FINANCE
Mizuho to buy out units
Mizuho Financial Group is planning to buy out its brokerage and trust bank units, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday, a deal that could be worth about US$4 billion as the lender tries to grow beyond sluggish commercial banking business in Japan. Japan’s second-largest bank by assets is planning to buy out minority shareholders in Mizuho Securities, Mizuho Trust & Banking and Mizuho Investors Securities, said the source, who was not authorized to talk about the matter publicly. Mizuho is expected to carry out the buyout around October after getting approval at an annual shareholders meeting scheduled in June, the source said.
MINING
Vale announces record
Brazil’s mining giant Vale announced industry record net profits of US$17.3 billion last year, more than tripling 2009’s figures thanks to a “stellar performance.” “It is our best ever annual result, characterized by all-time high figures for operating revenues, operating income, operating margin, cash generation and net earnings,” the company said in its annual report. Last week the world’s top miner BHP Billiton posted half-year net profits of US$10.52 billion, up 72 percent. Both sector giants are benefiting from emerging markets snapping up raw materials and the West edging out of its economic slump.
UNITED KINGDOM
GDP shrinks by 0.6 percent
The British economy shrank more than previously thought in the final quarter of last year, according to revised figures released Friday. The Office for National Statistics reported that GDP declined by 0.6 percent between October and December. It had previously put the contraction at 0.5 percent. The agency said that severe winter weather in December, when Britain was hit by heavy snowfalls, is still largely to blame for the plunge in the final three months of the year. However, the data also showed that household spending declined 0.1 percent — the first drop since the second quarter of 2009.
ECONOMY
India might see 9% growth
India said on Friday that Asia’s third-biggest economy could see growth of more than 9 percent next year, but warned that inflation remained a “dominant concern.” Growth, boosted by a rebound in agriculture and “continued momentum” in manufacturing and services, should reach 8.6 percent this year and 8.75 percent to 9.25 percent next year, according to the annual state economic survey. India posted average annual growth of more than 9 percent between 2006 and 2008, before the global slump slowed expansion to 6.7 percent in 2008 and 2009. The economy picked up pace last year to advance 7.4 percent.
AUTOMOBILES
Volkswagen surpasses Ford
Volkswagen AG, Europe’s biggest automaker, passed rival Ford Motor Co in the auto industry earnings race last year on surging demand in China. Net income surged sevenfold to 6.84 billion euros (US$9.42 billion), the Wolfsburg, Germany-based company said on Friday. Ford posted a profit for last year of US$6.56 billion, while General Motors Co reported US$4.7 billion. Toyota Motor Corp forecasts ¥490 billion (US$6 billion) in profit in the year ending March 31. Volkswagen aims to surpass Toyota, the world’s largest carmaker, in sales and profitability by 2018 on growth in Brazil, Russia, India and China.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”