SoftBank's office in Tokyo. The company's shares gained 3.6 per cent on Monday. AP
SoftBank's office in Tokyo. The company's shares gained 3.6 per cent on Monday. AP
SoftBank's office in Tokyo. The company's shares gained 3.6 per cent on Monday. AP
SoftBank's office in Tokyo. The company's shares gained 3.6 per cent on Monday. AP

Investors bet on more upside in SoftBank as shares more than double since March


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SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son has delivered a clear response to critics who thought the twin disasters of WeWork and the coronavirus would bring down his empire: not just yet.

The Japanese technology company’s shares have more than doubled from their March low, propelled by buybacks and improving market conditions for its portfolio companies. They gained another 3.6 per cent on Monday.

SoftBank bonds, which traded at less than 65 cents on the dollar in March, have recovered to near par. Mr Son, 62, saw his own net worth increase to $20 billion (Dh73.4bn), the highest since the Bloomberg Billionaires Index began tracking his wealth.

However, plenty of investors have remained sceptical of SoftBank and Mr Son himself.

Still, several factors suggest more room for short-term gains: earnings are set to recover from last quarter’s record loss, short sellers are under pressure to cover losing bets by buying shares and SoftBank’s share buybacks of as much as 2.5 trillion yen (Dh85.8bn) are just getting started.

“The share price can still double,” said Richard Kaye, Japan equity analyst and portfolio manager at Comgest Asset Management, which holds a $60 million stake in SoftBank.

There has been too much focus on WeWork, he said, and not enough on the “eight or nine things that have gone very right”.

Mr Son has made a career out of confounding his doubters. After backing hundreds of start-ups during the dot-com boom, he lost a record $70bn as almost all those companies failed, leaving SoftBank’s future in doubt.

Yet, he slashed costs and survived. In 2006, he acquired the Japan unit of Vodafone Group in a widely panned $15bn deal that few thought would pay off. Mr Son turned the business around, in part by persuading Apple’s Steve Jobs to give him exclusive rights to the iPhone in Japan.

The past year, however, proved to be the Japanese entrepreneur’s most challenging in decades. After refocusing SoftBank on technology investments with the $100bn Vision Fund, several start-ups he backed ran into trouble, culminating with WeWork’s disastrous flop.

The coronavirus pummelled SoftBank’s investments in the so-called sharing economy, businesses built on people splitting the use of cars, rooms and offices. Credit default swaps, the cost of insuring against default, hit their highest level in a decade.

However, Mr Son had a lifeline this time around that he lacked during the dotcom bust: his stake in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group, worth more than $150bn, that could be sold for cash at any time.

In March, just days after a record plunge in its shares, SoftBank said it would sell 4.5tn yen in assets. That helped fund a record pace of stock buybacks this year – and they are far from over.

SoftBank announced three buybacks this year, completing only one of them, a 500bn yen programme announced on March 13. While that was wrapped up on June 15, the company announced two separate programmes totalling 1tn yen – a further 1tn yen was promised, but has yet to be committed.

SoftBank’s pattern of buying its shares is also significant. In line with Tokyo Stock Exchange guidelines, buybacks stopped for five days before the fiscal year-end in March. In April, having bought every day that month, buybacks suddenly paused for an entire month, during which SoftBank announced its financial results.

Before that halt, however, the amount bought each day surged to triple the usual amount for five consecutive days. Many of these days registered outsize moves in SoftBank stock, which rose by 5.2 per cent one day, and 6.9 per cent on another.

With financial results just over a month away, the current pace may increase in a similar pattern. SoftBank said it will follow stock exchange guidelines for repurchases but did not provide any more detail.

At the same time, margin sales on the Tokyo Stock Exchange are at the highest level since December 2012, according to data from the bourse.

Sales on margin, a type of short-selling, represent bets against the company – which many investors had also tried in 2012 after the announcement of its Sprint Corporation acquisition.

But those who bet against it, eight years ago lost out – in the first six months of 2013, as margin sales dropped, the stock more than doubled. History might repeat itself. If the upward pressure from the buybacks is sustained, that could force shorts to cover their positions, sending the stock even higher.

“The shorts got this one wrong,” said Ikuo Mitsui, a fund manager at Aizawa Securities. “Going forward there is likely to be more short-covering, which will make it harder for the share price to drop.”

