MINING
Iron ore output hits high: Rio
Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto yesterday posted record iron ore production in the fourth quarter of last year, but low grades saw copper output slump 23 percent. In its quarterly update, Rio said iron ore production notched a new record of 65 million tonnes in the quarter and 245 million tonnes for the year. However, shipments were below output at 239 million tonnes owing to extreme weather early in the year at its flagship Pilbara region in Western Australia.
FASHION
Burberry revenue rises 22%
British luxury brand Burberry posted a 22 percent rise in third-quarter revenue as wealthy shoppers and tourists, particularly in Asia, showed their resilience to shaky economies in Europe and the US. The company said yesterday it made £574 million (US$880 million) of revenues in the three months to Dec. 31. Sales in the Asia-Pacific region jumped 39 percent to £210 million, accounting for the largest proportion of the total, Burberry said.
FINANCE
Morgan Stanley caps bonus
Morgan Stanley is capping immediate cash bonuses at US$125,000 as the firm curtails pay and defers more compensation for senior executives, according to a person briefed on the plans. The decision comes after a fourth quarter that some analysts predicted was the worst for trading and investment banking revenue since the financial crisis. Deferred cash for last year’s performance will be paid out in two equal installments in the final month of this year and next year, a change from the previous deferral plan that paid out in thirds over 18 months, the person said.
ENERGY
Japan plants planned: MEMC
SunEdison, the solar development unit of MEMC Electronic Materials Inc, said it planned to build solar power plants in Japan over a five-year period at an initial cost of ¥350 billion (US$4.6 billion). The second-largest US maker of polysilicon is in talks with local governments, including Niigata and Fukuoka prefectures, on project sites, SunEdison spokeswoman Jackie Okawa said yesterday. Capacity will total 1 gigawatt, she said, confirming a report by the Nikkei Shimbun. Local projects would be profitable if prices are set at ¥32 a kilowatt-hour, the Nikkei reported.
RETAILERS
Metro to keep Kaufhof stores
German retail giant Metro said yesterday it had scrapped plans to sell its Kaufhof department stores for the moment, as it announced a drop in sales amid “disappointing” Christmas trade. Group sales dropped 0.8 percent last year to 66.7 billion euros (US$85.1 billion) with strong growth in Asia outweighed by a weak performance in Europe, which Metro blamed on the sovereign debt crisis. Metro’s results were hit heavily by a poor final quarter, with sales down 1.3 percent on the corresponding period the year before.
SINGAPORE
Exports surprising increase
The city-state’s exports unexpectedly rose last month as pharmaceutical shipments surged, countering a drop in sales of electronics. Non-oil domestic exports climbed 9 percent from a year earlier, after a revised 1.4 percent increase in November, the trade promotion agency said in a statement yesterday. The median of 14 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey was for a 1.2 percent decline.
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
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
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