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Tesla’s full-year earnings were bolstered by $1.78 billion in regulatory credits, up 21% from a year earlier.
Adjusted earnings per share of $1.19 topped the Wall Street analyst average of $1.13.
It ended the fourth quarter with 13 days’ worth of vehicles in inventory, more than four times higher than the start of 2022, and a record $12.8 billion in value.
Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru, Additinoal reporting by Joe White and Ben Klayman in Detroit and Kevin Krolicki in Singapore
Writing by Peter Henderson
Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Matthew Lewis, Sam Holmes and David Goodman
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
NEW DELHI, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Students were detained by the Delhi police on Wednesday as they gathered to watch a recent BBC documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India has dismissed as propaganda and blocked its streaming and sharing on social media.
This follows similar disruptions, some of which turned violent, at gatherings this week by students to watch the documentary that questions Modi’s leadership during deadly riots two decades ago, as his opponents raise questions of government censorship.
Modi, who is aiming for a third term in elections next year, was the chief minister of Gujarat in February 2002 when a suspected Muslim mob set fire to a train carrying Hindu pilgrims, setting off one of independent India’s worst outbreaks of religious bloodshed.
In reprisal attacks across the state at least 1,000 people were killed, mostly Muslims, as crowds roamed the streets over days, targeting the minority group. Activists put the toll at around 2,500, over twice that number.
The government has said the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question” released last week is a biased “propaganda piece” and has blocked the sharing of any clips from it on social media.
The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) said on Wednesday it plans to show the documentary in every Indian state.
“They won’t stop the voice of dissent,” said Mayukh Biswas, general secretary of the SFI, the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Ahead of one of those screenings at Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia university, 13 students were detained amid a heavy police deployment. The university blamed the students for creating a “ruckus on the street” and said they did not have permission for holding the show, police said.
“There is no chance that anybody who tries to disturb the discipline of the university will go free,” the university’s vice chancellor, Najma Akhtar, told Reuters.
A day earlier, bricks were hurled, allegedly by members of a right-wing group, on students hoping to watch the documentary at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, students said.
Student leader Aishe Ghosh said they were watching the documentary on their phones and laptops after power was cut off about half an before a scheduled screening.
The university had denied permission and threatened disciplinary action if the documentary was screened.
“It was obviously the administration that cut off the power,” Ghosh said. “We are encouraging campuses across the country to hold screenings as an act of resistance against this censorship.”
The media coordinator for the university did not comment when asked about the on-campus power cut.
A spokesman for the right-wing student group did not respond to a message seeking comment. A police spokesperson did not respond to queries.
Protests also erupted following the film’s screening at campuses in the southern state of Kerala on Tuesday while a show was cancelled mid-way at a university in the north Indian city of Chandigarh, according to local media reports.
Derek O’Brien, a member of parliament in the upper house of the parliament, wrote on Twitter on Saturday that the opposition “will continue to fight the good fight against censorship” in reference to the block on sharing clips from the documentary on social media.
The BBC said its documentary series examines tensions between India’s Hindu majority and Muslim minority and explores Modi’s politics in relation to those tensions.
“The documentary was rigorously researched according to highest editorial standards,” the BBC said.
It approached “a wide range of voices, witnesses and experts” and featured a range of opinion including responses from people in Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, the BBC said.
Reporting by Shivam Patel in New Delhi and Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; additional reporting by Krishn Kaushik; Editing by Robert Birsel and Jonathan Oatis
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Outage impacts Microsoft cloud platform Azure for hours
Multiple Microsoft services including Teams and Outlook hit
Microsoft says most customers now have service restored
Shares down 3.2%
Jan 25 (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) said on Wednesday it had recovered all of its cloud services after a networking outage took down its cloud platform Azure along with services such as Teams and Outlook used by millions around the globe.
Azure’s status page showed services were impacted in Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. Only services in China and its platform for governments were not hit.
By late morning Azure said most customers should have seen services resume after a full recovery of the Microsoft Wide Area Network (WAN).
An outage of Azure, which has 15 million corporate customers and over 500 million active users, according to Microsoft data, can impact multiple services and create a domino effect as almost all of the world’s largest companies use the platform.
Businesses have become increasingly dependent on online platforms after the pandemic caused a shift to more employees working from home.
Earlier, Microsoft said it had determined a network connectivity issue was occurring with devices across the Microsoft WAN. This impacts connectivity between clients on the internet to Azure, as well as connectivity between services in data centres, it said.
Microsoft later tweeted that it had rolled back a network change that it believed was causing the issue and was using “additional infrastructure to expedite the recovery process”.
Microsoft did not disclose the number of users affected by the disruption, but data from outage tracking website Downdetector showed thousands of incidents across continents.
The Downdetector site tracks outages by collating status reports from various sources including users.
Microsoft’s cloud business had helped shore up its fiscal second-quarter earnings on Tuesday. It forecast third-quarter revenue in its so-called intelligent cloud business would be $21.7 billion to $22 billion despite worries that the lucrative cloud segment for big tech companies could be hit hard as customers look to cut spending.
