NEWS,02.07.2013

UK union to take postal protest to banks

Trade unions opposing the privatisation of the British postal service will hold a protest next week at the London offices of the banks advising the government on the float.
Goldman Sachs and UBS, located in London's financial district, will be the focus of the protest, which forms the centrepiece of a week of activity planned by union branches across the country.
The government, which hopes to launch the stock market flotation of the country's 497 year-old postal service later this year, says the Royal Mail needs to access private capital and modernise. Royal Mail said the privatisation would allow it to secure as many jobs as possible.
But the plans have been criticised by unions, which say the sale will spark a decline in postal service provision and working conditions for the company's 150 000 employees.
"We're going to tour the city and take this campaign to the banks that are selling this company," said Kevin Slocombe, the head of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) campaign.
"This is a good attempt to really engage people in the city... the banks and the people who actually buy shares."
UBS and Goldman Sachs both declined to comment on the protest.
Royal Mail chief executive Moya Greene has acknowledged union members will never drop opposition to privatisation but glossed over whether investors had expressed concern at the level of response from the company's workforce.
The CWU protest plans were unveiled at a packed parliamentary lobby on Tuesday, where union members and lawmakers outside the current coalition government spoke to an audience of postal workers.

Three-day ultimatum for Greece - EU

Greece has three days to reassure Europe and the International Monetary Fund it can deliver on conditions attached to its international bailout in order to receive the next tranche of aid, four eurozone officials said on Tuesday.

The lenders are unhappy with progress Greece has made towards reforming its public sector, a senior euro zone official involved in the negotiations said, while another said they might suspend an inspection visit they resumed on Monday.

Athens, which has about €2.2bn of bonds to redeem in August, needs the talks to conclude successfully. If they fail, the International Monetary Fund might have to withdraw from the €240bn bailout to avoid violating its own rules, which require a borrower to be financed a year ahead.

That would heighten the risk that concerted efforts by policymakers over the past nine months to keep a lid on the eurozone crisis could unravel, at a time when tensions are rising in other countries on the region's periphery.

Portugal's Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar, the architect of its austerity drive under an EU/IMF bailout, resigned on Monday in a potential blow to his country's planned exit from an EU-IMF rescue programme.

Political tension has also increased in Italy, where Prime Minister Enrico Letta called a government meeting after a coalition partner threatened to withdraw.

Athens and its creditors resumed talks on Monday to unlock €8.1bn ($10.6bn) of rescue loans, after a two-week break during which the government almost collapsed over redundancies at state broadcaster ERT.

"All agreed that Greece has to deliver (pledges) before the Eurogroup on Monday. That's why they must present again on Friday," a second source told Reuters.

Eurozone finance ministers are scheduled to meet on July 8 and discuss the situation in Greece, which is in its sixth year of recession and has seen unemployment surge to record highs.

Missed deadlines

"It is a very difficult negotiation," a senior Greek official participating in the talks said. "We're moving fast to wrap up as many issues as possible a soon as possible."

But Greece's financial overseers the IMF, the eurozone and the European Central Bank were unlikely to be able to conclude their review in July and might need to suspend the visit and resume it in September, a senior eurozone official said on condition of anonymity.

Representatives of the EU-IMF-ECB "troika" have been holding serial meetings with government ministers in Athens, struggling to agree on a host of outstanding issues.

If talks are not concluded by the middle of month, Athens risked missing the instalment, the Greek official added.

Athens has missed a June deadline to place 12 500 state workers into a "mobility scheme", under which they are transferred or dismissed within a year.

A shortfall of more than €1bn has emerged at state-run health insurer EOPYY, meaning automatic spending cuts may have to be agreed to bring it back on an even keel.

Athens and the troika are also at odds over an unpopular property tax and a sales tax for restaurants.

The government plans to ask its creditors to lower this year's privatisation target of €2.6bn after failing to find a buyer for natural gas company DEPA.

The beleaguered government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has ruled out imposing any new austerity measures on a population that is going through the sixth year of recession.

Unemployment has hit a record 27% and Greeks have lost about a third of their disposable income at an average as a result of bailout-imposed austerity policies.

