‘Managem’ Sales Drop 13%

Heavy machinery is seen at a phosphate mine at Boucraa factory of the National Moroccan phosphate company (OCP) situated in the southern provinces, 100 km southwest of the town of Laayoune February 18, 2016. REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal
Heavy machinery is seen at a phosphate mine at Boucraa factory of the National Moroccan phosphate company (OCP) situated in the southern provinces, 100 km southwest of the town of Laayoune February 18, 2016. REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal
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‘Managem’ Sales Drop 13%

Heavy machinery is seen at a phosphate mine at Boucraa factory of the National Moroccan phosphate company (OCP) situated in the southern provinces, 100 km southwest of the town of Laayoune February 18, 2016. REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal
Heavy machinery is seen at a phosphate mine at Boucraa factory of the National Moroccan phosphate company (OCP) situated in the southern provinces, 100 km southwest of the town of Laayoune February 18, 2016. REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal

Group Managem announced Tuesday a 13 percent drop in its sales in the first half of 2019, totaling MAD2.16 billion (USD227.5 million) end of June.

The company attributed the fall in sales to the sharp decline in metal prices in global markets amid an economic slowdown. It noted that copper prices during the same period dropped around 11 percent, while prices of cobalt went down 62 percent and that of Zinc 16 percent, lead 20 percent and silver 9 percent.

The firm said it managed to balance the price drop impact on its revenues by increasing output.

It highlighted that its silver production in Imider Mine, in southern Morocco, increased 35 percent while its cobalt output went up 36 percent. Further, gold production skyrocketed in Manub project in Sudan, following the operation of its new division in February.

Managem’s investments reached MAD798 million (USD84 million) in the first half of 2019, a 25 percent increase from the same period last year. Thirty percent of this investment was directed to develop new metal projects.

The company’s debts rose to MAD3.52 billion (USD370 million), a 28 percent increase from the end of 2018. It was the result of investment expansion efforts, mainly in Sudan’s gold mines.

Moreover, Managem purchased 30 percent of the National Metal Manufacturing and Casting Co.’s capital for USD21 million, enhancing its share in the Guinean company to 84 percent.



Trump Taps Scott Bessent for Treasury

(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
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Trump Taps Scott Bessent for Treasury

(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday said he will nominate prominent investor Scott Bessent as US Treasury secretary, a key cabinet position with vast influence over economic, regulatory and international affairs.

"I am most pleased to nominate Scott Bessent to serve as the 79th Secretary of the Treasury of the United States," Trump said in a statement released on Truth Social. "Scott is widely respected as one of the world's foremost international investors and geopolitical and economic strategists."

Wall Street has been closely watching who Trump will pick, especially given his plans to remake global trade through tariffs and extend and potentially expand the raft of tax cuts enacted during his first term, Reuters reported
The choice came after days of deliberations by Trump as he sorted through a shifting list of candidates. Bessent spent day after day at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida providing economic advice, sources said, a proximity to the president-elect that may have helped him prevail.
Other names that had been floated included Apollo Global Management Chief Executive Marc Rowan and former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh. Investor John Paulson had also been a leading candidate, but dropped out, while Wall Street veteran Howard Lutnick, another contender, was appointed as head of the Commerce Department.
Bessent, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has advocated for tax reform and deregulation, particularly to spur more bank lending and energy production, as noted in a recent opinion piece he wrote for The Wall Street Journal.
The market's surge after Trump's election victory, he wrote, signaled investor expectations of "higher growth, lower volatility and inflation, and a revitalized economy for all Americans."
"Bessent has been on the side of less aggressive tariffs," said Oxford Economics' Ryan Sweet, adding that picking him makes the steep tariffs Trump proposed on the campaign trail less likely.
Bessent follows other financial luminaries who have taken the job, including former Goldman Sachs executives Robert Rubin, Hank Paulson and Steven Mnuchin, Trump's first Treasury chief. Janet Yellen, the current secretary and first woman in the job, previously chaired the Federal Reserve and White House Council of Economic Advisers.
Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, Bessent's home state, said in a statement: "President Trump's economic agenda is in good hands with Scott Bessent. I look forward to working closely with Scott and President Trump to lower inflation and create the golden age of prosperity for the American people."