Azure’s share of the cloud computing market rose to 30% in 2022, trailing Amazon’s AWS, according to estimates from BofA Global Research.
[1/5] Microsoft Teams app is seen on the smartphone placed on the keyboard in this illustration taken, July 26, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Microsoft joined other big tech companies in turning to layoffs to ride out the weaker economy, announcing last week it was cutting over 10,000 jobs.
Its shares were down 3.2% at $234.41.
Outages of Big Tech platforms are not uncommon as several companies ranging from Google (GOOGL.O) to Meta (META.O) have seen service disruptions. Azure, the second largest cloud services provider after Amazon (AMZN.O), faced outages last year.
During the outage, users faced problems in exchanging messages, joining calls or using any features of Teams application. Many users took to Twitter to share updates about the service disruption, with #MicrosoftTeams trending as a hashtag on the social media site.
Microsoft Teams, used by more than 280 million people globally, forms an integral part of daily operations for businesses and schools, which use the service to make calls, schedule meetings and organise their workflow.
There were few signs of significant disruption at major UK-based financial services firms, where multiple messaging applications offered by providers like Movius and Symphony are used alongside Microsoft Teams to connect bankers with clients, and office-based staff with colleagues working remotely.
Two London-based sources, working at two major global banks, said they hadn’t even noticed a problem.
Deutsche Boerse Group, which operates the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, said there had been no impact on trading. Frankfurt-based Commerzbank AG (CBKG.DE) said in a statement that Microsoft was investigating several issues impacting the bank.
Among the other services affected were Microsoft Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, according to the company’s status page.
“I think there is a very big debate to be had on resiliency in the comms and cloud space and the critical applications,” Symphony Chief Executive Brad Levy said.
Reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru and Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm, additional reporting by Sinead Cruise in London; Writing by Charlie Devereux, Editing by Elaine Hardcastle
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BENGALURU, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Hindenburg Research said on Wednesday it held short positions in India’s Adani Group, accusing the conglomerate of improper extensive use of entities set up in offshore tax havens and expressing concern about high debt levels.
The report, which comes days ahead of a $2.5 billion share offering by flagship firm Adani Enterprises (ADEL.NS), sent shares in Adani group firms sliding.
Hindenburg, a well known U.S. short-seller, said key listed companies in the group controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani had “substantial debt” which has put the entire group on a “precarious financial footing”.
It also said that seven Adani listed companies have an 85% downside on a fundamental basis due to what it called “sky-high valuations”.
An Adani spokesperson did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment on the report, which Hindenburg said was based on research that involved speaking with dozens of individuals, including former Adani Group executives as well as a review of documents.
Hindenburg said it held its short positions through U.S.-traded bonds and non-Indian-traded derivative instruments.
Adani has repeatedly dismissed debt concerns. Adani Chief Financial Officer Jugeshinder Singh told media on Jan. 21 “Nobody has raised debt concerns to us. No single investor has.”
In the wake of the Hindenburg report, Adani Ports And Special Economic Zone (APSE.NS) slid 7.3% to its lowest level since early July, while Adani Enterprises dropped 3.7% to a near three-month low.
Reuters Graphics Reuters Graphics
Adani-owned cement firms ACC (ACC.NS) and Ambuja Cements (ABUJ.NS) fell 6.7% and 9.7% respectively.
Hindenburg’s report said that five of seven key listed Adani companies have reported current ratios – a measure of liquid assets minus near-term liabilities – below 1. This, the short-seller said, suggested “a heightened short-term liquidity risk.”
Adani Group’s total gross debt in the financial year ending March 31, 2022, rose 40% to 2.2 trillion rupees.
Refinitiv data shows that debt at all the Adani Group’s seven key listed Adani companies exceeds equity, with debt at Adani Green Energy Ltd (ADNA.NS) exceeding equity by more than 2,000%.
CreditSights, part of the Fitch Group, described the group last September as “overleveraged” and said it had concerns over its debt. While the report later corrected some calculation errors, CreditSights said it maintained its concerns over leverage.
Hindenburg is known for shorting electric truck maker Nikola Corp (NKLA.O) and Twitter though it later reversed its position in Twitter.
Shares in Adani Enterprises surged 125% in 2022, while other group companies, including power and gas units, rose more than 100%.
Reporting by Mrinmay Dey, Chris Thomas and Aditya Kalra; Additional reporting by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Edwina Gibbs
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
NEW DELHI, Jan 24 (Reuters) – A top Indian university cut off power and internet supply on campus on Tuesday before a screening by its students’ union of a BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India has dismissed as propaganda, broadcaster NDTV reported.
The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in the capital New Delhi had threatened disciplinary action if the documentary was screened, saying the move might disturb peace and harmony on campus.
Modi’s government has labelled the documentary, which questioned his leadership during deadly riots in his home state of Gujarat in 2002, as a “propaganda piece”, blocked its airing and also barred sharing of any clips via social media in India.