In recent months, Mr Son has argued that the key metric for SoftBank investors should not be profit or revenue but shareholder value, specifically the equity value of the company’s holdings minus its net debt.

“You should look at shareholder value, how much gain or a loss the company recorded, because we are an investment company,” he said earlier this year.

In fact, the group has taken to providing its own daily calculation of what its shares should be worth, based on its equity holdings of Alibaba, T-Mobile US and the domestic wireless operator SoftBank.

As of Friday, shares stood at 13,230 yen, according to SoftBank, more than twice its share price even after the run-up of more than 130 per cent from its March low.

SoftBank has benefited from a rebound in its portfolio of companies, particularly Alibaba. The e-commerce company hit record after record this year, with its market valuation pushing past $700bn. Uber, a key Vision Fund investment, has more than doubled since its mid-March trough.

The macroeconomic environment has also improved in recent months. Jefferies analysts, including Atul Goyal, wrote in a May report that the Federal Reserve support of the US market is a boon for SoftBank.

With the Fed backstop for investment grade and high-yield bond market, they said that “a lot of that excess money supply and liquidity is likely to flow to higher-yielding investments”.

There are signs that SoftBank’s portfolio of start-ups will face an improved reception as they look to go public. Online home-insurance provider Lemonade, one of Mr Son’s investments, more than doubled after its initial public offering this month.

The company’s debt has also recovered. SoftBank’s 6.875 per cent perpetual dollar bonds plunged in March to as low as 64 cents on the dollar and have since recovered to around par on Thursday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

"SoftBank executing on its asset sale target is a positive for the credit,” CreditSights analyst Mary Pollock said.

SMBC Nikko analyst Satoru Kikuchi raised his price target for SoftBank last Thursday, using a sum-of-the-parts model that lifted his valuation by 11 per cent to 7,000 yen.

Risks – and sceptics – remain. A surge in virus cases in the US could still break the Fed’s magic spell over the markets, while the US-China trade war could disrupt business and upend companies like Alibaba.

Investors also fret that Mr Son will be tempted to bail out troubled portfolio companies, like he did with WeWork.

Kiyoshi Ishigane, chief fund manager at Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management in Tokyo said he personally would not suggest going overweight on SoftBank given how fast the stock has risen over the past couple of months.

But for Mr Son’s fans, the inscrutable billionaire has pulled off yet another escape from the abyss.

“As the market starts to realise the strength of SoftBank’s position, there will be a proper reassessment of SoftBank’s share price,” said Mr Kaye.

Global state-owned investor ranking by size

1.

United States

2.

China

3.

UAE

4.

Japan

5

Norway

6.

Canada

7.

Singapore

8.

Australia

9.

Saudi Arabia

10.

South Korea

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
The Bio

Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”

Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”

Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”

Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”

The specs

Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel

Power: 579hp

Torque: 859Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

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Major honours

ARSENAL

  • FA Cup - 2005

BARCELONA

  • La Liga - 2013
  • Copa del Rey - 2012
  • Fifa Club World Cup - 2011

CHELSEA

  • Premier League - 2015, 2017
  • FA Cup - 2018
  • League Cup - 2015

SPAIN

  • World Cup - 2010
  • European Championship - 2008, 2012
The specs: 2018 Nissan Patrol Nismo

Price: base / as tested: Dh382,000

Engine: 5.6-litre V8

Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic

Power: 428hp @ 5,800rpm

Torque: 560Nm @ 3,600rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 12.7L / 100km

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Creator: Mike White

Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell

Rating: 4.5/5

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Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12

Power: 819hp

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Total eligible population

About 57.5 million people
51.1 million received a jab
6.4 million have not

Where are the unvaccinated?

England 11%
Scotland 9%
Wales 10%
Northern Ireland 14% 

Sting & Shaggy

44/876

(Interscope)

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The biog

Family: He is the youngest of five brothers, of whom two are dentists. 

Celebrities he worked on: Fabio Canavaro, Lojain Omran, RedOne, Saber Al Rabai.

