MTN Group to Acquire Nigerian Internet Provider

MTN Group agreed to buy internet provider Visafone Communications of Nigeria to expand in Africa’s biggest economy even as the South African company awaits a local court ruling on a record $3.9bn fine in its biggest market.

MTN

The acquisition will ensure that "Nigerians experience a boost in the quality of broadband internet services" and data speeds, MTN Nigeria executive Amina Oyagbola said on Friday without disclosing terms.
MTN said in a statement that Visafone offered voice and online services in Nigeria.

Positive indicators in job-loss statistics

The mining sector has surprisingly not recorded job losses in the third quarter, despite mining companies reporting jobs cuts over the period, according to unemployment figures released by Statistics SA on Tuesday.

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The agriculture sector also unexpectedly added a significant number of jobs even after a severe drought earlier this year sharply curbed output.
But despite these positive indicators, unemployment still rose from 25% to 25.5% in the third quarter — indicating that 5.4-million people looking for work were unable to find any, the quarterly labour force survey showed on Tuesday.

Sales Fall again in Sainsbury

The chain reported same store sales excluding fuel down a worse-than-expected 2.1% in the 12 weeks to June 6, which comes on top of a 1.9% drop in the previous three months.

Sainsbury's remains under pressure from falling UK food prices and as the big four grocers engage in fierce competition amid a scramble for market share, which is being eaten away by discounters Aldi and Lidl.

 

Sainsbury's chief executive Mike Coupe, who took over from long-standing predecessor Justin King last July, unveiled a wide-ranging plan to fight back against the discounters in November which included price cuts to 1,100 items and improvements in quality to 3,000 own-brand products.