Modi was chief minister of the western state during the violence in which more than 2,000 people were killed, most of them Muslims.
The students’ union of the JNU, long seen as a bastion of left-wing politics, was to screen the documentary, “India: The Modi Question”, at 9 p.m. (1530 GMT).
A person present with students inside campus said the documentary was now being watched on mobile phones through links shared over Telegram and Vimeo (VMEO.O) after the power went out.
“There are about 300 people streaming the documentary now in campus on their phones since the power went out about half an hour before the screening,” the person, who did not wish to be identified, told Reuters.
Footage from inside the campus showed some students huddled together and watching the film on a laptop propped up on a chair.
The JNU media coordinator did not comment when asked about reports of internet outage and a power cut inside the campus. A source in the administration said a fault in the power line caused outages in faculty residences and other facilities and the issue was being looked into.
The university administration earlier said it had not given permission for the documentary screening.
“This is to emphasise that such an unauthorised activity may disturb peace and harmony of the university campus,” it said.
“The concerned students/individuals are firmly advised to cancel the proposed programme immediately, failing which a strict disciplinary action may be initiated as per the university rules.”
Union president Aishe Ghosh had asked students via Twitter to attend the screening, describing it as having been “‘banned’ by an ‘elected government’ of the largest ‘democracy'”.
Ghosh did not respond to phone calls and a message after reports emerged of a power outage in campus.
Police vigilance was ramped up following a request from campus, police said.
The documentary was also screened at some campuses in the Communist-ruled southern state of Kerala, The Hindu newspaper reported.
India’s home ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the government’s plans if the film is shown at JNU and in Kerala.
The 2002 Gujarat violence erupted after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims caught fire, killing 59. Crowds later rampaged through Muslim neighbourhoods. In 2017, 11 men were jailed for life for setting the train ablaze.
Modi has denied accusations that he did not do enough to stop the riots and was exonerated in 2012 following an inquiry overseen by the Supreme Court. Another petition questioning his exoneration was dismissed last year.
Last week, the BBC said the documentary was “rigorously researched” and involved a wide range of voices and opinions, including responses from people in Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly, Shivam Patel and Rupam Jain; additional reporting by Krishn Kaushik; Editing by Robert Birsel and Clarence Fernandez
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Zelenskiy says changes coming in government, regions Corruption allegations are most high-profile of war
Ex-economy minister praises government response
Ruling party boss threatens officials with jail
KYIV, Jan 23 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that changes would be announced imminently in the government, the regions and in the security forces following allegations of corruption nearly a year into Russia’s invasion.
Zelenskiy, elected by a landslide in 2019 on pledges to change the way government operated, did not identify in his nightly video address the officials to be replaced.
“There are already personnel decisions – some today, some tomorrow – regarding officials of various levels in ministries and other central government structures, as well as in the regions and in the law enforcement system,” Zelenskiy said.
The president said part of the crackdown would involve toughening oversight on travelling abroad for official assignments.
Ukrainian media outlets have reported that a number of cabinet ministers and senior officials could be sacked as Zelenskiy tries to streamline the government.
One of the president’s top allies earlier said corrupt officials would be “actively” jailed, setting out a zero-tolerance approach after the allegations came to light.
HISTORY OF CORRUPTION
Ukraine has a long history of corruption and shaky governance, though there have been few examples since last year’s invasion as Kyiv has sought Western financial and military support to help fight back Russian forces.
Anti-corruption police on Sunday said they had detained the deputy infrastructure minister on suspicion of receiving a $400,000 kickback to facilitate the import of generators into wartime Ukraine last September.
A committee of parliament agreed on Monday to toughen regulations on procurement after allegations in news reports that the defence ministry had overpaid suppliers for soldiers’ food. A draft law was to be introduced on partially making procurement prices public in times of conflict.
Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, quoted by media, told the committee that the reports were based on a “technical error” with no money changing hands.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau said it was aware of the media report and that it was investigating the possible crime of appropriation of funds or abuse of power with regard to procurement worth over 13 billion hryvnia ($352 million).
David Arakhamia, head of Zelenskiy’s Servant of the People party, said it had been made clear since Russia’s invasion that officials should “focus on the war, help victims, cut bureaucracy and stop dubious business”.
“Many of them got the message. But many of them did not unfortunately. We’re definitely going to be jailing actively this spring. If the humane approach doesn’t work, we’ll do it in line with martial law,” he said.
Timofiy Mylovanov, a former minister for the economy, trade and agriculture, praised the government’s “proactive and very fast” response to the allegations. He said the deputy infrastructure minister had been immediately fired and pointed to society’s “unprecedented” level of attention in the matter.
Ukraine, whose economy shrank by a third last year, is hugely dependent on Western financial aid and donors such as the International Monetary Fund and EU have repeatedly asked for more transparency and better governance.
($1 = 36.9250 hryvnias)
Reporting by Tom Balmforth and Olena Harmash; Editing by Peter Graff and Stephen Coates
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