JUNE 24, 2023

(Bloomberg) -- Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. said flight CX880 had departed from Hong Kong to Los Angeles Saturday after an earlier takeoff was aborted and passengers were evacuated because of a “signal anomaly.” 

A different plane carrying 283 passengers left Hong Kong at 10:12 a.m. local time, according to a statement from the airline operator. Alternate arrangements have been made for those with connecting flights, it said. 

Nine of the 11 passengers who received treatment at hospitals have been discharged, Cathay said. 

Earlier Saturday, 293 passengers and 17 crew members aboard flight CX880 were evacuated through an emergency chute at Hong Kong’s airport after the plane scrapped its takeoff and taxied back to the parking area, the city’s airport authority said in a statement.

A faulty device forced pilots to apply the brakes as the plane was hurtling for takeoff, causing wheels to burst and flames to appear, the South China Morning Post reported, citing a police source it didn’t identify.

The airline arranged hotel accommodation for the affected passengers and another aircraft had been deployed to operate CX880, Cathay Pacific said in an earlier statement.

Passengers who required treatment were accompanied to the hospital by airline staff, according to the statement. Cathay said it will cooperate with authorities on the investigation.

Traffic at Hong Kong’s airport and Cathay, the city’s main carrier, are recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic. The airline said this week it expects to report a profit for the first six months of 2023, finally emerging from the most damaging period in its 76-year history. 

Read more: Cathay’s Covid Rebound Gathers Pace With New Forecast

--With assistance from Angela Cullen and Robert Fenner.

(Updates with report of possible cause in fifth paragraph)

JUNE 24, 2023

• NEMA: 116 houses affected at Trademore Estate; no life lost

There was pandemonium in Abuja yesterday  following a downpour that  left the popular Trademore estate submerged in flood.  Property  worth hundreds of millions of naira  was destroyed by the heavy rain which started as early as 6am.

When our correspondent visited the scene, residents of the estate were seen running from pillar to post and looking confused on what to do.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) confirmed to reporters at the estate that a Peugeot 406 driver with registration no. YLA 681 FS drowned in the flood and was still missing at Imo Street of the Estate. Four other persons according to NEMA were rescued and in stable condition.

Residents of the estate were seen during the downpour making frantic efforts to salvage their property after their houses had been submerged by the flood.

Trademore Estate has over the years suffered from a series of devastating effects of flooding with lives and property worth billions of naira lost.

As at the time of filing this report, stakeholders responding to the flood are NEMA, Fire Service, FCT FEMA, Red Cross and Federal Ministry of Environment-Flood department respectively.

An eyewitness who is also a resident, Sunday Ibrahim, said: “It is expected, this estate has been known for flooding. Many houses were demolished in the past, but people have started building on rain channels despite warnings from concerned authorities.

“I hope many will listen this time and move to where has been allocated to them to further avert crisis.”   

Next Stay

Another resident who gave his name as Samuel Omole said some cars were swept away by the flood.

He blamed the incident on the promoters of an estate in the area who channeled water towards their side.

Omole said: “It rained heavily this morning and before we knew it, houses were flooded. A man who came to buy drugs from the pharmacy here stayed inside his car for the rain to subside. The car later got submerged. But thank God the man got out of the car.

“I am trying to salvage my belongings. The flood was caused by an estate promoter who channeled water towards our side. If something is not done quickly to address this, what has happened would be a tip of the iceberg.”

Meanwhile, the Director General (DG) of the FCT Emergency Management Agency (FEMA),Dr Abbas Idriss confirmed that no life was lost in the incident

In a statement issued by the Head of Public Affairs, FEMA, Nkechi Isa, the FEMA boss disclosed that 116 houses were submerged during the heavy floods.

Idriss explained that the flood at Trademore Estate was caused by infractions on the water channel, and appealed to residents whose houses were built on the water channel to relocate.

According to him, Trademore is on the water channel and therefore, vulnerable to floods.

