OPTICS
Olympus defends purchases
Olympus Corp’s new president says his company has done nothing wrong in past acquisitions, defending the purchases as strategic amid escalating scrutiny triggered by its recently fired CEO Michael Woodford. Shuichi Takayama stuck to the Japanese company’s denials but offered more details about the deals in question, including a US$687 million payment made to financial advisers as part of its purchase of the UK’s Gyrus Group PLC. Olympus confirmed for the first time the identities of the financial advisers as Axes America LLC and Axam Investments Ltd.
AUTOMAKERS
Daimler’s profit down
German automaker Daimler said yesterday that its net profit fell by 16 percent in the third quarter because of writedowns on its investments in French and Russian groups Renault and Kamaz. Daimler, which owns the flagship Mercedes-Benz brand, said in a statement its bottom-line profit fell to 1.36 billion euros (US$1.9 billion) in the period from July to September from 1.61 billion euros a year earlier. Underlying profits, as measured by earnings before interest and tax, dropped by 18.6 percent to 1.968 billion euros. Third-quarter sales, on the other hand, rose by 5.3 percent to 26.407 billion euros on a 10.6 percent increase in unit sales to 525,517 vehicles.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Bayer earnings shoot up
Bayer AG says its earnings more than doubled in the third quarter compared with a year-earlier figure that was weighed down by one-time charges. The pharmaceutical and chemical company said yesterday that its net profit for the July to September period was 642 million euros — a 125 percent increase over the previous year’s 285 million euros. Revenue was up 1 percent to 8.67 billion euro from 8.58 billion euros. Bayer said the increase was driven by sales in emerging markets.
CHEMICALS
BASF profit beats estimates
BASF SE, the world’s largest chemicals maker, reported third-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates as price increases and the purchase of cosmetic-ingredient maker Cognis helped limit a drop in margins. Earnings before interest, tax and items such as costs from acquisitions and restructuring fell 11 percent to 1.96 billion euros, BASF said yesterday in a statement. Analysts had predicted 1.85 billion euros, according to the average of 16 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
AIRLINES
Lufthansa’s profit plummets
German airline Lufthansa said yesterday that its bottom-line net profit declined by 21.3 percent to 494 million euros in the third quarter. Revenues in the period from July to September rose by 6.7 percent to 8.075 billion euros, Lufthansa said in a statement. Lufthansa already issued a profit warning last month, blaming a disappointing performance in August, deteriorating booking forecasts for the airline industry and wider economic uncertainty.
ENERGY
Shell profits double
Energy giant Royal Dutch Shell said yesterday that net profits doubled to US$6.98 billion between June and September as revenues rose by a third thanks to higher oil prices. The profit after tax figure for the third quarter compared with net income of US$3.46 billion during the equivalent period last year, the Anglo-Dutch group said in a statement. Group revenue jumped 36 percent to US$123.4 billion in the third quarter from a year earlier.
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