UNITED KINGDOM
Inflation hits 5.2 percent
Inflation rose to a three-year high of 5.2 percent last month, driven by rising costs for electricity and gas, the Office for National Statistics said yesterday. Consumer prices last month jumped from the 4.5 percent reported a month earlier and beat the market consensus of 4.9 percent. Inflation last hit 5.2 percent in September 2008. The Bank of England has forecast that inflation would peak above 5 percent, before reversing toward the official target of 2 percent.
RETAIL
LVMH sees strong growth
French luxury powerhouse LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA said revenues grew strongly in the third quarter after a successful takeover of jewelry giant Bulgari and a rebound in Japan. The company behind Dom Perignon champagne and Marc Jacobs said yesterday that sales rose 19 percent sequentially to 6.01 billion euros (US$8.28 billion). The biggest jump was in the jewelry and watches division, with sales doubling from last quarter to 636 million euros. It also benefited from strong sales in Hong Kong and Macau and a return to luxury consumption in Japan.
BEVERAGES
Danone, Suntory in talks
Groupe Danone SA, the owner of the Evian and Volvic brands, is in talks to sell bottled-water assets to Japan’s Suntory Holdings Ltd, three people familiar with the matter said. Paris-based Danone is seeking to reach an agreement to sell the assets by the end of this year, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are not public. The proceeds might then be used to fund a possible offer for Pfizer Inc’s infant-nutrition business, one person said. Suntory might seek to buy only water operations in Asia, two people said.
ELECTRONICS
RIM sorry, gives away apps
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd (RIM) offered customers free apps on Monday after millions of users worldwide suffered service outages last week. RIM said customers would be able to download for free a selection of its premium applications “worth a total value of more than US$100” including games, hands-free operating programs and other tools “as an expression of appreciation.” Users will have until the end of this year to avail themselves of the offer.
FINANCE
Temasek issues bonds
Temasek Financial has launched a S$650 million (US$512 million) bond exchangeable into shares in London-listed bank Standard Chartered PLC, bookrunner Bank of America Merill Lynch said on Monday. The offering of the three-year, zero coupon bonds by Temasek Financial, a special purpose vehicle owned by Singapore’s state-owned investment company, Temasek Holding, was to be priced yesterday. There will be an overallotment option of S$150 million.
REAL ESTATE
New World to raise capital
Hong Kong property giant New World Development Co (新世界發展) said yesterday it plans to raise up to HK$12.34 billion (US$1.59 billion) from a rights issue to boost its capital base amid market turbulence. In a statement, the company said it expects to issue up to 2.172 billion shares on the basis of one rights share for every two existing shares, at a subscription price is HK$5.68 each, or 37 percent below Monday’s closing price. The Hong Kong-listed company saw net profit fall 26 percent fall to HK$9.15 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six