He stated that the floods had receded and therefore, appreciated all stakeholders, residents and residents for their efforts and cooperation at Trademore Estate to ensure that no life was lost.

He dismissed as untrue social media reports alleging that a resident of the estate was missing during the floods.

Idriss said the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) had predicted heavy floods in the FCT, this rainy season.He urged residents to always use the 112 Emergency toll free number in the event of an emergency.

JUNE 25, 2023

The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria has confirmed the deaths of five Nigerian pilgrims participating in the ongoing Hajj in Saudi Arabia.

The head of NAHCON Hajj medical team, Usman Galadima, made this known on Saturday during a meeting of the commission in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, adding that 30 patients also have mental health challenges.

He identified the delegates as two each from Osun and Kaduna states, while Plateau State recorded one.

Galadima disclosed that the people with mental challenges are currently undergoing treatment and are expected to perform Hajj.

According to him, “There are 30 of them with mental health challenges.

“We have been managing them in our facilities. We have about four psychiatrists on the team.

“We have been managing them and all of them would likely perform hajj because they are a bit stable now.”

He further stated that the 2023 Hajj clinic recorded two miscarriages and delivered one baby.

JUNE 27, 2023

The Nigerian Government has introduced an annual fee of N1,000 to be by vehicle owners for Proof of Ownership Certificate (POC) verification.

Permanent Secretary, Lagos Ministry of Transportation, Abdulhafiz Toriola, made the announcement at a press conference on Tuesday.

Toriola said the government initiative is aimed to streamline and enhance the process of vehicle ownership verification, adding that the “annual Proof of Ownership Certificate (POC) is in line with compliance with legal requirement fundamental to transparency, security and accountability within transportation network.

“To this end, the Federal Government has introduced the issuance of annual Proof of Ownership Certificate for all registered vehicles,” Toriola said.

“This certificate will serve as official documentation of a vehicle’s legal owners upon successful completion of the necessary requirements and procedures.

“The POC will contain vital information including the vehicle’s registration details, such as, license number plate, model, year of manufacture in addition to owner’s name and address.

“Having critically reviewed the challenges encountered in ensuring promotion of Safety and Security of lives and property through the issuance of POC nationally and especially in our Dear State, the Joint Tax Board in its communiqué issued at the end of the emergency meeting held on 9th May, 2023 adopted and made a resolution that proof of ownership certificate (PoC) be issued to motorists on an annual basis nationwide.”

Lagos State is kick-starting the collection of the fee for POC from motorists beginning from July 2023, according to Toriola.

He said the initiative was in accordance with the National Road Traffic Regulation 2012 as amended, No. 101, Vol. 99; Section 73- (1) which states that “There shall be Proof of Ownership Certificate for all registered Vehicles’. Section 73- (1-6) also added that ‘The commission shall establish and maintain a Central Data Base for Vehicles and drivers for the federation.”

The permanent secretary said the initiative will help in tracking the real time status and guarantees the integrity of all vehicles registered on the National Vehicle and Identification Scheme (NVIS) database to trace car theft and recovery of stolen vehicles.

Other benefits, he said, included that the states motor vehicle documents could easily be verified regardless of the issuing state; safety and security of vehicles and their owners, enhancement of National Vehicle database for national security and for planning and economic development.

JUNE 28, 2023

BY  Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

In recent times, Nigerians have had to suspend their travel plans to the United States and Europe as a result of the increase in fares which has tripled as a result of the high exchange rate for ticket pricing.

BusinessDay’s investigations show that an economy class ticket from Lagos to London and Lagos to France and most European countries which cost around N1.5 million a month ago, now cost an average of N1.9million to N2.2million depending airline.

For instance a Lagos to France economy class ticket on British Airways cost about $2,500, using the N770 exchange rate to a dollar, this cost about N1.92million.

Lagos to London economy class ticket on British Airways cost about $2,800 which amounts to about N2.15million.

Lagos to London economy class ticket on Qatar Airways cost around $2,900, which amounts to about N2.23million

Also an economy class ticket from Lagos to the United States which cost about N1.7million a month ago is currently pricing between N2.2million and N2. 6million.

