Raphael Stevens

In this articleMCDPeople wear protective face masks outside McDonald’s in Times Square as the city continues Phase 4 of re-opening following restrictions imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus on September 18, 2020 in New York City.Noam Galai | Getty ImagesMcDonald’s on Thursday beat Wall Street’s estimates for its quarterly earnings as net sales topped pre-pandemic levels.On the heels of the strong performance, the fast-food giant raised its outlook for systemwide sales growth.Shares of the company fell less than 1% in premarket trading.Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:Earnings per share: $1.92 adjusted vs. $1.81 expectedRevenue: $5.12 billion vs. $5.03 billion expectedThe fast-food giant reported fiscal first-quarter net income of $1.54 billion, or $2.05 per share, up from $1.11 billion, or $1.47 per share, a year earlier.Excluding items, McDonald’s earned $1.92 per share, topping the $1.81 per share expected by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.Net sales rose 9% to $5.12 billion, beating expectations of $5.03 billion. Global same-store sales climbed 7.5% in the quarter, surpassing 2019 levels.Sales growth was driven by the United States, where same-store sales jumped 13.6%. A year ago, same-store sales were roughly flat after March demand plummeted. Chicken-focused menu items, like the Spicy Chicken McNuggets and Crispy Chicken Sandwich, helped fuel sales this quarter.Outside of the U.S., results were mixed. The international operated markets segment, which includes the United Kingdom, Australia and France, reported same-store sales growth of 0.6%. A year ago, its same-store sales fell 6.9% as lockdowns were implemented. This quarter, Covid-19 restrictions weighed on France and Germany, while Canada, the U.K. and Australia saw positive same-store sales growth.In McDonald’s international developmental licensed markets segment, same-store sales rose 6.4%, fueled by growth in China and Japan. A year ago, same-store sales shrank by 5.3%.The company raised its systemwide sales outlook for 2021 from growth in the low double digits to the mid-teens.This story is developing. Please check back for updates. More

People wearing face masks as a precaution walking along Orchard Road, a famous shopping district in Singapore.Maverick Asio | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty ImagesSINGAPORE — Singapore’s health ministry reported 16 new locally transmitted coronavirus cases on Thursday, the highest number since July 11, 2020, when the country reported 24 community cases.The Southeast Asian country breaks cases down into three categories — imported from overseas, in migrant worker dormitories, and in the community.In recent months, most of Singapore’s infections have been detected in people who enter the country and are serving their mandatory quarantines.However, in April, cases in the community have been climbing.”Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 9 cases in the week before to 13 cases in the past week,” the ministry said on Wednesday. Community cases previously hovered at around two per week.Seven of Thursday’s community cases are family members of a previously confirmed case, while eight of the cases are linked to a nurse who tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday.Those eight cases were detected through “proactive testing of patients and staff” in the ward where the nurse worked, the ministry said in its update. No details were given about the remaining community case.The nurse had received both doses of the vaccine, but developed symptoms this week. After her infection was confirmed, the hospital locked down the ward she worked in. It also said in a Facebook post that no visitors will be allowed into the wards until further notice.In addition to the community cases, Singapore reported 19 imported cases on Thursday, bringing the country’s total to 61,121 since the pandemic began. As of April 18, more than 2.2 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine had been administered in Singapore, with nearly 850,000 fully vaccinated. More

In this articleAircraft operated by Emirates, at Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates.Christopher Pike | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesDUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The chief executive of Dubai Airports has panned a decision by authorities in the United Kingdom to keep the UAE on its international travel “red” list, as new data from the group shows passenger traffic through the airport fell 67.8% in the first quarter.  “I think the approach is wrong,” Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths told Dubai Eye Radio on Thursday, expressing frustration at the rule which bans air travel or forces a costly quarantine on arrival for thousands of Brits in the Emirates who want to go home.   