Putin backs white-collar crimes amnesty

Russia's lower house of parliament on Tuesday passed a Kremlin-drafted bill that grants an amnesty to white-collar criminals in a bid to improve the country's frigid business climate.
The amnesty, backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, covers individuals who have committed an economic crime for the first time.
But critics said the bill was extremely weak and would only affect a tiny minority of prosecuted businessmen.
Kremlin representative Garri Minkh presented the bill to the lawmakers, saying it would impact 1 299 ongoing criminal cases and 22 people who are currently in pre-trial jail.
Minkh said 340 people would be freed from jail due to the amnesty, according to the State Duma website.
Human rights groups have expressed concern that the measure is too limited because it would not cover some of the biggest Putin critics who have been jailed for disputed business crimes.
Putin said the new law would cover only those who committed business-related crimes for the first time and not apply to repeat offenders.
Boris Titov, a business ombudsman who backed the bill, expressed disappointment that the result was not a wider amnesty.
It will not affect Russia's jailed former oil tycoon and repeated Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky - now serving his second consecutive jail sentence for white-collar crimes he disputes.
Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, currently on trial for fraud in a timber deal, would also not benefit from the amnesty.
Khodorkovsky's attorney Vadim Klyuvgant said on June 22 that the bill was so weak that it looked like the government was only trying to score public relations points instead of actually changing the legislation.
The legislation is now expected to be comfortably passed by the Federation Council upper house of parliament before Putin signs it into law.

 

Lack of capital may curb airline growth

The International Air Transport Association (Iata) called for new thinking on the relationships between partners in the air transport value chain in order to attract the $4-5trn that will be needed over the next 20 years to meet the growing demand for aviation-enabled connectivity.

An Iata study, supported by analysis from McKinsey & Company, shows that returns on capital invested in airlines have improved in recent years, but are still far below what investors would normally expect to earn.
 
“Aviation supports some 57 million jobs globally and we make possible $2.2trn worth of economic activity. By value, over 35% of the goods traded internationally are transported by air,” said Tony Tyler, Iata’s Director General and CEO.

“But in the 2004-2011 period, investors would have earned $17bn more annually by taking their capital and investing it in bonds and equities of similar risk.”

Unless the airline industry could, therefore, find ways to improve returns for its investors, it may prove difficult to attract the capital needed to serve the expansion in connectivity, especially to support growth in developing economies.

During the 2004-2011 period, returns on capital invested in the airline industry worldwide averaged 4.1%. This is an improvement on the average of 3.8% generated in the previous business cycle over 1996-2004.

However, this is nowhere near the average cost of capital of 7.5%, which represents the return on capital that investors would expect to earn by investing in assets of similar risk outside the airline industry.

While some airlines have consistently created value for equity investors, these are few in number. On average industry returns were just sufficient for the industry to service its debt, with nothing left to reward equity investors for risking their capital.
 
The study showed that over the past 40 years virtually all industries have generated higher returns on invested capital (ROIC) than the airline industry.

Moreover, airlines are the least profitable segment of the air transport value chain while other segments consistently generate good returns for their investors.

The biggest cost for airlines today is fuel and companies in this sector benefited from an estimated $16-48bn of their annual net profits generated by air transport.

The most profitable part of the rest of the value chain is in distribution, with the computer reservation systems businesses of the three global distribution system companies generating an average ROIC of 20%, followed by freight forwarders with an ROIC of 15%.
  
 “More effective partnerships are required among stakeholders in the air transport industry. Efficiency gains are a win-win for all concerned,” said Tyler.

An agenda for governments is also outlined in the study.

“Smart regulation is needed from governments around the world in order to maximise the economic benefits of connectivity jobs and growth,” said Tyler.

“Unfortunately, high taxation and poorly designed regulation in many jurisdictions make it difficult for airlines to develop connectivity. On top of the cost issues, airlines also face a hyper fragmented industry structure owing to government policies that discourage cross-border consolidation.”

Saudi taps new oil areas

Saudi Aramco plans to develop two less productive areas of major oilfields, industry sources said, as Riyadh takes care to maintain excess capacity for the long term, even while non-Opec oil supplies are on the rise.

The plan to increase capacity from Khurais and Shaybah by a total of 550 000 barrels per day (bpd) by 2017 will take the strain off Ghawar, the world's largest conventional oilfield, two sources familiar with the plans said.

Such projects are not intended to raise Saudi production capacity beyond the current stated 12.5 million bpd, Saudi oil officials have previously said.

