In addition to this, the number of startup deals also went up by 45% this year as opposed to the general downward trend in the MENA region.

The record level of investments in Pakistan can be attributed to an increase in interest from local, regional as well as international players in Pakistani startups. Many top VCs including First Round Capital, Prosus, Global Founders Capital, Village Global, Quiet Capital, GFC, YCombinator, Pioneer Fund have also invested in Pakistan in 2020.

According to Aatif Awan, Founder & Managing Partner at Indus Valley Capital, this trend might accelerate in 2021, as Pakistan crosses the 100M broadband subscribers milestone.

It is also important to note that 45% of the total startup funding came from a $22M Series A raised by Airlift Technologies and $13M Series B raised by Bykea.

In addition to this, COVID-19 impacted industries led the way in Pakistan with ecommerce, fintech, healthcare and education startups seeing the most transactions. Healthcare and fintech accounted for 5 deals each, while 3 rounds were registered in education tech.

It is expected that Pakistan will witness the largest growth rate of total startup funding in the MENA region as it continues its strong growth trajectory.

The results kick off India's corporate earnings season for the December-quarter, a seasonally weak period for the software industry, but one which analysts reckon has been good for IT firms in 2020 thanks in part to the COVID-19 crisis.

TCS and rivals, Infosys and Wipro, have been winning more large contracts from businesses that are investing in services such as cloud-computing and cybersecurity to support their shift to remote work.

"Growing demand for core transformation services ... have driven a powerful momentum that helped us overcome seasonal headwinds," TCS Chief Executive Officer Rajesh Gopinathan said in a statement to the stock exchanges.

The Mumbai-based company said revenue from the banking and finance industries, its top revenue contributor, jumped 7.6% year-over-year to 166.55 billion rupees ($2.27 billion) in the December-quarter.

TCS' net profit rose to 87.01 billion rupees in the three months to Dec. 31, 2020, from 81.18 billion rupees a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected a profit of 84.01 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv data.

Revenue from operations jumped 5.4% to 420.15 billion rupees.

M&S Chief Executive Steve Rowe said that the latest national lockdowns across Britain announced this month, which could potentially extend until Easter, meant clothing and home sales would likely deteriorate further.

"Near term trading remains very challenging but we are continuing to accelerate change under our Never the Same Again programme to ensure the business emerges from the pandemic in very different shape," Rowe told reporters.

He said the Christmas performance was "robust...in near impossible conditions" and M&S had made "good progress" in repositioning clothing and home ranges and buying.

However, this was hidden by the effects of COVID-19 restrictions and demand distortions, Rowe added.

M&S, one of the best known names in British retail, said revenue in its clothing and home division slumped 25.1% in the 13 weeks to Dec. 26, its fiscal third quarter, having fallen 21.3% in the previous quarter.

Food sales did, however, rise 2.2%, building on a 1.6% second quarter increase at M&S, which was struggling to reinvent itself after decades of failed attempts before the pandemic.

SHARES SLIP

M&S said in May that the crisis would indelibly change its business and it would speed-up its latest turnaround plan, delivering three years of change in one.

In August, it cut 7,000 jobs and in November it reported a first loss in its 94 years as a publicly listed company.

M&S shares were down 2.3% at 1055 GMT, extending year-on-year losses to 29% after the results, which showed a fall of 46.5% in clothing and home store sales was partly offset by online growth of 47.5%.

Rowe said food had performed particularly well in the four-week period leading up to Christmas, with like-for-like sales, excluding hospitality and franchise up 8.7%, with large retail park and Simply Food stores significantly outperforming.

He said M&S's joint venture with Ocado had also performed well.

M&S's said its international revenue fell 10.4% due to changing restrictions related to the pandemic and warned that potential post-Brexit tariffs on goods exported to the European Union, together with complex administrative processes, would significantly impact its businesses in Ireland, the Czech Republic and its franchise business in France.

It said it is working to mitigate the issues.

Inflation registered an increase in the 12 months to December of 3.0%, the National Statistics Institute (INE) said, within the central bank's 2 to 4% target range. In its December Monetary Policy Report (IPoM), the agency estimated that inflation would reach 2.8% in 2020.

Deliveries included seven wide-body A350 jets and 56 single-aisle jets including 54 of the main A320neo narrow-body family.

Deliveries are being closely scrutinized by investors as they generate much-needed cash during the coronavirus crisis.

The figures confirm an earlier Reuters report that Airbus was heading towards a total of 550 or more deliveries in 2020 after a November tally in the mid-60s, including as many as seven A350s and more than 50 narrow-body jets.

November's deliveries retreated from 72 seen in October this year and fell 17% from the 77 handovers posted in November 2019.

Boeing said on Friday it had delivered zero 787 jets in November, prompting it to lower their output to five aircraft a month. The 787 is one of two models competing with the Airbus A350, which is being produced at a rate of 4.5 a month.

Lower travel due to the pandemic is weighing heavily on new orders.

Airbus sold no aircraft in November, marking the fourth time since European lockdowns began in March that it has gone a month without posting new business as it focuses on getting aircraft delivered. It has 7,302 orders yet to be fulfilled, equivalent to more than a decade of production at current depressed rates.

Between January and November, it posted 381 orders, or a net total of 297 after cancellations, including 11 freshly reported.

