Mizuho Financial Group, one of Japan's Big Four banks, yesterday sharply lifted its earnings forecast for the first fiscal half ending Sept. 30, citing a decline in bad loan write-off costs.
Mizuho, the world's biggest bank in terms of assets, expects a ?230 billion (US$2.1 billion) profit for the six-month period, up from ?100 billion (US$901 million) projected earlier.
Mizuho Financial Group kept the outlook for group operating revenue the same from the earlier projection in May of ?1.6 trillion (US$14 billion). Mizuho said it will release its earnings forecast for the full fiscal year through March when it announces interim results in November.
Mizuho shares have more than tripled since March on signs that Japan's economic recovery is gathering momentum, making it easier for borrowers to repay loans. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi last month reiterated his resolve to clean up US$384 billion of bad loans remaining at Mizuho and other lenders.
"Japanese bank stocks have become a leveraged play on the market and to an extent on the economy as a whole," said Jonathan Allum, Japan strategist at KBC Financial Products UK Ltd. in London. "The wind is blowing in the right direction. When it's good it's very good, when it bad it's horrid."
`This revision offers further confirmation for investors that Japan's banks are likely to return to profit in their current business year after two years of losses," said Nedeltcho Akov, a banking analyst at ING Securities Japan Ltd. in Tokyo.
Mizuho and other Japanese banks have pledged to turn into the black this year after posting massive losses over the past two or three years. The nation's recent economic recovery and the rise on the Tokyo stock exchange have helped the performance of Japan's banks, which have been struggling with loans gone sour.
Japan's economy has gradually recovered from a long slowdown in recent months.
With this year’s Semicon Taiwan trade show set to kick off on Wednesday, market attention has turned to the mass production of advanced packaging technologies and capacity expansion in Taiwan and the US. With traditional scaling reaching physical limits, heterogeneous integration and packaging technologies have emerged as key solutions. Surging demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing (HPC) and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips has put technologies such as chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS), integrated fan-out (InFO), system on integrated chips (SoIC), 3D IC and fan-out panel-level packaging (FOPLP) at the center of semiconductor innovation, making them a major focus at this year’s trade show, according
DEBUT: The trade show is to feature 17 national pavilions, a new high for the event, including from Canada, Costa Rica, Lithuania, Sweden and Vietnam for the first time The Semicon Taiwan trade show, which opens on Wednesday, is expected to see a new high in the number of exhibitors and visitors from around the world, said its organizer, SEMI, which has described the annual event as the “Olympics of the semiconductor industry.” SEMI, which represents companies in the electronics manufacturing and design supply chain, and touts the annual exhibition as the most influential semiconductor trade show in the world, said more than 1,200 enterprises from 56 countries are to showcase their innovations across more than 4,100 booths, and that the event could attract 100,000 visitors. This year’s event features 17
Germany is to establish its first-ever national pavilion at Semicon Taiwan, which starts tomorrow in Taipei, as the country looks to raise its profile and deepen semiconductor ties with Taiwan as global chip demand accelerates. Martin Mayer, a semiconductor investment expert at Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI), Germany’s international economic promotion agency, said before leaving for Taiwan that the nation is a crucial partner in developing Germany’s semiconductor ecosystem. Germany’s debut at the international semiconductor exhibition in Taipei aims to “show presence” and signal its commitment to semiconductors, while building trust with Taiwanese companies, government and industry associations, he said. “The best outcome
Semiconductor equipment billings in Taiwan are expected to double this year, as manufacturers in the industry are keen to expand production to meet strong global demand for artificial intelligence applications, according to SEMI, which represents companies in the electronics manufacturing and design supply chain. Speaking at a news conference before the opening of Semicon Taiwan trade show tomorrow, SEMI director of industry research and statistics Clark Tseng (曾瑞榆) said semiconductor equipment billings in Taiwan are expected to grow by an annual 100 percent this year, beating an earlier estimate of 70 percent growth. He said that Taiwan received a boost from a
RSS