BMW yesterday became the latest auto giant to feel the pain of the financial crisis, announcing production cuts and a huge drop in profits, as EU finance ministers gathered amid recession stormclouds.
As a string of leading companies revealed sinking profits, the luxury German car firm said its third-quarter net profit plunged 63 percent to 298 million euros (US$378 million) and would cut production by an additional 40,000 units this year.
Owing to the poor market climate and “uncertainties caused by the financial crisis, the profitability targets set for 2008 are no longer achievable,” it said in a statement. “The likely progress of business over the coming months cannot be forecast with any exactitude.”
Meanwhile, clothing-to-food retailer Marks and Spencer, seen as a barometer of consumer sentiment in Britain, said net profits sank by 43 percent to £223.2 million (US$352 million) in the first half of the year owing to tough trading conditions.
“Market conditions and consumer confidence declined through the half, leading to reduced profits year on year due to lower sales,” M&S chief executive Stuart Rose said in the earnings release.
There was similarly gloomy news from the world’s biggest temp agency Adecco which said its third-quarter net profit fell almost a quarter, with revenues in countries hard hit by the financial crisis showing the steepest declines.
It warned it would miss its business targets “in the quarters to come” due to “difficult market conditions leading to even more pronounced pressure on revenues in most countries.”
The results from such economic bellweathers were likely to darken the mood at a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels, being held a day after an official report forecast the 27-nation bloc was headed for recession.
“Investors have high expectations” for the next president to take action on the economy, said Sumitomo Trust Bank strategist Saburo Matsumoto.
The worsening outlook and weakening energy demand saw Brent crude oil price sink under US$59 per barrel, hitting the lowest point since February last year.
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
RECORD LOW: Global firms’ increased inventories, tariff disputes not yet impacting Taiwan and new graduates not yet entering the market contributed to the decrease Taiwan’s unemployment rate last month dropped to 3.3 percent, the lowest for the month in 25 years, as strong exports and resilient domestic demand boosted hiring across various sectors, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. After seasonal adjustments, the jobless rate eased to 3.34 percent, the best performance in 24 years, suggesting a stable labor market, although a mild increase is expected with the graduation season from this month through August, the statistics agency said. “Potential shocks from tariff disputes between the US and China have yet to affect Taiwan’s job market,” Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling
As they zigzagged from one machine to another in the searing African sun, the workers were covered in black soot. However, the charcoal they were making is known as “green,” and backers hope it can save impoverished Chad from rampant deforestation. Chad, a vast, landlocked country of 19 million people perched at the crossroads of north and central Africa, is steadily turning to desert. It has lost more than 90 percent of its forest cover since the 1970s, hit by climate change and overexploitation of trees for household uses such as cooking, officials say. “Green charcoal” aims to protect what
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