The net total includes 10 new cancellations for A220-100 aircraft originally ordered by Bahrain's Gulf Air. There has been doubt over the future of the order since 2018 when Airbus bought the regional jet programme from Canada's Bombardier.

Airbus inherited the orders from the Canadian company which sold the 10 jets, then known as CSeries, to Gulf Air in 2012.

Airbus also took another cancellation from Macquarie Financial Holdings, a leasing unit of Australia's Macquarie Group, which has been trimming jet orders.

Iliad, Italy's fourth-largest mobile phone player, filed a complaint a year ago, saying the deal - which received the green light by both the industry minister and the national communications watchdog - would restrict competition.

The court argued Iliad did not have the right to ask the annulment of a commercial agreement between two private companies and that its request was inadmissible, the document showed.

According to the airline spokesman, the GACA has issued a circular to all airlines operating in the airports of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for temporary suspension of International flights for one week.

Following the circular, PIA immediately suspended its flights scheduled to operate on Monday. PIA weekly scheduled flights connecting from different parts of Pakistan to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia shall not be operated in lieu of the suspension imposed through their circular, PIA Spokesman said in a statement issued on Monday PIA flights will remain suspended till the time GACA issues circular allowing airlines to operate flights, PIA spokesman said.

As per the GACA circular received, the instructions would be reviewed and updated in the light of developments related to Covid-19 pandemic, he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020

The embattled US planemaker had no 787 Dreamliner deliveries to customers last month, warning that inspections over quality flaws and the resurgent coronavirus will continue to hamper deliveries through year-end.

Jet deliveries are being closely scrutinized by investors as they generate much-needed cash during the coronavirus crisis.

On Tuesday, United Airlines was expected to receive the first 737 MAX delivery since regulators imposed a 20-month safety ban. Brazil's Gol plans to resume commercial domestic routes from Wednesday.

Boeing's European rival Airbus delivered 64 aircraft in November, bringing the total so far this year to 477, compared to Boeing's 118.

Boeing's closely watched monthly orders and deliveries snapshot comes five days after Ireland's Ryanair booked a December order for 75 737 MAX jets, throwing Boeing a commercial lifeline.

For November, Boeing received orders for two KC-46 tankers.

Boeing said it lost orders for 17 737 MAXs from unidentified customers, while Air Lease Corp and Air Canada scrubbed orders for 23 jets.

Virgin Australia reduced and restructured an order for 48 737 MAX jets by replacing it with a contract for 25 of the MAX 10 variants, which have more seats. This year, Boeing has received orders for two MAX jets from Poland's Enter Air and three from an unidentified buyer.

Canceled MAX orders, including those where buyers converted to a different model, stood at 536 jets - and 548 for all jets across Boeing's portfolio, Boeing said on Tuesday.

For 2020 through November, the number of MAX orders canceled, or removed from Boeing's official backlog when it applies stricter accounting standards, stood at 1,068 aircraft.

Boeing orders from January through November, before the accounting adjustment, went to minus 454 for all models, compared to Airbus' net total of 297 after cancellations.

Boeing delivered seven planes last month: two P-8 maritime patrol aircraft, one 747 freighter for United Parcel Service , one 767 freighter for FedEx Corp and three 777 widebodies.

The seven jets Boeing handed to customers in November compares to 24 a year earlier and 13 in October.

For the year through November, Boeing delivered 118 aircraft, a 66% drop from the 345 it delivered for the same period a year ago.

Dawood mentions in a tweet today that Pakistan’s exports have crossed the US$ 2 billion per month mark today.

The absolute value of Pakistan’s exports has increased to US$2.156 billion in November 2020 as compared to US$ 2.011 billion in the same month last year.

Moreover, for the first 5 months of 2020, the exports increased to US$ 9.732 billion as compared to US$ 9.545 billion over the same period in 2019.

Dawood commends the hard work of exporters, who have contributed to this rise in exports amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Macro Pakistani also reports that while some districts have adequate coverage, internet speeds in others are lower than the national average of 6.2 Mbits per second (cellular only). Some areas also reported download speed of less than1 Mbits.

Low digital connectivity in Balochistan also results from lack of infrastructural investments in the province due to its rough landscape. Balochistan has the average elevation of 2000 feet, which makes it difficult for construction activities.

Hence, with little or no investment by private telecommunication firms, the province lags behind other provinces in attaining the benefits of the information revolution.

However, other factors such as the inflow of investments via the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and population density of the province makes it conducive for building 4G towers.

With CPEC investments improving regional connectivity through the construction of road and rail infrastructure, and economic zones, previously disconnected areas such as the Makran belt have become more accessible. Hence, the incentive for telecommunications companies to invest in Balochistan has also increased.

The reduction in commission will allow Careem to extend the necessary support to restaurants by passing down these commissions in form of discounts to customers, while encouraging increased orders. During the first lockdown, the restaurant industry had taken a severe economic hit as dine-in was completely shut.

However, things are still challenging as the new SOPs require reduced timing with a complete ban on indoor dining. Speaking on the development, Zeeshan Hasib Baig, CEO and country general manager, Careem Pakistan, said: "At Careem, we always work to best assist our partners, customers and captains during these uncertain times. Being a key player in the industry, it is our duty to act as the supporting force behind our communities and vendors to ensure business sustainability."

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020