After pumping its biggest fields at near record rates to make up for lost supplies from Libya and Iran over the last two years, the kingdom wants to focus on less productive fields to ease pressure on aging reservoirs to help keep their output robust.

"The targeted area includes the two fields south of Khurais, Abu Jiffan and Mazalij, which are smaller complex fields that have not produced much oil in past years," Sadad al-Husseini, a former top executive at Saudi Aramco, said.

"As for Shaybah field, they want to mainly raise production from the south where the reservoir is less productive and to gather large volumes of additional natural gas liquids, which are recovered from the associated gas."

By 2017, Saudi Aramco aims to boost capacity at Khurais by 300,000 bpd to 1.5 million bpd and at Shaybah by 250,000 bpd to 1 million bpd, the sources said.

The company could not immediately be reached for comment.

Saudi Arabia had planned in 2008 to increase production capacity to 15 million bpd but then put the plan on hold after the financial crisis.

A surge in North American unconventional oil over the last few years, meanwhile, has taken pressure off Riyadh. Officials now say there is no plan to expand beyond the kingdom's current capacity.

Aramco is still investing in new production projects, however, to increase its options and take pressure off big fields such as Ghawar and Abqaiq that have been the main source of wealth for the economy for decades.

Husseini said the expansion plans would require new oil and gas processing facilities and a dedicated pipeline to transport natural gas liquids from Shaybah.

Aramco completed a large capacity expansion plan in 2009-2010, which included the start-up of Khurais and the expansion of Shaybah to 750 000 bpd.

Khurais contains highly prized Arab Light crude, which is easily converted into transport fuels.

Emerging market borrowers left stranded

Developing countries that did not take advantage of historically low yields by selling international bonds in the first half of 2013 are finding themselves left high and dry as borrowing costs rise.

Emerging market borrowers sold more than $200bn of bonds between January and July, a record-breaking streak that culminated in April with the startling sight of Rwanda issuing a 10-year dollar bond at a yield of less than 7%.

But the US Federal Reserve's indication that it will turn off the liquidity taps which have depressed interest rates in the West and fuelled demand for higher-yielding assets has burst a bubble that had developed in emerging debt, bankers say.

"In March/April, some valuations were very high - investors were awash with liquidity and were desperate for higher-yielding instruments," said Chris Tuffey, head of EEMEA debt capital markets at Credit Suisse. "Prices got to levels driven by technicals rather than fundamentals."

Issuance fell dramatically last month, when only 25 bonds were issued, according to Thomson Reuters data, compared with 82 in May, 103 in April, and 66 in June 2012. Emerging debt prices have fallen as a sharp rise in US yields robs riskier borrowers of their usual yield appeal.

Countries such as Bahrain, Nigeria and Russia have continued to hold investor presentations, known as roadshows, or assigned lead managers for planned international debt sales, but no bonds have followed.

Borrowers have regularly held "non-deal" roadshows since the 2008/09 financial crisis made them nervous of committing to a particular timetable for issuing debt, although investors say such pitches always take place with a bond sale in mind.

Markets have been so favourable until recently, however, that even unfamiliar names, such as last year's debut borrower Zambia, were able to raise money as soon as their roadshows ended, drawing massive demand.

Costing rising

Emerging market debt was yielding on average less than 5% in April, an unprecedentedly low level, but that has now risen to around 7 percent, meaning that borrowers will have to pay much more for their funding.

Rising interest costs could make life difficult for countries already struggling with high debt and deficits.

"A lot of issuers have not fully woken up to the fact that issuance at higher yields will significantly change the debt sustainability picture," said David Hauner, head of EEMEA fixed income strategy at BofA-Merrill Lynch Global Research.

Nigeria finished a roadshow last week but no bond followed, while African countries waiting in the wings include Kenya and Tanzania.

Other countries which have held roadshows in the past few weeks include Latvia and Ukraine, according to Thomson Reuters market news and information service IFR.

Some, such as Kenya, which has made and dropped plans for its first Eurobond several times since 2007, may not have any pressing need to borrow, while others may find alternative and cheaper sources of funding.

Ukraine's debt insurance costs have recently hit 18-month highs, however, as investors worry that without an International Monetary Fund deal, the country will not be able to refinance its debt. Kiev sold a $1 billion 10-year Eurobond in April and said it aimed to raise another $2.5bn this year.

