RETAIL
Sun Art error delays debut
China’s top hypermarket operator, Sun Art Retail Group (高鑫零售), has delayed its Hong Kong trading debut scheduled for yesterday over an error in its prospectus, after raising US$1.06 billion from the share sale. The retail giant, backed by France’s Groupe Auchan SA, has sold 1.14 billion shares at HK$7.20 (US$0.93) each, at the top end of its price range. The firm said in a statement yesterday that it postponed the listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange after it had overstated its earnings per share in the IPO prospectus. It will issue a supplementary prospectus on Monday and expects to start trading of shares on July 27.
ECONOMY
China woos more investors
Foreign direct investment in China rose 18.4 percent in the first half of the year to US$60.9 billion from a year earlier, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement yesterday. Spending last month gained 2.8 percent from a year earlier to US$12.86 billion, the ministry said, the slowest pace in 10 months. Foreign investment exceeded US$100 billion last year and “sound” growth is expected again this year, ministry spokesman Yao Jian (姚堅) said. “The market is large, the investment environment is sound and labor costs are still competitive,” Yao said.
? economy
S Korea cuts growth outlook
South Korea’s central bank is cutting its outlook for the country’s economic growth amid global uncertainties while raising its forecast for inflation. The Bank of Korea said in a report yesterday that the economy will expand 4.3 percent this year compared with its previous forecast of 4.5 percent made late last year. The central bank also said inflation will reach 4 percent for all of this year against the previous forecast of 3.9 percent.
INVESTMENT
Italy okays austerity plan
The Italian Senate on Thursday approved a crucial 70 billion euro (US$99 billion) austerity package aimed at convincing investors that the eurozone’s third-largest economy will not be swept into the debt crisis. The government had fast-tracked approval of the package and increased its size after markets plummeted this week on worries over the country’s financial stability. The measures were passed 161-135 in a vote of confidence called by Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s government. A final vote in the lower house of parliament was due yesterday.
AVIATION
AirAsia partners All Nippon
Southeast Asia’s largest budget carrier, AirAsia, is expected to partner Japan’s All Nippon Airways to launch a new low-cost airline to boost revenue, a report said yesterday. An announcement to set up the airline — Air-Asia Japan — will be made next week, The Star said, adding that the new carrier will initially serve domestic markets and eventually the region. AirAsia’s long-haul airline AirAsia X flies to Tokyo’s Haneda airport.
COMMUNICATIONS
Sony Ericsson posts losses
Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson yesterday reported a 50 million euro loss in the second quarter, saying the impact of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami hurt profitability. The Swedish-Japanese joint venture posted a profit of 12 million euros in the same quarter last year. Net sales were 1.19 billion euros, down from 1.76 billion euros a year ago. Sony Ericsson said the March 11 earthquake disrupted its supply chain, with mobile phone shipments falling 31 percent to 7.6 million units.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained