Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

Friday 26 May 2017 BUSINESS
A24

Ford shuffles management team as new CEO takes helm

By DEE-ANN DURBIN erations in North America, “The leadership changes Tang was most recently in He will be replaced by Pe-
TOM KRISHER Europe and Asia. we are announcing today charge of global purchas- ter Fleet, who previously led
AP Auto Writers Among the biggest chang- across our global business ing at Ford Motor Co., and Ford’s marketing efforts in
DETROIT (AP) — Ford’s new es is the rehiring of Sherif are important as we foster he will retain that role. Asia.
CEO is shaking up the com- Marakby, a longtime Ford even greater teamwork, Ford’s former product de- Steven Armstrong will be-
pany’s senior manage- executive who was head accountability and nimble velopment chief, Raj Nair, come president of Ford’s
ment. of Uber’s global vehicle decision-making,” Ford will become head of North operations in Europe, the
The Dearborn, Michigan, programs for a year until CEO Jim Hackett said in a American operations. Middle East and Africa.
automaker named a new he quit that job last month. company release. Dave Schoch, who leads Armstrong replaces Jim
head of global product Marakby is returning to Ford Hau Thai-Tang was named Ford’s Asia Pacific opera- Farley, who was promoted
development Thursday, as to lead its efforts in self-driv- the head of global prod- tions, is retiring after 40 to head of Ford’s global
well as new heads of its op- ing and electric vehicles. uct development. Thai- years with the company. markets earlier this week. q

OPEC extends output cut, but big oil price increase unlikely

By GEORGE JAHN increase much in coming
KIYOKO METZLER months. That will be wel-
Associated Press come news to consum-
VIENNA (AP) — An alliance ers and energy-hungry
of many of the world’s big- businesses worldwide but
gest oil-producing nations could continue to strain
extended their agreement the budgets of some of the
to cut output for an addi- more economically-trou-
tional nine months — an bled oil-producing nations,
effort to support prices that like Venezuela and Brazil.
will prove difficult in the Tamar Essner, director of
face of growing produc- energy and utilities at Nas-
tion from the U.S. daq Corporate Solutions,
Thursday’s decision by the said that the countries that
OPEC cartel — now at 14 had agreed to the cut had
members with the entry of complied by easing pro-
Equatorial Guinea — and duction but continued to
10 other countries led by export at high levels from
Russia, means that the re- Russian Minister of Energy Alexander Novak, Khalid Al-Falih Minister of Energy, Industry and Miner- existing inventories.
ductions of 1.8 million bar- al Resources of Saudi Arabia and Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, from left, OPEC Secretary General “This is significant in par-
rels a day agreed on in No- of Nigeria wait for the start of a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, tially explaining why crude
vember will stay in place OPEC, at their headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Thursday, May 25, 2017. stocks ... have stayed so
until March. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak) high,” she said.
Saudi Oil Minister Khalid A. mally means higher value from last year’s lows to over they pushed the price of Al-Falih dismissed the mar-
Al-Falih, who presided over per barrel. But any uptick in $50 a barrel, and more are crude to levels seen before ket reaction on Thursday,
the meeting, said he ex- prices may be modest and set to resume operations OPEC’s meeting in Novem- noting that world econo-
pected that the extension temporary. if crude prices go even ber. The U.S. benchmark for mies are growing and con-
should reduce high crude The OPEC alliance faces higher. That could increase crude was down $2.25 a tinue to depend largely on
inventories to a level corre- competition from U.S. shale supplies and drag down barrel at $49.11. crude as their lives’ blood.
sponding to “the five-year producers. Many have re- prices again. Investors The upshot is that the price “I never worry about the
average by the end of the turned to the market since seemed to focus on that of oil — and derived prod- daily reaction of the mar-
year.” crude prices have risen reality on Thursday, when ucts like fuel — is unlikely to ket,” he told reporters.
Less oil on the market nor- The decision extends a cut
of 1.2 million barrels a day
Medtronic 4Q profit tops Wall Street forecasts by the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Coun-
tries. Non-OPEC countries
NEW YORK (AP) — Medtron- topping Wall Street expec- per share. Earnings, adjust- rose 4 percent to $2.85 bil- led by Russia chipped in
ic PLC said higher sales of tations. ed for amortization costs lion, while the division that with a further 600,000-bar-
heart and surgical devices The medical device mak- and non-recurring costs, makes surgical staplers and rel reduction.
helped give a boost to its er’s profit rose 5.3 percent came to $1.33 per share, breathing ventilators grew The problem for OPEC is
fiscal fourth-quarter profit, to $1.16 billion, or 84 cents topping expectations. sales 6 percent to $2.61 bil- that while crude sits sub-
The average estimate of 12 lion. stantially below the highs
analysts surveyed by Zacks For the year, the company around $100 a barrel
Investment Research was reported profit of $4.03 bil- reached in 2014, it is high
for earnings of $1.31 per lion, or $2.89 per share. enough to bring back into
share.The Dublin-based Revenue was reported as the market U.S. producers
company’s revenue rose $29.71 billion. who eased back as pric-
4.6 percent to $7.92 billion Medtronic shares have in- es tumbled last year. U.S.
in the period, also beat- creased 19 percent since shale production requires
ing Street forecasts. Twelve the beginning of the year, a higher price to be profit-
analysts surveyed by Zacks while the Standard & Poor’s able compared with tradi-
expected $7.86 billion. 500 index has climbed tional crude oil.
Sales at Medtronic’s car- slightly more than 7 per- U.S. output since last year
diac and vascular unit, cent. The stock has risen has increased by nearly a
which makes implantable roughly 5 percent in the last million barrels a day to a
heart devices and valves, 12 months.q daily 9 million barrels.q