Britain’s Transport Secretary Grant Shapps indicated the UAE could stay on the red list due to its status as an international transit hub, despite falling cases and the world’s second-fastest vaccination rate. “I can’t be too honest with you about my thoughts about those comments,” Griffiths said when asked to respond to the transport secretary. “We’ve made very strong representations to the British government about the credibility of the numbers here and the way we’re handling everything,” he said.  Griffiths called for “a far more proactive relationship” to address the confusion surrounding the ruling, as public frustration grows. The UAE remains on the U.K. red list, even though Abu Dhabi has the U.K. on its own “green” list of travel countries. “There are countries on the (United Kingdom) green list that we believe haven’t taken anything like the care and the number of measures that we’ve put in place here in Dubai to keep everyone safe,” Griffiths said. “It’s just not practical in terms of how we’re going to get back to life as we once knew it,” he added. Spokespersons for the U.K.’s Foreign Office and Transport Ministry were not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC. Last week, Shapps said: “We’re not restricting the UAE due to the level of coronavirus in the UAE. The issue is one of transit.”The U.K. Foreign Office currently “advises against all but essential travel to the whole of the United Arab Emirates based on the current assessment of COVID-19 risks.”A health worker checks a man’s temperature before receiving a dose of vaccine against the coronavirus at a vaccination center set up at the Dubai International Financial Center in the Gulf emirate of Dubai, on February 3, 2021. The United Arab Emirates has suffered a spike in cases after the holiday period.Photo by KARIM SAHIB | AFP via Getty ImagesThe UAE has administered more than 9.9 million vaccine doses out of its population of roughly 10 million people, only behind Israel in the global vaccination race. Residents in Dubai can choose from the Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine, U.K.-developed AstraZeneca, the American-German made Pfizer jab or Russia’s Sputnik V, while residents of Abu Dhabi could only access Sinopharm until Pfizer was introduced in the capital emirate last week. Some in the medical community have cast doubt on the efficacy of the Sinopharm shot, due to conflicting figures from interim trials and a lack of published data on its phase 3 trials. It has not yet been approved by the World Health Organization. Economic and personal costs The U.K. list, which will be reviewed in the coming weeks, lists 40 high risk countries deemed too dangerous to travel, including India, which is in a state of national crisis as it deals with surging infection rates and a mounting death toll.   The ban also had real world consequences for Dubai Airports, which claims London as a “key single city” for Dubai Airport passenger traffic. Before the pandemic, more than 6 million people would fly between the two cities in a single year, Griffiths said.”It’s almost unthinkable not having a solid air-bridge of flights, 28 services a day, between here and the U.K.,” Griffiths said. “The irony, of course, is that you can fly to Scotland but you can’t fly to England,” he added.”It’s obviously something that everyone here in Dubai is very concerned to resolve very quickly.” The decision also impacts many of the roughly 120,000 U.K. nationals living and working in the UAE and their family members, who have expressed confusion and anger, particularly over the hotel quarantine requirement which runs up a hefty price tag of £1,750 ($2,428) per person. More

Daniel Ek, chief executive officer and co-founder of Spotify AB, stands for a photograph after a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016.Akio Kon | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesSpotify owner Daniel Ek says he is prepared for a “long journey” with his bid to buy Arsenal and will present “a very compelling offer” to try and persuade the Kroenke family to sell up. Swedish billionaire Ek, 38, who has enlisted the support of club legends Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira, is expected to submit his first offer – in the region of £1.8 billion – in the next few days.The Kroenkes, whose ownership came under renewed opposition following the club’s participation in the failed European Super League last week, insist they “will not entertain any offer”.Ek expects the Kroenkes to reject his initial offer, but is willing to be patient in what is likely to be a long process.Speaking to Sky’s sister station CNBC, Ek said: “I have secured the funds for it and I want to bring what I think is a very compelling offer to the owners and I hope they hear me out.”Ek, who used Twitter to express interest in a