More regular sovereign borrowers may also struggle to complete their annual issuance programmes, let alone borrow in advance of next year's plan, as countries often seek to do.

Turkey has raised $4.2bn of its $6.5bn borrowing target for this year, while Hungary has completed $3.25bn of a 2013 target of around $5.5bn.

"People used to do a lot of pre-funding and that won't be the case any more," said Gorky Urquieta, co-head of emerging markets debt at asset manager Neuberger Berman.

Holding back

Companies and financial firms, which made up the vast bulk of this year's issuance, are also holding back.

Turkish banks Ziraat and Yapi Kredi are among those who have said they are waiting for better market conditions, while Nigeria's Diamond Bank ended a roadshow last week without a deal.

Bankers involved in emerging market debt remain optimistic the recent rise in US Treasury yields may be temporary, saying this month's US employment numbers and Federal Reserve meeting could put a different complexion on the Fed's intentions.

If that is the case, for emerging market borrowers, "the summer should be active, rather than quiet," said Credit Suisse's Tuffey.

But countries and companies who missed the window which closed in April will have to resign themselves to borrowing at higher rates.

"Emerging markets will never have it as good again," BofA-ML's Hauner said.

NEWS,24.12.2012

US fiscal cliff deal on a knife-edge

The wheels could come off the US economy even before it has shifted out of second gear unless politicians reach a last-minute deal to avoid $600bn in tax rises and spending cuts that kick in next month.The rest of the world would be unable to avoid the pile-up if America does fly off the so-called fiscal cliff.That is why, even in a holiday-shortened week, eyes will be peeled for signs that Democratic President Barack Obama and his divided Republican opponents can bury the hatchet.The White House on Friday tried to rescue the stalled talks, but there was little headway to resolve what Alan Blinder, an economics professor at Princeton University, called the biggest near-term risk facing the global economy.Seen from abroad, US policymakers were looking "clownish", the former vice-chairman of the Federal Reserve said: "This will do us a tremendous amount of damage."Until last Thursday, markets had assumed a compromise would be struck, averting the risk of a relapse into recession. The slow-motion car crash had been so well signaled that surely the drivers would swerve in time?But after Republicans abandoned a fix proposed by House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, businesses and households head into the year-end knowing the clarity they crave on tax and spending plans could be weeks away."The longer uncertainty persists, the greater the negative impact on the economy," Lewis Alexander, chief US economist at Nomura, told clients."It may take the imminent threat of a breach of the debt limit in February, or March at the latest, to force an agreement," he added, referring to the Congressional approval that the Treasury will need to extend its borrowing authority.By sapping consumer confidence, the political brinkmanship could already be enough to sap short-term US growth.If America then does tumble over the cliff for more than a few days, triggering fiscal tightening that could reach 4% of GDP, the repercussions would be felt around the world via trade and financial links."If our economy goes into a recession, especially a serious recession, a deep recession, that's going to hit imports from the rest of the world. And to the extent that it messes up financial markets, that has a contagion effect," said Martin Feldstein, an economics professor at Harvard University.Like Blinder, he was speaking on a conference call organised by Foreign Affairs magazine. Indeed, the resulting turbulence in financial markets could end the period of relative calm enjoyed by the eurozone, said Christian Schulz, an economist at Berenberg Bank in London.Failure to put the US budget on a more sustainable path could well crush hopes that the world's largest economy is finally shaking off the effects of the financial crisis and returning to a path of steadier if not spectacular growth.Credit Suisse on Friday raised its forecast for fourth-quarter GDP growth to an annualised pace of 1.8% from 1.1% after consumer spending in November rose at the briskest rate in three years.A recovery in housing is an increasingly important motor of growth, and figures on Thursday are expected to show new home sales rose to 380 000 in November from 368 000 in October, according to economists polled by Reuters.Two of the top trading recommendations for 2013 by economists at Goldman Sachs are premised on a deepening housing market recovery. Existing homes changed hands in November at the quickest pace in three years, while confidence among home builders rose to a 6-1/2-year high in December.Edward Jamieson, chief investment officer in Franklin Templeton's equity group, said housing was benefiting from record-low interest rates, a gradual reduction in household debt and significant pent-up demand."Higher home prices have also helped reduce the number of individuals with negative equity in their homes while also providing a strong wealth effect, which we think bodes well for continued improvement in the housing sector," he said in a report.That markets in the last days of 2012 should be held hostage to events in Washington is fitting in one sense: this has been a year in which politics has shaped economic developments more than ever.In the eurozone, a commitment by paymaster Germany to keep bailing out backsliding Greece, building on a pledge by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro, largely allayed market doubts about the imminent disintegration of the single currency.In Japan, Prime Minister-elect Shinzo Abe, whose cabinet will be sworn in on Wednesday, campaigned on a platform of more aggressive monetary and fiscal policy to jolt the economy out of two decades of anaemic growth and gently falling prices.The yen has weakened and Japanese stocks have risen in response even though many are sceptical that Abe will introduce the reforms Japan needs.The Bank of Japan, sensing which way the political winds are blowing, duly relaxed policy last week, and inflation figures on Friday are likely to reinforce expectations that there is more to come from the central bank. Economists polled by Reuters expect core prices to have fallen by 0.1% nationwide in the year to November and by 0.5% in Tokyo in the year to December."We expect quantitative easing to continue aggressively in the first half of 2013, especially after a new governor takes the helm from the April 26 monetary policy meeting," Izumi Devalier, an economist with HSBC, wrote in a report.

