Business news in brief
Standard Chartered hit with £2.8m fine
Standard Chartered has been slapped with a 5.2m Singapore dollar (£2.8m) fine for breaching anti-moneylaundering and anti-terrorism funding regulations. The fine, meted out by the monetary authority of Singapore, relates to transfers from the lender’s Guernsey operations to its counterpart in the Asian nation in 2015 and 2016.
Singapore’s central bank said risk management and controls in relation to the transfers were “unsatisfactory” and the timing of the transfers raised questions of whether the clients involved were attempting to avoid common reporting standard obligations. It accused Standard Chartered of failing to “adequately mitigate” against this risk factor, and of failing to file suspicious transaction reports in a timely manner. PA
Micro Focus warns over sales as boss resigns
Software group Micro Focus has warned over sales and seen its chief executive resign, sending shares
crashing 54 per cent on the London Stock Exchange yesterday morning. The FTSE 100 group said annual revenues were falling at a faster rate than previously expected after being confronted by lower licensing income. Micro Focus, which sealed a £6.8bn takeover of Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s software business in September, revised its annual revenue guidance to between minus 6 per cent and minus 9 per cent, compared with minus 2 per cent and minus 4 per cent. The group also announced that chief executive Chris Hsu was quitting to “pursue another opportunity”, just six months after taking the role. He will be replaced by chief operating officer Stephen Murdoch, who will take up the position immediately. PA
Alibaba to invest £2bn in South-east Asian tech firm
Alibaba Group has said it will invest an additional $2bn (£1.4bn) in South-east Asian e-commerce firm Lazada Group as part of the Chinese firm’s push into new markets. Following the investment, Lucy Peng, who currently serves as Lazada Group chair, will take over the role of chief executive, replacing founder Max Bittner, who will become a senior advisor to Alibaba. Alibaba has previously invested $2bn in the Singapore-based firm, bringing its total investment to $4bn. Reuters
Dana to seek secondary London listing
Dana, the US company seeking to merge with the auto unit of British engineering company GKN, has said it will seek a secondary listing in London, a move which would allow more British shareholders to back the deal. Dana said in a statement that some GKN shareholders had said they wanted to hold stock in the new enlarged company and it would list in London in order to enable them to do so, getting around rules that prevent some UK funds holding US stock. Reuters
Henkel warns that delivery woes will hit sales
Henkel expects a fall in organic sales in its laundry and beauty care business in the first quarter due to delivery problems in North America after the German consumer goods company changed transport and logistics systems. The maker of Persil detergent and Loctite said its adhesives and professional haircare businesses were not affected and showed very good development.
It confirmed its outlook for sales and earnings for the full year. After launching Persil in the United States in 2015, Henkel has been grappling with a price war with Procter & Gamble and competition in its beauty business. It makes about a quarter of its sales in North America. Reuters