An economy class ticket from Lagos to the United States on Delta Airlines cost about N2.4m. The same ticket on Lufthansa and Qatar Airways cost around N2.6million.

A Business class ticket from Lagos to London, Lagos to France and most European countries which cost around N2 million, now cost an average about N2.9m to N3.4million.

A Business class ticket from Lagos to London on Lufthansa Airline cost about N2.9mIllion and N3.4million on Qatar Airways.

Also a Business class ticket from Lagos to the United States which cost an average of N2.4million a month ago now cost about N4.9 million on Qatar Airways and N6.9 million on Ethiopian airlines. Air Maroc appears to have the cheapest ticket on this route costing about N2.4million.

The cost of airfares from Nigeria to various destinations has seen a sharp rise since the exchange rate for ticket pricing hit over N760/$,

The development came a few days after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) floated the naira and directed commercial banks to sell foreign exchange at market-determined rates.

The CBN said all forex windows should be collapsed into the Investors &Exporters Window.

Days after the decision, the exchange rate has since fluctuated on the International Air Transport Association (IATA) platform from 663.04/$ to now N770/$.

Nigerian travellers have quickly had to respond to the increase by suspending their travel plans to Europe and the United States.

“Never have tickets been sold so expensive in Nigeria before. How can I buy a Lagos to London ticket for over N2 million? This is more than just a rise. It is exorbitant and I’m sure the average traveller can’t afford this at this time when we have an economic downturn,” Philip Onuh told BusinessDay.

Onuh said he had plans to visit his family next month in New York but he has had to suspend his travel plans as a result of the rise in tickets.

“I could not afford to pay tickets for my family to come over to Nigeria for summer because airlines had blocked all their low ticket prices on their websites, making the cost of fares high. So I planned to go and see them instead to reduce the expenditure on travel. However, to my greatest surprise, when I was ready to book my ticket, I found out tickets had again risen to N2.4 million in the United States. So I just have to suspend plans to travel for now,” he explained.

John Effiong, another traveller told BusinessDay that he had plans to travel to France with his family during his annual leave in two months’ time but had to cancel the plans because he could not afford the new cost for airfares.

Effiong however said he would now be travelling to Egypt as an alternative because the cost of travelling to Egypt is about three times lower than what he would have spent on the cost of travel to France.

“My travel agent had advised that Egypt can be another option instead of suspending our travel plans because there are still low fares to the North African country and its visa policy is quite flexible.

“With Schengen, UK, US or Canada visa, people can travel to Egypt and get their visa on arrival. My family members all have Schengen visas and this just makes things easy for us. We get to spend less on travel and ease of visa makes it more attractive,” he said.

Since last year, foreign airlines operating in Nigeria blocked low ticket inventories (cheap tickets), leaving high inventories (costly tickets) to be sold in naira only, while the low ticket inventories on most airlines’ websites could only be bought with dollar cards only.

This was in a bid to cushion the effect of their trapped funds in Nigeria which kept rising.

While airlines gradually opened up low ticket inventories which they had blocked, as the Central Bank of Nigeria released their trapped funds in trickles, BusinessDay’s investigations show that high ticket inventories were still more on the websites, making ticket prices high.

Susan Akporiaye, the President of the National Association of Travel Agents of Nigeria, (NANTA) told BusinessDay that the reduction in summer travels has been there since the restriction of inventories on the airlines’ website.

Akporiaye however noted that the new dollar rate policy has worsened the situation because ticket prices are very high that even corporate travels are now affected.

“This is not how summer usually is. We had this same experience last year summer because of the inventory restrictions. Already, the inventories have still not been released yet. So, even with the new dollar rate unification, there is no difference and it is even worse because the highest economy class ticket for Lagos to the United States when the exchange rate was about N460 to a dollar was N1.9million but now at over N760 to a dollar, ticket prices are between N2.5million to N3.2million.