Monti unveils 'change Italy' agenda

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti unveiled an agenda to "change Italy, reform Europe" at a year-end presser on Sunday and said the country had managed to pull itself out of the eurozone debt crisis, without having to call for aid."The agenda focuses on avoiding very dangerous steps backwards", and will take the reforms already begun forward, said Monti, who stepped down on Friday after a year in which he dragged the eurozone's third largest economy out of a fiscal mire."The financial crisis has been overcome. . . I was always sure that Italy had all the resources needed to make it on its own, and so it was," said the former eurocrat, who many European leaders hope will play a role in any future government to keep the reform accomplished on track. Monti, who took over the reins of power after Silvio Berlusconi was ousted amid a sex scandal and the financial crisis, also commented that he was 'perplexed' by the ex-premier. "I am perplexed by my predecessor. I find it difficult to follow his line of thought," he said, referring to media magnate Berlusconi's frequent changes in position over the past few weeks, first supporting Monti then attacking him.Berlusconi has said he will run in February's general election and now seems to have settled on winning votes on the back of an anti-Monti drive.

China's wealthy buy 'Rolls-Royce' bikes

Rich Chinese are buying bicycles that cost more than the average citizen makes in three years, motivated by nostalgia for the days when two wheels were the primary means of transport.China is now the world's biggest auto market, but high-end bike sales are expected to grow by 10% a year as they become a status symbol for wealthy executives.Yu Yiqun, the creative director at an advertising company in the Chinese capital, cycles to work on his favourite bike - a 100 000 yuan ($16 000) hand-made Alex Moulton."It might be the only one in Beijing. It's like the Rolls-Royce of bicycles. Very classical, purely hand-made," said the 40-year-old Yu, who has about 35 high-end bikes."I remember my father used to ride me to the city in the winter - about 40km and minus 30 degrees centigrade. Back then, it was a means of transport that fulfilled your dream of travelling afar, which was relatively cheap but required brawn."Yu symbolises a new bike culture in China, where wealthy, health-conscious executives are upgrading their lifestyle, in some cases abandoning flashy cars and taking to the road on high-end bicycles that can cost more than a car."Demand for mainstream luxury items such as premium cars,watches has come to a point of saturation. High-income groups now turn to high-end bikes to show off the uniqueness in taste and healthy lifestyle," said Zhou Jiannong, general manager of Rbike Networks Ltd in ChinaAnalysts estimate about 10% annual growth in the Chinese bicycle market over the next few years, with the high-end segment forecast to grow by as much as 15% a year.Companies are also getting in on the act, with a Hong Kong-based supplier taking an order for 1 000 pricey bikes from a Chinese financial firm as a year-end bonus for employees."People are sick of conventional gifts such as wines and tobacco. For mainlanders, a bike is a great gift that shows your unique lifestyle," said Adam Wong, managing director at Hong Kong's Komda Bicycles.Wong declined to name the bank that had ordered the bikes, but he said they had an average price tag of 3,000 yuan ($480).Fashion statementFashion label Shanghai Tang, eager for a slice of this growing pie, teamed up with Dutch bike maker Colossi Cycling to make bicycles aimed specifically at China, where bike demand is estimated at about 28 million units a year"The high-end sector is going to be the major source of growth in the Chinese market. In China, bikes are more than just a means of transportation. It has become a fashion," said Terry Liu, an analyst at Fubon Research in Taiwan.It can cost up to HK$300 000 ($38,700) for an imported limited edition of expensive brands such as Italy's Colnago or France's Look, nearly 100 times the price of a Flying Pigeon, China's official bike since it was born in 1950.But the cost as no object for many high-income Chinese looking for the best two-wheeled vehicle."For businessmen, they are not looking at the price. They are looking at the quality. They assemble their bike with import components in accordance to their taste and needs," said Zhang Lei, a director of a Zhuhai paper products supplier, who plans to spend 10,000 yuan to upgrade his current bikeYu, the advertising executive in Beijing, has orders in for four more hand-made bikes, expanding his vast collection which includes brands such as Trek, Bianchi and Colnago.He and his wife have two cars but he says he doesn't drive."I always bring my bike when I go on a business trip," Yu said. "When I go to Harbin, I bring a small, folding bicycle since it's easier for me to get around the city. When I go to Dalian, I bring a bigger bike since it's a mountainous city."

