Tuesday newspaper round-up: Huawei, Woodford, Goldman Sachs, Silicon Valley
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Tuesday 21 May 2019
(Sharecast News) - The founder of Huawei, Ren Zhengfei, has said the US "underestimates" the telecom giant's strength, and that conflict with America was inevitable in the quest to "stand on top of the world". Ren, speaking after Donald Trump declared a national emergency aimed at thwarting Huawei's global 5G ambitions, told Chinese media: "The current practice of US politicians underestimates our strength. Huawei's 5G will absolutely not be affected. In terms of 5G technologies, others won't be able to catch up with Huawei in two or three years." - Guardian
Investment scams involving cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and foreign currency trading have tripled in a year, with the average victim losing £14,600, according to the UK's Financial Conduct Authority. The regulator and the police-run body Action Fraud are warning the public to be wary of these scams, which typically promise high returns and are often carried out via bogus online trading platforms. More than £27m was lost to frauds involving so-called crypto-assets and forex investments in 2018-19, said the FCA. - Guardian
The flagship fund run by one of Britain's best-known investors Neil Woodford has been downgraded due to underperformance and "persistent redemptions". Ratings agency Morningstar said it was downgrading Mr Woodford's flagship equity income fund to neutral, its second lowest rating, amid concerns about his "relentless willingness to push the portfolio to its liquidity limit". - Telegraph
Goldman Sachs is in exclusive talks to buy a chain of budget hotels in Europe in a deal that comes years after it was involved in the rescue of Travelodge. The Wall Street banking giant plans to buy French hotelier B&B Hotels, which was set up in 1990 and has 52,832 rooms across 12 countries, from French private equity giant PAI Partners by the second half of this year. - Telegraph
Tens of billions of dollars have been wiped off the value of some of Silicon Valley's biggest players over fears that a technology Cold War is breaking out between the two economic superpowers. Google's decision to exclude Huawei from its smartphone operating system has escalated concerns that US-China trade in high-tech goods and services could go into the deep freeze. - The Times
It was hardly the most compelling sales pitch. "This is a very ageing fleet with some quite complicated technology," was how Iain Conn, Centrica's chief executive, described Britain's nuclear reactors last week. For the past decade, the British Gas owner has held a 20 per cent interest in the eight plants, mostly built in the 1960s and 1970s and controlled by EDF, the giant French utilities group. Centrica hoisted the "for sale" sign in February last year, declaring itself no longer a "natural owner" for the stake. - The Times
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