FOOD
Nestle profit up 8.1 percent
Nestle, the world’s biggest food company, yesterday said its net profit last year rose 8.1 percent to 9.5 billion Swiss francs (US$10.26 billion). However, it said it expected a rough ride ahead despite a positive outlook for growth. The company said sales last year were up 7.5 percent to SF83.6 billion, excluding currency effects and acquisitions. “It was a challenging year [in 2011] and we do not expect 2012 to be any easier,” Nestle CEO Paul Bulcke said.
AUTOMAKERS
Renault profit plummets
Renault yesterday said its earnings last year were down from a year earlier, when it booked an exceptional gain of 2 billion euros (US$2.62 billion) on the sale of part of its stake in Sweden’s Volvo AB. France’s No. 2 car maker after Peugeot-Citroen reported a net profit of 2.1 billion euros, down from 3.4 billion euros a year earlier, when earnings were boosted by the sale of Volvo shares Renault acquired when it sold its truck-making division to the Swedish car maker in 2001.
BANKING
SG profit falls on Greek debt
Societe Generale (SG) yesterday said its fourth-quarter earnings plummeted after it took a half-billion euro hit as Europe’s intensifying financial crisis slashed the value of its holdings of Greek government bonds. The French bank reported a net profit of 100 million euros for the three months ending Dec. 31, down from 874 million euros a year earlier and well below market expectations. The bank said its quarterly earnings were saddled with a 622 million euros write-down on its Greek government bonds.
HOTELS
Marriot Q4 profit down 18%
Marriott International said its fourth-quarter net income fell 18 percent despite higher revenue, hurt by a one-time charge tied to the spinoff of its timeshare business. The company said on Wednesday it earned US$141 million, or US$0.41 per share, compared with US$173 million, or US$0.46 per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose to US$3.69 billion from US$3.64 billion. For this year, Marriott sees emerging markets driving strong global growth and forecasts earnings well above current analyst forecasts.
AIRLINES
AMR loss balloons
AMR Corp, the parent of American Airlines, on Wednesday said that it lost US$1.1 billion in the fourth quarter as it wrote down the value of planes and other property and paid more for jet fuel. The company, which filed for bankruptcy protection in November, said that the results compared with a loss of US$97 million a year earlier, when AMR still hoped to avoid bankruptcy by cutting costs. For the full year, the company posted a net loss of US$2 billion, compared with a loss of US$471 million in 2010. Revenue rose to US$23.98 billion from US$22.17 billion.
BEVERAGES
Pernod revenue rises 8%
French beverage company Pernod Ricard yesterday said strong sales in emerging markets and a rush to stock up on liquor in France before a tax increase pushed its revenue up by 8 percent in the July-to-December period. The company, known for its anise-flavored liqueurs, said that its net income rose 20 percent to 800 million euros. Sales rose to 4.6 billion euros. Much of the growth came from Asia and other developing markets, where sales rose 15 percent. In Europe, revenue was stagnant.
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”