“This is why we are talking to the airlines. The rate of exchange is very high now. What airlines can do so they don’t punish passengers is to release the lower fares. If the lower fares are released, at least people will be able to get tickets of N700,000,” the NANTA president said.

She said the new exchange rate policy has further reduced ticket sales.

“Before now, it was only on the naira platform that we had the highest fares but on the dollar platform, the lower fares were still there. So people could just go to the black market and buy dollars. But now, everyone is feeling it.

“So, there is not much difference between buying tickets in dollars and buying tickets in naira anymore. The policy has unified the whole system. So, whether you buy the tickets in dollars or in naira, there is no difference. The only thing that the airlines have done to help the travel agency community is that they have given us a dollar platform too. So people don’t have to go online anymore. We can also service them,” Akporiaye said.

She said the travel agents depended on corporates before now because they could afford the high ticket costs but now, the corporates are also cancelling their travel plans.

Speaking on travels to other African countries, the NANTA president said Nigerians are now beginning to open their minds to exploring destinations in Africa.

“People are still travelling to South Africa despite the visa issues and the visa online platform that has been opened up is helping too so that people can just do their online applications and travel.

“Other African countries opening up are Namibia, Kenya and Botswana. Egypt had been open since Dubai suspended flights into Nigeria. The Egyptians were very smart. They introduced some new innovations in their visa policy which really helped because Egypt was an alternative for Nigerians but the visa was the problem because people had to wait for almost three months for their visas. But this is no longer the case anymore.

“Egypt now has visa on arrival for people that have either a Schengen, UK, US or Canada visa. If you have any of these visas, no need to go to the embassy. Just jump on the plane and you get your visa-on-arrival which is 50 dollars. This has helped a lot. Some travellers travelling to the US, now stop over at Cairo for a few days just to have fun, then proceed to the US because of the ease of visa on arrival,” she explained.

She also mentioned that Rwanda is also very easy for Nigerians because it doesn’t require a visa, adding that more Nigeria has seized this opportunity to do business and go on holidays in Rwanda.

She said most African airlines still sell lower ticket fares.

JUNE 28, 2023

By Henry Falaiye

Phillips Consulting has said over 52 per cent of professionals in Nigeria are currently contemplating leaving their current jobs for opportunities overseas within the next year.

It disclosed this in its report titled, ‘The talent management report, A new world order: shifting paradigms in addressing the brain drain’, which was presented during the quarterly meetup of the Nigerian Human Resources Directors Network in Lagos.

According to the report, finance and insurance, professional services, education, healthcare, and IT industries would be the hardest-hit professions.

Nearly 50 per cent of employees working in these fields were considering leaving, it said.

The report said Nigerian businesses faced numerous challenges in the post-pandemic world, such as market uncertainty, inflation, digitisation acceleration, changes in consumer behaviour, increased operational expenses, and complexity.

Employee retention and brain drain prevention were today’s most pressing issues, it noted.

It added that before the Ukraine crisis, the Nigerian economy faced multiple challenges, including unemployment, a weak currency, and insecurity.

The situation had exacerbated the high cost of living and affected employees’ finances and purchasing power, it said.

It stated, “However, research findings show that 90 per cent of Nigerians who have faced an increased cost of living are cutting their spending on essential and non-essential items.

“This has resulted in financial stress, decreased purchasing power, lower job satisfaction, and higher job mobility and migration rates.

“Consequently, employees now channel their efforts toward increasing their revenue streams, improving economic stability, and enhancing their standard of living. To achieve these objectives, many are creating a ‘side hustle’, finding better-paying jobs, or relocating abroad. As a result, the attrition rate across key sectors has increased significantly.”

It stated that as labour shortages continued to rise globally, there was intense competition for talent, especially in low-to-middle-skilled occupations.

The survey noted t that employees were resigning or migrating for a mix of issues, some of which were within an organisation’s direct control, while others were not.

It said findings revealed that Nigerian professionals looking to migrate preferred Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States as their top three destinations.