Where he works: Liberty Dental Clinic 

Kathryn Hawkes of House of Hawkes on being a good guest (because we’ve all had bad ones)

  • Arrive with a thank you gift, or make sure you have one for your host by the time you leave. 
  • Offer to buy groceries, cook them a meal or take your hosts out for dinner.
  • Help out around the house.
  • Entertain yourself so that your hosts don’t feel that they constantly need to.
  • Leave no trace of your stay – if you’ve borrowed a book, return it to where you found it.
  • Offer to strip the bed before you go.
Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Profile

Co-founders of the company: Vilhelm Hedberg and Ravi Bhusari

Launch year: In 2016 ekar launched and signed an agreement with Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi. In January 2017 ekar launched in Dubai in a partnership with the RTA.

Number of employees: Over 50

Financing stage: Series B currently being finalised

Investors: Series A - Audacia Capital 

Sector of operation: Transport

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
ELIO

Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett

Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina

Rating: 4/5

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sarfira

Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal 

Rating: 2/5

Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale

Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni

Director: Amith Krishnan

Rating: 3.5/5

The Sand Castle

Director: Matty Brown

Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5

The First Monday in May
Director:
Andrew Rossi
Starring: Anna Wintour, Karl Lagerfeld, John Paul Gaultier, Rihanna
Three stars

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How being social media savvy can improve your well being

Next time when procastinating online remember that you can save thousands on paying for a personal trainer and a gym membership simply by watching YouTube videos and keeping up with the latest health tips and trends.

As social media apps are becoming more and more consumed by health experts and nutritionists who are using it to awareness and encourage patients to engage in physical activity.

Elizabeth Watson, a personal trainer from Stay Fit gym in Abu Dhabi suggests that “individuals can use social media as a means of keeping fit, there are a lot of great exercises you can do and train from experts at home just by watching videos on YouTube”.

Norlyn Torrena, a clinical nutritionist from Burjeel Hospital advises her clients to be more technologically active “most of my clients are so engaged with their phones that I advise them to download applications that offer health related services”.

Torrena said that “most people believe that dieting and keeping fit is boring”.

However, by using social media apps keeping fit means that people are “modern and are kept up to date with the latest heath tips and trends”.

“It can be a guide to a healthy lifestyle and exercise if used in the correct way, so I really encourage my clients to download health applications” said Mrs Torrena.

People can also connect with each other and exchange “tips and notes, it’s extremely healthy and fun”.

Barbie
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Which honey takes your fancy?

Al Ghaf Honey

The Al Ghaf tree is a local desert tree which bears the harsh summers with drought and high temperatures. From the rich flowers, bees that pollinate this tree can produce delicious red colour honey in June and July each year

Sidr Honey

The Sidr tree is an evergreen tree with long and strong forked branches. The blossom from this tree is called Yabyab, which provides rich food for bees to produce honey in October and November. This honey is the most expensive, but tastiest

Samar Honey

The Samar tree trunk, leaves and blossom contains Barm which is the secret of healing. You can enjoy the best types of honey from this tree every year in May and June. It is an historical witness to the life of the Emirati nation which represents the harsh desert and mountain environments

While you're here
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Company Fact Box

Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019

Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO

Based: Amman, Jordan

Sector: Education Technology

Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed

Stage: early-stage startup 

Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.

Our legal consultants

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Warlight,
Michael Ondaatje, Knopf 

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Why seagrass matters
  • Carbon sink: Seagrass sequesters carbon up to 35X faster than tropical rainforests
  • Marine nursery: Crucial habitat for juvenile fish, crustations, and invertebrates
  • Biodiversity: Support species like sea turtles, dugongs, and seabirds
  • Coastal protection: Reduce erosion and improve water quality
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Specs

Engine: 51.5kW electric motor

Range: 400km

Power: 134bhp

Torque: 175Nm

Price: From Dh98,800

Available: Now

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Founders: Michele Ferrario, Nino Ulsamer and Freddy Lim
Started: established in 2016 and launched in July 2017
Based: Singapore, with offices in the UAE, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand
Sector: FinTech, wealth management
Initial investment: $500,000 in seed round 1 in 2016; $2.2m in seed round 2 in 2017; $5m in series A round in 2018; $12m in series B round in 2019; $16m in series C round in 2020 and $25m in series D round in 2021
Current staff: more than 160 employees
Stage: series D 
Investors: EightRoads Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Sequoia Capital India