deal last Friday evening, says he is “very serious” with his takeover bid and wants to “engage the fans again”.”I just see a tremendous opportunity to set a real vision for the club to bring it back to its glory,” he added.He has already intimated he would be open to having fan representation on the Arsenal board if he succeeds in buying the club, including the possibility of giving supporters a ‘golden share’, which would provide veto power over key decisions.”I just focus on the club, I focus on the fans and I focus on trying to bring the club back to glory,” added Ek, who was speaking after Spotify announced their first quarterly results on Wednesday.”I am first and foremost a fan, that is the most important thing for me. I want the club to do better. That is my primary interest.”Ek, who co-founded Spotify in 2006 and is worth an estimated £3.2bn, does not consider his approach to buy the club as personal and was careful not to criticise the current owners during his television appearance.Stan Kroenke, who owns Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE), has been Arsenal’s owner since April 2011.KSE also own NFL franchise Los Angeles Rams, NBA side Denver Nuggets, NHL outfit Colorado Avalanche and MLS side Colorado Rapids.Arsenal director Josh Kroenke told a fans’ forum that his family would work harder to engage with fans more effectively in the future.Mikel Arteta’s side – who are currently 10th, 12 points behind fourth-placed Chelsea – effectively need to win the Europa League if they are to play European football next season.Fans unhappy with Kroenkes have somebody ‘they can rally behind’Analysis from Sky Sports News reporter Kaveh Solhekol:”The sceptics were saying this was a publicity stunt. The cynics were saying there is no way this is going to happen. Well, we have heard from the main man himself now. Daniel Ek has made it clear that he is very serious about trying to buy Arsenal, he has secured the funds. We know that Arsenal are valued at, at least, £2bn so it would suggest that he has managed to get that kind of finance together to try and push ahead with this proposed deal.”He describes it as a very compelling, thoughtful offer and he is saying to the Kroenkes, ‘please listen to me, I am going to make this offer in the next few days, it is going to be put in front of you and then it is up to you to make up your mind. He already knows that the Kroenkes have said Arsenal is not for sale. That is not a surprise, of course no one is going to come out and say their Premier League club, which is worth billions of pounds, is for sale. But in business, as our colleagues at CNBC pointed out, everything has a price.”If he can tempt the Kroenkes to sell, then he is ready to move in and buy Arsenal. Long-term, what I think is interesting, is that he himself said he is prepared for a long journey. He is expecting his offer to be rebuffed, he is expecting the Kroenke’s to say to him the club is not for sale. But now he is always going to be in the background. We know he is a real fan, he has been a fan for 30 years. We know now he is close to Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira. He has got the legends on board, and these fans who are unhappy with the Kroenkes now have somebody they can rally behind.”Read more stories from Sky SportsSolskjaer: I meant no disrespect with Roma commentsPep tells City: Don’t be shy in second legBoyd and Walker’s Premiership team of the seasonHow could Ek fund Arsenal takeover bid?Sky News business presenter Ian King tells Sky Sports News:”I think he was pretty measured, to be honest with you. He did answer all the questions that they put to him on Arsenal. The thing I took away, is that he said look ‘I am not expecting this to be something that is sorted out overnight’. He is not going to try and rush his fences in that sense.Arsenal’s German-born Bosnian defender Sead Kolasinac (R) plays the ball during the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium in London on March 10, 2019.Ben Stansall | AFP | Getty Images”There are a lot of questions that are raised from the interview that he has given to CNBC, one of which will be he says he has got the funding, where has he got it from and if successful, on what assets would the funding be secured? Would they, for example, be secured on his shareholding on Spotify?”His wealth actually has been misreported in recent days. I mean the exact detail is that he owns 8 per cent of Spotify and currently Spotify shares have actually fallen by 10 per cent on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) this afternoon. The company is currently valued at around $50bn, so he owns 8 per cent of $50bn – around $4bn to be precise. Now we don’t know whether he has got liquid funds in addition to that.”Don’t forget, while a lot of Arsenal fans will be keeping their fingers crossed and hoping to see the Kroenke’s out, bear in mind that you have seen other takeovers of football clubs – most notably when the Glazer family bought Manchester United – a lot of that was debt-funded, they didn’t put up a lot of their own equity when they bought that business and accordingly a lot of that was secured against the club’s assets and the debt servicing has been a huge burden, a huge drain on Manchester United’s coffers over the years.” More