JUNE 29, 2023

Oil held near US$69 a barrel as traders weighed the potential for China stimulus measures against the outlook for higher interest rates. 

West Texas Intermediate steadied after a choppy session on Monday, following a short-lived uprising in Russia over the weekend. Chinese Premier Li Qiang said Tuesday that the government would roll out more practical, effective measures to boost domestic demand, but those promises were largely reiterations of prior statements made by officials.

Meanwhile, after several policymakers struck a hawkish tone on interest rates last week, the president of the European Central Bank said it probably won’t be able to declare the end of its historic interest-rate hiking cycle any time soon.

Oil in New York remains on track for its first back-to-back quarterly loss since 2019, in part due to headwinds from China’s lackluster economic recovery and aggressive monetary tightening from the US Federal Reserve. Resilient Russian crude exports have added to the pressure on prices, which have been near current levels since early May.

“Oil is well and truly stuck and rangebound, taking all the news on the chin,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodities strategy at Saxo Bank. “Now we are back to looking out for additional China stimulus and the US yield curve, given the signal its sending regarding recession risks.”

Prices:

• WTI for August delivery was 1% lower at $68.61 a barrel as of 10:13 a.m. in London.
• Brent for August settlement eased 1% to $73.41 a barrel.

JUNE 29, 2023

(Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve’s stress test is usually the most dreaded part of Wall Street firms’ annual capital planning. This year, it’s just the first hurdle to clear as regulators explore more stringent requirements on banks in the aftermath of several lender collapses.

The test results, set to be released Wednesday afternoon, mark the beginning of a trio of regulatory actions that will impact how much capital banks are required to hold on their balance sheets. The two that follow are likely to be far more burdensome.

Analysts largely expect banks to sail through the tests, which examine how lenders would hold up in a hypothetical severe global recession in which US unemployment peaks at 10%, commercial real estate prices plunge 40% and the dollar surges against most major currencies. In past years, the test results would be accompanied by a flurry of press releases from the largest US lenders announcing their plans to return any excess capital to shareholders.

This year, however, many banks have warned they’ll be waiting for additional clarity from regulators before committing to big payouts. That’s because, on the heels of this week’s test results, regulators are poised to unveil the long-awaited Basel III Endgame requirements that will revamp capital rules for banks. The Fed has also warned it plans to make changes to bank supervision following the collapse of four regional banks earlier this year. 

“We’re currently in a lot of bank uncertainty, and the stress tests, we expect, will show that the US banking industry is really strong,” Barclays Plc analyst Jason Goldberg said in an interview. Still, “in prior years, where it served as a catalyst for large dividend increases and share buybacks, given all the other uncertainties out there with respect to the economy and capital reform, it is probably less meaningful this year than others.”

Indeed, in recent weeks, bank executives have been trying to temper shareholders’ expectations. 

“We will make the decision on a quarter-by-quarter basis as we go,” Wells Fargo & Co. Chief Financial Officer Michael Santomassimo told investors of payouts at a conference this month. “We’ve got Basel III finalization coming at some point. You’ve still got a bit of an uncertain economic environment. So you do need to keep all of that in your thinking around what you’re going to do for your capital.”

At the same conference, U.S. Bancorp Chief Executive Officer Andy Cecere, asked if he plans to restart buybacks anytime soon, said that his firm would have to be “very prudent about capital management” ahead of the unveiling of the Basel III framework. Also at the conference, Huntington Bancshares Inc. Chief Financial Officer Zachary Wasserman said his firm will “go into 2024 and set a new capital plan at that point” after it has a better picture of changing regulations and more clarity on the macroeconomic environment.

Elsewhere, JPMorgan Chase & Co. President Daniel Pinto said the most likely scenario to come out of the next few months of shifting regulations is his bank has to hold “some more capital.”

Last year, the Fed told banks it expected them to wait two trading days after the release of stress-test results before publicly disclosing any information about their planned capital actions and new capital requirements. This year, that means investors don’t expect any formal announcements from lenders until Friday afternoon at the earliest.

