MINING
Rio Tinto breaks records
Anglo-Australian giant Rio Tinto Group yesterday reported record underlying first-half earnings of US$7.8 billion, a 35 percent annual increase because of strong Asian demand for its commodities. Rio said it had been a “record breaking” period for the company, with first-half cash flow of US$12.9 billion, a 31 percent premium on the previous corresponding period, and net profits of US$7.587 billion. The results, which included record underlying earnings before tax and other factors of US$14.3 billion — 27 percent higher than the first half of last year — came in slightly below market expectations.
SPORTSWEAR
Adidas reports higher profits
German sportswear and equipment maker Adidas AG said yesterday its second-quarter net profit gained 11 percent to 140 million euros (US$200 million) and that it should reach 650 million euros for the year. Adidas raised its sales growth forecast for this year to 10 percent, from a previous outlook of less than 10 percent, owing to strong demand for its products in emerging markets. It put earnings per share at between 2.98 euros and 3.12 euros, which on the basis of the number of shares currently in circulation would mean a net profit of 648 million to 652 million euros for the year. Second-quarter sales rose 5 percent to 3.06 billion euros, in line with market expectations.
REINSURANCE
Swiss Re sees more demand
Swiss Reinsurance Co posted an 18 percent jump in second-quarter net profit to US$960 million and said that it expected even better results through next year. “The reinsurance market has started to turn and Swiss Re expects further improvements over the next six to 18 months,” the group said in its earnings statement. Higher demand for natural catastrophe insurance in Australia, New Zealand and the US lifted Swiss Re’s volume and prices, it noted. Meanwhile, Germany’s Munich Re said net profit rose 4 percent in the second quarter to 738 million euros. Gross premiums rose 9 percent to 11.96 billion euros.
BANKING
Lloyds posts first-half loss
Britain’s state-rescued Lloyds Banking Group PLC yesterday reported a first-half net loss of £2.3 billion (US$3.8 billion) after being forced to compensate clients who were mis-sold insurance. Lloyds, which last month axed 15,000 jobs as it bids to halve its international division, said its loss after tax for the six months to June compared with a net profit of £596 million in the first half of last year. Pre-tax profits excluding exceptional charges slid 31 percent to £1.1 billion, but beat analyst expectations for profit of £1 billion, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
PUBLISHING
Hefner’s spouse settles case
The husband of former Playboy Enterprises Inc chief executive Christie Hefner, accused of using inside information in trading Playboy stock, has agreed to pay almost US$170,000 to settle the case. The US Securities and Exchange Commission said William Marovitz made trades in the magazine publisher’s shares between 2004 and 2009 based on non-public information and despite instructions from his wife not to do so. The agency said the five trades helped him either make profits or avoid losses of US$100,952. The civil case, filed on Wednesday in Illinois, says Marovitz bought and sold Playboy shares based on information from his wife about the company’s earnings, stock offerings and a potential acquisitions.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)