China to crackdown on brand violations

China plans to change the law to crackdown on "malicious" trademark registrations, state media said on Monday, after a series of cases in which well-known international brands and individuals have had their names or copyright misused.Foreign governments, including the United States, have for years urged China to take a stronger stand against intellectual property rights violations on products ranging from medicines to software to DVD movies. Basketball legend Michael Jordan is one of the latest to accuse a company of using his name without permission, and French luxury group Hermes International SCA and Apple Inc have faced trademark problems too. The proposed amendment will offer protection to major international brands, giving copyright owners the right to ban others from registering their trademarks or from using similar ones, even if such trademarks are not registered, the official Xinhua news agency reported. "The draft is intended to curb the malicious registration of trademarks," Xinhua said.The country's legislature - which performs a largely rubber stamp role will discuss the amendment this week, it said, without saying when the new rules could be put in place or providing other details. The move comes after basketball star Michael Jordan filed a lawsuit in China in February against a Chinese sportswear company, accusing the firm of unauthorised use of his name. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame recipient and former Chicago Bulls star said that Qiaodan Sports, a company located in the southern Fujian province, had built its business around his Chinese name "Qiaodan" and jersey number without his permission. The lawsuit has yet to go to trial, Chinese media have reported. France's Hermes International SCA has also had problems in China with its trademark, and in July Apple Inc agreed to pay $60 million to Proview Technology (Shenzhen) to end a protracted legal dispute over the iPad trademark in China. China has insisted it is serious about tackling intellectual property violations. Incoming Japan PM to review Fukushima Japan's incoming pro-nuclear premier Shinzo Abe said on Sunday his government will again investigate the Fukushima atomic crisis, after which the country's reactors could be restarted, reports said.His comments will add to speculation that plans to ditch atomic power in disaster-scarred Japan will be shelved by his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) when it takes power after scoring a landslide election win last week."We are yet to completely clarify what went wrong (in Fukushima)," he told a political show on Fuji TV on Sunday. "As a government, we want to once again analyse why Fukushima Daiichi failed," he said. He gave no further details and did not set out a timeframe for a probe."After that, I wish to think of next steps, including the restart of reactors," he said on the programme, according to broadcaster NHK."Could it have been avoided? Was it a man-made disaster? As a government, we must study that," said Abe, according to Jiji Press. He has previously derided the zero-nuclear goal of the ousted Democratic Party of Japan as unrealistic. All but two of Japan's 50 reactors remain switched off after the worst atomic accident in a generation and anti-nuclear sentiment has run high, but that failed to translate into support at the polls for anti-atomic parties.Several probes have already been conducted into the accident in March last year, which saw the Fukushima plant suffer meltdowns and explosions after being hit by an earthquake-triggered tsunami. A damning parliamentary report in July concluded that the Fukushima accident was a man-made disaster caused by Japan's culture of "reflexive obedience" and not just the tsunami that hit the plant. Shares in Fukushima operator Tepco have soared since Abe's election win.