Tesla's Elon Musk calling coronavirus lockdowns 'fascist' overshadows profitable quarter www.reuters.com

(Reuters) - Tesla Inc’s (TSLA.O) outspoken CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday called sweeping U.S. stay-at-home restrictions to curtail the coronavirus outbreak “fascist” as the electric carmaker posted its third quarterly profit in a row.

His remarks overshadowed an otherwise successful quarter that took many investors by surprise as automaker peers were hit by a slump in consumer demand and forced factory shutdowns.

Shares of the company were up 8.8% at $871 in extended trade.

Tesla’s profitable quarter comes just a day after Detroit-based rival Ford Motor Co (F.N) reported a $2 billion first-quarter loss and forecast losing another $5 billion in the current quarter as the coronavirus pandemic hits demand.

General Motors Co (GM.N) on Monday suspended its dividend and share buybacks and will report earnings May 6.

How Tesla fares in the current quarter and the remainder of the year will be an important test of the company’s durability. If Tesla can limit its losses, or even continue its profit streak and outperform legacy automakers, it will be in a stronger position to take sales from rivals weakened by the coronavirus disruption.

Tesla produces a fraction of the cars of its rivals but has a much larger stock market value on expectations of tremendous growth.

On the biggest disruptions to Tesla has been the government-ordered shutdown of its factory in Fremont, California, which sits idle since March 24 with stay-at-home orders running until at least May 31.

On a conference call on Wednesday, Musk said he did not know when Tesla could resume production in California and called the state stay-at-home order a “serious risk” to the business.

“To say that they cannot leave their house and they will be arrested if they do, this is fascist. This is not democratic, this is not freedom. Give people back their goddamn freedom!”

Late on Wednesday, the Tesla CEO doubled down on his stance, in response to a journalist’s tweet that quoted Musk’s remarks of calling the stay-at-home orders fascist. “Hell yeah!!”, Musk said on Twitter.

Musk tweeted on March 6 that “the coronavirus panic is dumb” but later offered to supply hospitals with free ventilators.

Tesla said it could not predict how quickly vehicle manufacturing and global supply chains will normalize, saying it would revisit full-year guidance for net income and cash flow when it reports current-quarter results in three months.

Musk said that while other carmakers were cutting back, Telsa was ramping up investment. He said Tesla might announce the location of a new U.S. factory in one to three months.

Tesla in January said it expected positive quarterly cash flow and positive net income going forward. The company on Wednesday did not update its previous forecast of delivering half a million vehicles by the end of 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the new coronavirus has disrupted demand for cars, with automakers including Tesla forced to furlough workers and close factories.

Vehicle demand in the United States has dropped as much as 80% in some hard-hit areas in March, but some analysts said sales appeared to recover slightly in April.

Tesla on Wednesday said it expected production at its vehicle factories in Fremont, California and in Shanghai, China to ramp up gradually through the second quarter.

The company said operations at its Shanghai plant were progressing better than expected, with production rates of its Model 3 sedan expected to hit 4,000 units per week, or 200,000 per year, by mid-2020.

But of the $5.1 billion in overall automotive revenue, nearly 7% were due to regulatory credits - money Tesla receives from other automakers that buy the company’s carbon emissions credits to meet stricter regulation. Revenue from those credits nearly tripled from the last quarter.

Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Nicholas Hyett also flagged that Tesla’s free cash flow was negative last quarter and improved only modestly on a yearly basis.

“The immediate future doesn’t look like the ideal time to be selling premium priced cars, so perhaps it’s no surprise guidance has been paused,” Hyett said.

Tesla said its free cash flow had been impacted by growing inventory due to coronavirus shutdowns.

Tesla shut down the California factory just as it was ramping up production of its new electric crossover utility vehicle Model Y, which it expects to generate record demand and higher profit margins.

Tesla on Wednesday said the Model Y was already contributing profits, marking the first time in the company’s history that a new vehicle is profitable in its first quarter.

Excluding items, Tesla posted a profit of $1.24 per share. Analysts had expected a loss of 36 cents per share.

Tesla shares are up 91% for the year to date as of Wednesday’s close, after recovering from a sharp slump in March.

The Tesla CEO in particular appeared critical of the coronavirus-related restrictions in California as he agreed with a tweet suggesting the state’s hospitals were laying off staff and going bankrupt. He also referenced data saying hospitals in California “have been half empty”.

Musk seemed to be supportive of the way the lockdown was being lifted in Germany as the European nation began to gradually and tentatively reopen.

“Very sensible,” Musk tweeted late on Wednesday responding to a media report on how Germany was lifting its restrictions.

Reporting by Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru and Tina Bellon in New York; additional reporting by Kanishka Singh; Editing by Joseph White, Lisa Shumaker and Gerry Doyle

Mongolia approves Law on Pandemic Preparedness and Response www.news.mn

Mongolian State Great Khural (parliament) approved the Law on Pandemic Preparedness and Response in answer to the economic and social impact of coronavirus as well as the growing threat of an outbreak of infectious diseases in the future. The bill was presented by MP J.Enkhbayar and MP Kh.Nyambaatar.

Mongolia reports no new COVID-19 cases www.xinhuanet.com

April 29 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia conducted 315 tests for COVID-19 on Tuesday, with the results all returning negative, according to the country's National Center for Communicable Disease (NCCD).

