Indonesia ‘regrets EU appealing WTO oil ruling’
Jakarta — The Indonesian trade ministry on Thursday urged the EU to adopt the World Trade Organisation (WTO) panel ruling to remove countervailing duties on Indonesian biodiesel imports and regretted the block’s move to appeal the ruling.
The EU said last week it will appeal the WTO panel ruling which backed Jakarta’s claim that the duties levied by the EU, the third-largest destination for Indonesian palm oil products, broke the trade body’s rules.
The EU says the duties, ranging from 8% to 18%, are because the Southeast Asian nation’s biodiesel producers benefit from grants, tax benefits and access to raw materials below market prices. The case joins a string of disputes over biodiesel tariffs and palm oil’s link to deforestation, even as the EU and Indonesia finalised negotiations on a free trade deal last month. Reuters
Dutch court orders Meta to simplify timelines
Amsterdam — A Dutch court on Thursday ordered Meta Platforms to offer users of its Facebook and Instagram platforms simpler options for a timeline that is not based on profiling.
The court said parts of the design of both platforms were not in line with the EU’s Digital Services Act. It gave Meta two weeks to offer users a “direct and simple” way to opt out of a timeline with recommended content.
Meta did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Reuters
Hong Kong’s retail sales by value rise in August
Hong Kong — Hong Kong’s retail sales by value rose 3.8% in August from a year earlier, the fourth consecutive month of gains, government data showed on Thursday.
Sales increased to HK$30.3bn ($3.89bn). In July, retail sales rose 1.8% compared with the same month a year before.
In volume terms, August retail sales increased 3.2% from a year earlier, compared with a revised 0.9% rise in July.
For the first eight months of 2025, the value of total retail sales declined 1.9% compared with the same period in 2024 and volume fell 3.1%.
Stabilising local consumer sentiment, coupled with sustained growth in inbound visitors and the government’s proactive efforts in promoting tourism and mega events, should render support to retail businesses, a government spokesperson said. Reuters
ECB selects start-up to prevent digital currency fraud
Frankfurt — The European Central Bank (ECB) said on Thursday it had picked a Portuguese start-up focused on AI to help prevent frauds in its planned digital euro currency.
The contract with Feedzai, worth up to €237.3m, is one of several announced by the ECB on Thursday to advance a project that it sees as key for the Eurozone’s financial autonomy from the US.
Under it, Feedzai and its subcontractor PwC will provide an AI model for scoring digital euro payments by their fraud risk, based on any deviation from a customer’s typical behaviour, interactions and history.
This is aimed at helping payment service providers decide whether to approve a transaction in digital euros, essentially an exchange between electronic wallets backed by the central bank.
The four-year agreement has an estimated value of €79.1m and a cap at €237.3m. Reuters
LG Energy Solution to resume workers’ trips to US
Seoul —South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution said on Thursday it would gradually resume business trips of its employees and subcontractors to the US, a day after the country agreed to allow South Koreans to work on equipment at US sites under existing temporary visas.
Business trips would resume after the Chuseok thanksgiving holiday period from October 3 to October 9, starting with top personnel, LG Energy Solution said in a statement.
Last month, US immigration officials raided LG Energy Solution’s joint plant construction site with Hyundai Motor and arrested hundreds of South Korean workers, who were released after a week of negotiations between the two countries. Reuters
Occidental Petroleum to sell division for $9.7bn
Bengaluru — Occidental Petroleum said on Thursday it would sell its petrochemical division to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway for $9.7bn, as the US oil and gas producer looks to pare debt.
The sale of the OxyChem unit, which produces chemicals used for treating swimming pools and vinyl products used for water supply piping and medical supplies, adds to a series of divestitures planned by the Houston, Texas-based company in recent years to raise cash.
If the deal closes, it would be the biggest for Berkshire, Occidental’s largest shareholder, since the $11.6bn purchase of insurance firm Alleghany Corporation in 2022 and expand its chemical holdings beyond Lubrizol.
Occidental, one of the top producers of basic chemicals and polyvinyl chloride in the US, has been struggling with a massive debt load, a legacy of its $55bn acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum in 2019, when it outbid rival Chevron to secure some of the richest shale oilfields in Texas. Reuters
British water utility Pennon names new CEO
Bengaluru — British water utility Pennon Group named Affinity Water CEO Keith Haslett as its new CEO on Thursday, bringing in an industry veteran to steer the company through its transformation.
Haslett, 46, who has served as the CEO of Affinity Water since January 2023, is expected to join Pennon in 2026. He will replace Susan Davy, who announced in July her retirement after nearly five years at the helm.
Before Affinity, Haslett held several senior roles at Northumbrian Water Group and United Utilities, overseeing large-scale water and wastewater operations and multi-billion-pound asset portfolios, Pennon said.