In this articleCADILAHC-INA child runs past a wall mural depicting healthcare workers wearing face masks along a road in New Delhi, India on March 21, 2021.Sajjad Hussain | AFP | Getty ImagesIndia could soon have its second domestically developed coronavirus vaccine even as a deadly second wave shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.Drugmaker Cadila Healthcare, also known as Zydus Cadila, is conducting phase three clinical trials on 28,000 people, including those above 75 and children between ages 12 and 18, for its DNA-based vaccine candidate.”We have completed the major recruitment for our phase three (trial),” managing director Sharvil Patel told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Thursday.He said the company expects efficacy data from the phase three trial to come out next month after which, it would seek emergency use authorization from the Indian drug regulator in mid-May.”On the safety and efficacy in our phase two (trials) as well as ongoing phase three, we’ve seen very good data on safety and strong data on immunogenicity, comparable to most of the other vaccines that are there,” Patel said.Vaccination campaignIndia began its vaccination campaign in January and as of Thursday, government data showed more than 150 million doses have been administered. But only about 25.8 million second doses have been administered.Currently, India is using the AstraZeneca vaccine, locally known as Covishield and produced by the Serum Institute of India, and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.India’s Covid crisisRead CNBC’s latest coverage of India’s battle with the coronavirus pandemic:India’s economy will likely contract this quarter as Covid cases soar, economists warnPhotos show the deadly toll of Covid in India as coronavirus cases top 17 millionU.S. to give India raw materials for vaccines, medical supplies to help fight Covid surgeNew Delhi has also recently approved the Russia-developed Sputnik V and authorized foreign-made vaccines that have been granted emergency approval by the U.S., U.K., European Union, Japan, and World- Health Organization-listed agencies.Patel told CNBC that Zydus’ candidate uses a technology that allows it to quickly modify the vaccine for mutated variants of the virus. The drugmaker has a new facility that it plans to use to ramp up production once it receives regulatory approval.”Initially, we will start off with producing 10 million doses a month and as soon as in the next four to five months we are looking (at) how do we double the capacity to 20 million doses per month,” Patel said.1 in 3 new cases from IndiaSo far in April alone, India has reported more than 6.2 million cases and over 42,000 officially counted deaths — reports suggest the death toll may be undercounted.The World Health Organization in its weekly epidemiological update on the pandemic said that last week, India accounted for 1 in 3 cases reported globally. In its analysis, the WHO said India had 157.4 new cases and 1.1 new deaths per 100,000 people.On Thursday, India’s health ministry data showed there were 379,257 new cases. The death toll has jumped this month and the latest official figure said at least another 3,645 people have died over a 24-hour period.Experts fear that a mutated variant of the coronavirus is responsible for the dramatic surge in cases. The WHO said in its weekly update that reports suggest there are multiple variants of the virus circulating in India.The international community has pledged resources to help India tackle its second wave. The United States is sending supplies worth more than $100 million “in the coming days” to ease some of the pressure off India’s stretched health-care system.According to a statement from the White House on Wednesday, the U.S. will provide India with oxygen concentrators, oxygen generation units, personal protective equipment, vaccine manufacturing supplies, rapid diagnostic tests and therapeutics as well as public health assistance.Meanwhile, economists are revising their forecasts for India’s economic recovery in light of the second wave.Ratings agency S&P Global Ratings said the outbreak poses downside risks to GDP and heightens the possibility of business disruptions. A drawn-out outbreak “may prompt us to revise our base-case assumption of 11% growth over fiscal 2021/2022, particularly if the government is forced to reimpose broad containment measures,” S&P said. More