Many analysts are expecting some lenders to face an increase in their so-called stress-capital buffers. A year ago, that spelled pain for banks including Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan, forcing them to limit increases to their dividends and buybacks. 

“This year, we expect to see similar results, where many banks will have their stress-capital buffers increased,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Gerard Cassidy said in an interview. “We do not expect many banks to announce buybacks following the stress tests. There will be some dividend increases, but they probably will be modest for the most part.”

Bank Failures

The biggest US banks have spent years waiting for the so-called endgame of Basel III, a long-awaited reform that’s part of an international overhaul of capital rules in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis.

And in the aftermath of this year’s failure of regional banks including Silicon Valley Bank, regulators have said they’re planning more stringent rules for the industry. Martin Gruenberg, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said this month that regulators are weighing a plan that would require US banks with at least $100 billion in assets, and not just the country’s largest lenders, to adhere to Basel III requirements. 

The eight biggest US banks will bear the brunt of regulators’ moves to raise capital requirements, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell told lawmakers last week. The largest lenders could face an increase of about 20% in what they have to set aside, Powell told members of the Senate Banking Committee, though details are still in flux and specifics could change.

“The Fed stress test is the first of three regulatory waves of summer that also include Basel III and new Fed oversight post-SVB,” Wells Fargo analyst Mike Mayo wrote in a note to clients. “Many regional banks are excluded from the test, and the potential regulatory impact is likely smallest of the three waves.”

JUNE 29, 2023

(Bloomberg) -- Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. sent paying customers to the edge of space for the first time, a milestone for the Richard Branson-founded company almost two decades in the making.

The VSS Unity craft reached space at about 9:30 a.m. local time in New Mexico, Virgin Galactic revealed in a livestream of the event on its website Thursday. That was about an hour after the flight took off, carrying six people on board, including researchers from the Italian Air Force and the National Research Council of Italy.

The commercial debut officially ushers Virgin Galactic into the ranks of space tourism providers alongside the likes of Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin LLC. Virgin Galactic has said it expects to move soon to a regular cadence of monthly commercial flights, bringing in much-needed revenue.

While the company has carried employees on several previous test missions, the latest launch was the first with ticket-holding passengers. It’s Virgin Galactic’s highest-profile flight since Branson flew to the edge of space in 2021.

“This is a big deal,” Mike Moses, Virgin Galactic’s president of spaceline missions and safety, said in an interview before the launch. “It’s the thing we were founded for.”

See Also: Richard Branson Reshapes Fortune With SPACs as Investors Torched

It comes much later than planned: Virgin Galactic was started in 2004 and had hoped to ferry tourists to the cosmos as early as 2008. Over the years, the company has endured numerous delays and setbacks, including fatal accidents, regulatory investigations and lawsuits. The company has lost hundreds of millions of dollars each year since it went public in 2019 while generating only nominal revenue.

Despite the successful mission, Virgin Galactic’s frequently volatile stock tumbled Thursday, renewing questions over its business model. The shares were down 9.8% at 12:19 p.m. in New York.

The company now faces pressure to deliver on Branson’s dream of offering regular space tourism missions. Virgin Galactic has a narrower focus than its competitors, which have other revenue streams such as satellite-launch services or cargo supply missions for NASA.

“Branson founded Virgin Galactic almost 20 years ago now,” said Caleb Henry, director of research at space advisory firm Quilty Analytics. “He’s been very patient with trying to see this company through to success. I would say the time is coming where they really do need to deliver on that.”

Thursday’s flight, called Galactic 01, offered the crew an opportunity to run experiments and test payloads in a space environment. The passengers included Walter Villadei and Angelo Landolfi of Italy’s air force, as well as Pantaleone Carlucci, an engineer with the National Research Council of Italy. They were joined by Virgin Galactic employee Colin Bennett and two pilots.