Haslett will be tasked with overseeing the group’s investments into infrastructure and efforts to cut environmental pollution, as the sector deals with elevated costs, high levels of debt, heightened public and political scrutiny and rapid regulatory changes. Reuters
PAI Partners raises €3.6bn equity for Froneri deal
Bengaluru — European buyout firm PAI Partners has raised €3.6bn worth of equity for the Froneri business, its ice cream venture with Nestlé, it said on Thursday.
As part of the transaction, a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and a new single-asset continuation vehicle led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives are to become new shareholders of Froneri.
Continuation vehicles have become a popular new tool for private equity firms to keep assets longer than the life of the funds they originally bought the asset with.
Typically private equity would keep assets for three to five years before selling or floating them but difficult mergers & acquisitions and public markets have led to funds keeping hold of assets longer. Reuters
Indonesia wealth fund has $10bn for investments
Singapore — Indonesia’s new sovereign wealth fund Danantara will deploy about $10bn in its first three months of operation starting in October, with 80% earmarked for domestic investments and the rest going overseas, its chief investment officer said on Thursday.
Danantara, short for Daya Anagata Nusantara, was launched in February by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto with an initial allocation of $20bn to kick-start 20 strategic projects and will start deploying funds for the first time this month.
The fund’s mandate is to manage state assets professionally and transparently while supporting Indonesia’s economic transformation and strengthening its competitiveness, according to its official website. Reuters
Strike slows Nigeria’s oil and gas production
Lagos — Nigeria’s daily oil and gas production slumped during a brief nationwide strike by Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria union workers that was called off on Wednesday after government-mediated talks with Dangote Refinery, according to a report seen by Reuters.
The strike, which began on September 28, was called after the Dangote refinery, Africa’s largest with a crude processing capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, dismissed more than 800 unionised staff.
The walkout cut about 283,000 barrels per day of oil, about 16% of national output, and 1.7-billion standard cubic feet per day of gas, while knocking out more than 1,200MW of power generation, according to the report by state oil firm NNPC.
The NNPC had warned the disruption posed a “material threat to national energy security” if prolonged. Reuters
Lloyds takes control of Schroders in joint venture
Bengaluru — Britain’s Lloyds Banking Group will take control of Schroders’ 49.9% stake in their joint venture after the business struggled with growth targets and high executive turnover, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
Under the plans, Lloyds and Schroders are set to abandon the wealth management venture, Schroders Personal Wealth, which targeted the “mass affluent” section of the market, the report said citing people familiar with the matter.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the report. Reuters
Tesco CEO says new UK budget troubles consumers
London — The CEO of Britain’s biggest supermarket Tesco said consumers in the UK are worried about the upcoming government budget which is likely to include tax rises.
“They are concerned. They are worried about the budget, they’re worried about the economic outlook so it is definitely a thing,” CEO Ken Murphy told reporters on a call on Thursday after the group lifted its profit outlook. Reuters
Shein joins bricks-and-mortar retail in France
Paris — Online fast-fashion retailer Shein plans to open its first physical shops in France in November under an agreement with department store owner Société des Grands Magasins (SGM), a move that sparked criticism from French retailers.
The stores in the BHV department store in central Paris and Galeries Lafayette department stores in five other French cities mark a new step for Shein, which until now has only hosted temporary marketing-driven pop-ups around the world.
SGM president Frédéric Merlin said the launch would attract a younger clientele, adding that a customer might buy a Shein item and a designer handbag on the same day.
Galeries Lafayette, which sold the stores operated by SGM under its name through a franchise agreement, said the move would violate the franchise agreement, and plans to stop it from happening.
“Galeries Lafayette profoundly disagrees with this decision with regards to the positioning and practices of this ultra-fast fashion brand that is in contradiction with its offer and values,” the group said in a statement. Reuters
Tesco forecasts strong Christmas sales
London — Tesco, Britain’s biggest food retailer, raised its full-year profit forecast on Thursday, saying customers were responding to its investments and it was winning market share, giving it momentum ahead of the festive trading period.
CEO Ken Murphy said that while UK household budgets remained under pressure and consumers were worried about the prospect of tax rises in the upcoming government budget, he expected robust Christmas trading.
“We are actually betting on a good Christmas, we have a lot of confidence in the strength of our offer,” he told reporters after the group reported a 4.9% rise in UK like-for-like sales over its first half to August 23.
He called on chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves to deliver a “pro-growth and pro-jobs” budget on November 26.
Shares in Tesco, whose share of Britain’s grocery market has grown this year to 28.4%, rose 3%, extending 2025 gains to 20%. Reuters
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