SOUTH KOREA
Bank maintains interest rate
South Korea’s central bank yesterday kept its key interest rate unchanged at 2.75 percent following a cut last month, as the fourth-largest economy in Asia showed small signs of recovering from a year-long slump. The bank had cut the rate by 25 basis points last month, the second policy easing in three months aimed at arresting a slowdown in the country’s export-driven economy caused by the global downturn. Last month’s exports grew 1.2 percent, after three months of contraction.
BANKING
Authorities probe HSBC bank
Tax authorities have launched a probe into HSBC over offshore accounts opened in Jersey by serious criminals living in the UK, the Daily Telegraph reported yesterday. The Revenue and Customs department opened the inquiry after a whistleblower handed them details of every British client holding an account with the banking giant in the low-tax Channel Island, according to the paper. The list is reported to include a convicted drug dealer, a man convicted of possessing hundreds of weapons and three bankers facing major fraud claims.
RETAIL
Groupon reports losses
Online discount deal broker Groupon came under fresh pressure on Thursday after reporting a loss of US$3 million in results that came up shy of most analyst forecasts for a small profit. Groupon shares tumbled 16 percent in after-hours trade to US$3.28. The company made its stock market debut at US$20 per share a year ago and peaked above US$31 dollars a share before analysts soured on the company’s prospects. Revenue increased 32 percent year-on-year to US$568.6 million in the third quarter, while gross billings increased 5 percent year-on-year to US$1.22 billion.
ENTERTAINMENT
Disney sees rise in income
The Walt Disney Co says its net income in the latest quarter rose 14 percent thanks to an uptick in revenue driven by higher consumer spending at its theme parks and on its cruise ships. Net income rose to US$1.24 billion, or US$0.68 per share, from US$1.09 billion, or US$0.58 per share, a year ago. One-time items offset each other, and the adjusted earnings of US$0.68 per share matched the expectations of analysts polled by FactSet. Revenue rose 3 percent to US$10.78 billion, slightly below the US$10.9 billion analysts expected.
SHIPPING
Maersk Line books profit
A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S said its container-shipping line, the world’s largest, returned to profit in the third quarter as freight rates rose. Maersk Line’s net income totaled 2.87 billion kroner (US$490 million) compared with a year-earlier loss of 1.53 billion kroner, the Copenhagen-based company said yesterday in a statement. The shipping operator yesterday kept a forecast of a “modest” profit for this year, while lowering an estimate for global container demand growth to 3 percent from 4 percent in August.
AVIATION
Iberia airline to cut jobs
Iberia is to shed 4,500 jobs in a bid to save Spain’s biggest airline from collapse, parent group International Airlines Group (IAG) announced yesterday. “A comprehensive plan to save Iberia after record losses and return it to profitability was announced today by International Airlines Group,” an official statement said. IAG announced a “reduction of 4,500 jobs to safeguard around 15,500 posts across the airline.”
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
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last