Race card

4pm Al Bastakiya Listed US$300,000 (Dirt) 1,900m

4.35pm Mahab Al Shimaal Group 3 $350,000 (D) 1,200m

5.10pm Nad Al Sheba Turf Group 3 $350,000 (Turf) 1,200m

5.45pm Burj Nahaar Group 3 $350,000 (D) 1,600m

6.20pm Jebel Hatta Group 1 $400,000 (T) 1,800m

6.55pm Al Maktoum Challenge Round-3 Group 1 $600,000 (D) 2,000m

7.30pm Dubai City Of Gold Group 2 $350,000 (T) 2,410m

The National selections:

4pm Zabardast

4.35pm Ibn Malik

5.10pm Space Blues

5.45pm Kimbear

6.20pm Barney Roy

6.55pm Matterhorn

7.30pm Defoe

Results:

6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-2 (PA) | Group 1 US$75,000 (Dirt) | 2,200 metres

Winner: Goshawke, Fernando Jara (jockey), Ali Rashid Al Raihe (trainer)

7.05pm: UAE 1000 Guineas (TB) | Listed $250,000 (D) | 1,600m

Winner: Silva, Oisin Murphy, Pia Brendt

7.40pm: Meydan Classic Trial (TB) | Conditions $100,000 (Turf) | 1,400m

Winner: Golden Jaguar, Connor Beasley, Ahmad bin Harmash

8.15pm: Al Shindagha Sprint (TB) | Group 3 $200,000 (D) | 1,200m

Winner: Drafted, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson

8.50pm: Handicap (TB) | $175,000 (D) | 1,600m

Winner: Capezzano, Mickael Barzalona, Sandeep Jadhav

9.25pm: Handicap (TB) | $175,000 (T) | 2,000m

Winner: Oasis Charm, William Buick, Charlie Appleby

10pm: Handicap (TB) | $135,000 (T) | 1,600m

Winner: Escalator, Christopher Hayes, Charlie Fellowes

The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl, 48V hybrid

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Power: 325bhp

Torque: 450Nm

Price: Dh359,000

On sale: now 

Defence review at a glance

• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”

• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems

• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.

• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%

• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade

• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels

Full list of Emmy 2020 nominations

LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

Anthony Anderson, Black-ish
Don Cheadle, Black Monday
Ted Danson, The Good Place
Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method
Eugene Levy, Schitt’s Creek
Ramy Youssef, Ramy

LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

Christina Applegate, Dead to Me
Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Linda Cardellini, Dead to Me
Catherine O’Hara, Schitt’s Creek
Issa Rae, Insecure
Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish

OUTSTANDING VARIETY/TALK SERIES

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

Jason Bateman, Ozark
Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us
Steve Carell, The Morning Show
Brian Cox, Succession
Billy Porter, Pose
Jeremy Strong, Succession

LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

Jennifer Aniston, The Morning Show
Olivia Colman, The Crown
Jodie Comer, Killing Eve
Laura Linney, Ozark
Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
Zendaya, Euphoria

OUTSTANDING REALITY/COMPETITION PROGRAM

The Masked Singer
Nailed It!
RuPaul’s Drag Race
Top Chef
The Voice

LEAD ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES/TV MOVIE

Jeremy Irons, Watchmen
Hugh Jackman, Bad Education
Paul Mescal, Normal People
Jeremy Pope, Hollywood
Mark Ruffalo, I Know This Much Is True

LEAD ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES/TV MOVIE

Cate Blanchett, Mrs. America
Shira Haas, Unorthodox
Regina King, Watchmen
Octavia Spencer, Self Made
Kerry Washington, Little Fires Everywhere

OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES

Little Fires Everywhere
Mrs. America
Unbelievable
Unorthodox
Watchmen

OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES

Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dead to Me
The Good Place
Insecure
The Kominsky Method
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Schitt’s Creek
What We Do In The Shadows

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES

Better Call Saul
The Crown
The Handmaid’s Tale
Killing Eve
The Mandalorian
Ozark
Stranger Things
Succession

 

'Gehraiyaan'
Director:Shakun Batra

Stars:Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, Dhairya Karwa

Rating: 4/5

2.0

Director: S Shankar

Producer: Lyca Productions; presented by Dharma Films

Cast: Rajnikanth, Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson, Sudhanshu Pandey

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

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