AIRLINES
ANA, AirAsia form venture
Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Southeast Asia’s largest budget carrier AirAsia yesterday said they would form a joint venture to establish a low-cost airline. AirAsia Japan will be the first low-cost carrier to be based at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport when it commences domestic and international operations in August next year, the companies said. They cited Japan’s aviation market as “undergoing rapid transformation with developments including the expansion of Open Skies agreements and increased domestic competition from road and rail-based travel.”
PHARMACEUTICALS
Franc cut into profit: Roche
Swiss giant Roche yesterday blamed the strong Swiss currency for a 5 percent drop in its first-half net profit to 5.259 billion Swiss francs (US$6.41 billion). On a currency-adjusted basis, net profits were up 10 percent, the group said. The group’s sales also plunged 12 percent to SF21.671 billion year-on-year, but rose 5 percent when measured in US dollars. Despite the currency impact, Roche maintained its full-year earnings outlook in local currencies for sales by growing at low single-digit rates, reflecting the impact of US healthcare reforms and European austerity measures.
SINGAPORE
Inflation forecast raised
The central bank raised its inflation forecast for this year because of higher expected housing and transportation costs. Monetary Authority of Singapore Managing Director Ravi Menon said in a speech yesterday that the bank expects an inflation rate between 4 percent and 5 percent, one percentage point higher than its previous forecast. Singapore’s inflation rate fell to 4.5 percent in May from 5.5 percent in January.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last