Mongolia: Criminalization of defamation is another disturbing attack on media freedom, threatening anti-corruption efforts www.transparency.org

Transparency International and ARTICLE 19 today called on the Mongolian government to take urgent legislative action to address an increasingly dangerous environment for independent media in the country.

In January, Article 13.14 of the Mongolian Criminal Code came into effect. This provision stipulates that disseminating false information can be punished by fines equivalent to approximately €300 - €900 Euros, 240 - 720 hours of community service, or restriction of the right to travel for one to three months.

Mongolian press freedom and anti-corruption activists are concerned that the law does not define the term ‘false information’. In practice, they say, police, prosecutors and judges involved in criminal defamation cases are not considering the accuracy of information reported in the media or proving that it is false when charging people under the law.

Article 13.14 should be urgently repealed, the organisations said.

Previously in Mongolia, defamation cases were brought under Article 6.21 of the Law on Administrative Offences. In the first few months of this law coming into effect in late 2017, over 100 journalists were charged, many in cases brought by politicians.

“Unfortunately, Mongolian public figures do not seem to accept that tolerance of criticism and accountability for their actions is part of the job,” said Ilham Mohammed, Asia Pacific regional advisor at Transparency International. “Previous defamation laws were widely used by politicians and business groups to silence critical voices, and now harsher, criminal legislation looks set to continue that trend with potentially dire consequences for independent media voices in Mongolia.”

In addition, Mongolia's 2017 law on state and official secrets allows virtually all information to be classified as a state or official secret, leading in some cases to the prosecution of journalists exposing corruption. The country's Law on Access to Information has not yet been fully implemented, almost a decade after being passed into law.

Furthermore, without an urgent change in course, legislation governing non-profit organisations expected to take effect in May 2020 will impose taxes on non-profits and subject them to government approval.

Transparency International and ARTICLE 19 urged Mongolia’s leaders to recognize that access to information, freedom of association, and free and independent media are fundamental pillars of any democracy and essential for combatting corruption. The government of Mongolia must ensure that its citizens are able to express themselves in line with rights guaranteed by the country’s constitution.

ENDS

Notes to editors

Anti-corruption and media freedom organisations in Mongolia include:

Transparency International Mongolia

www.transparency.mn ; info@transparency.mn

Globe International Center

globeinter.org.mn ; globenews@globeinter.org.mn

For any press enquiries please contact
Transparency International press office
T: +49 30 34 38 20 666
E: press@transparency.org

Mining companies encounter stock decline www.zgm.mn

According to the trade performance index, MSE listed mining companies have faced a sharp decrease and inactive in share price during the period of border ban due to COVID-19. In particular, MSE tier-I listed Tavan Tolgoi JSC’s share price has been lowered by 35.3 percent within nearly three months, and market value lessened by MNT 121.2 billion. During the same period, the shares of MSE tier-II listed Aduun Chuluun JSC decreased by 26.4 percent, and the market capitalization dwindled by MNT 1.2 billion. However, Bayanteeg JSC’s shares declined by 12.2 percent and were traded only six times on MSE since February, while Berkh Uul JSC’s shares were traded only once during active trading froze. In addition, the construction industry is suffering badly from the looming recession either. In terms of MSE tier-II listed Arig gal JSC, the share price dropped by 9.3 percent since the border restriction. According to the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI) survey, light industry companies are next in line which revenues falling by more than 40 percent.

MIAT to evacuate Mongolians from seven countries www.news.mn

Since the coronavirus outbreak began, Mongolia has evacuated 4300 of its citizens from pandemic-hit countries. Despite difficulties, such as air crews having to go into quarantine along with the people they have flown home, the evacuation flights are to continue. MIAT, Mongolian Airlines will fly to the South Korean tomorrow (30 April) to evacuate 273 its nationals. Seoul’s Incheon International Airport has developed into a transport hub for evacuation flights in the Asia-Pacific region; tomorrow’s evacuees have gathered from seven countries. The evacuation planes will fly to Seoul again on 1 May and to Frankfurt on 2 May. The second flight to the S.Korean capital will bring back Mongolians who have been in detention centres for overstaying their visas as well as illegal workers.

Foreign residents can receive 100,000-yen handout www.nhk.or.jp

Foreign residents who are listed on the country’s Basic Resident Register as of April 27th and have carried a visa for more than three months are eligible for the 100,000 yen handout the government is providing for all residents as part of its coronavirus economic response package.
How to apply
Applications and payments will be made without human contact to prevent infections and minimize clerical work at municipal offices.

Mongolia has 425 ventilators available for COVID-19 health emergency www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. At its plenary session held last week, the parliament held a discussion on the general financing agreement for COVID-19 emergency response project between Mongolia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Coronavirus cases in US exceed one million www.nhk.or.jp

There are now more than one million cases of the new coronavirus in the United States. The world's largest economy is considering when and how to ease lockdowns and resume economic activity.

9,890 Mongolians abroad submit requests to return home www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. So far, 9,890 Mongolian citizens have submitted their request to return to their home country to the Government and the State Emergency Commission, reports U.Enkhtuvshin, Head of the State Emergency Commission and Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia on April 28.