The company’s primary vehicle is its VSS Unity, which is carried aloft under the wing of an unusual, twin-fuselage carrier aircraft called VMS Eve. Once the pair reaches an altitude of 46,000 feet, the spaceplane detaches and ignites a hybrid rocket-engine, propelling it to sub-orbital space. The craft typically reaches a height just above 50 miles, where the crew can see the curvature of the Earth from the dark of space, before gliding back down to the runway.

Virgin Galactic has had lofty ambitions for this spaceflight model. In its early days, the company took deposits from A-list names including Ashton Kutcher, Justin Bieber and Leonardo DiCaprio. Tickets initially cost a quarter of a million bucks apiece before going up.

But Virgin Galactic faced serious setbacks during development. In 2007, three employees at Scaled Composites, a contractor started by aerospace entrepreneur Burt Rutan, were killed during an engine test for Virgin Galactic’s spaceplane. In 2014, one pilot died and another was injured when a Virgin Galactic vehicle crashed during a test flight. The company acknowledged some customers canceled reservations following that accident for various reasons.

Still, Moses said the majority of customers have remained. “These folks have been patient for a long time.”

Virgin Galactic marked an important milestone in 2018, when it reached space for the first time, sending two co-pilots to an altitude of 51 miles. It has since sent several more crewed test missions to space.

In 2019, the company went public via a reverse merger with a special purpose acquisition company, capitalizing on the blank-check boom to refill its coffers. At the time, Virgin Galactic predicted an imminent start to commercial operations and that it would be flying more than 1,500 customers a year by 2023.

The company appeared to be nearing a breakthrough in 2021, when it launched its billionaire founder to space. The high-profile flight garnered headlines across the world as Branson beat Bezos, but it soon emerged that the mission had deviated from its intended flight path, prompting a brief investigation overseen by the US Federal Aviation Administration.

Virgin Galactic continued to put off commercial operations for more than a year as it upgraded the vehicle. During that time, it also battled lawsuits over issues such as information disclosure. And it burned through cash — about $400 million last year alone.

“That’s not a healthy way to run a business in the long term,” said Henry of Quilty Analytics. “That’s not a healthy way to run a business in the medium term. That is something that you want to get away from as fast as possible.”

(Updates with stock decline, additional details beginning in seventh paragraph)

JUNE 29, 2023

By Henry Falaiye

Phillips Consulting has said over 52 per cent of professionals in Nigeria are currently contemplating leaving their current jobs for opportunities overseas within the next year.

It disclosed this in its report titled, ‘The talent management report, A new world order: shifting paradigms in addressing the brain drain’, which was presented during the quarterly meetup of the Nigerian Human Resources Directors Network in Lagos.

According to the report, finance and insurance, professional services, education, healthcare, and IT industries would be the hardest-hit professions.

Nearly 50 per cent of employees working in these fields were considering leaving, it said.

The report said Nigerian businesses faced numerous challenges in the post-pandemic world, such as market uncertainty, inflation, digitisation acceleration, changes in consumer behaviour, increased operational expenses, and complexity.

Employee retention and brain drain prevention were today’s most pressing issues, it noted.

It added that before the Ukraine crisis, the Nigerian economy faced multiple challenges, including unemployment, a weak currency, and insecurity.

The situation had exacerbated the high cost of living and affected employees’ finances and purchasing power, it said.

It stated, “However, research findings show that 90 per cent of Nigerians who have faced an increased cost of living are cutting their spending on essential and non-essential items.

“This has resulted in financial stress, decreased purchasing power, lower job satisfaction, and higher job mobility and migration rates.

“Consequently, employees now channel their efforts toward increasing their revenue streams, improving economic stability, and enhancing their standard of living. To achieve these objectives, many are creating a ‘side hustle’, finding better-paying jobs, or relocating abroad. As a result, the attrition rate across key sectors has increased significantly.”

It stated that as labour shortages continued to rise globally, there was intense competition for talent, especially in low-to-middle-skilled occupations.

The survey noted t that employees were resigning or migrating for a mix of issues, some of which were within an organisation’s direct control, while others were not.

It said findings revealed that Nigerian professionals looking to migrate preferred Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States as their top three destinations.