EUROZONE
IMF confident on Greece
The IMF estimated on Friday that Greece faced a financing gap of between 5.5 billion and 9.5 billion euros (US$7.3 billion and US$12.7 billion) for 2015 and 2016 and said it had assurances from Europe it would deliver the aid in the final years of the bailout. It was the first time the IMF had estimated a range of possible financing needs for Greece’s international bailout program beyond 2014. The European Commission said in December last year that the money needed for Greece over the two-year period encompassing 2015 and 2016 would amount to 5.6 billion euros. IMF mission chief for Greece Poul Thomsen said the Greek program was fully financed “well into 2014,” although it was too early to say whether more funds would be needed at the start of 2015 or toward the end of 2014.
FINANCE
Morgan Stanley revenue up
Morgan Stanley, the top global equity underwriter last year, reported earnings that beat analysts’ forecasts as revenue from the retail brokerage climbed. Fourth-quarter profit was US$507 million, or US$0.25 a share, compared with a loss of US$250 million, or US$0.15, a year earlier, the New York-based company said on Friday in a statement. Excluding accounting charges tied to the firm’s own debt, profit was US$0.45 a share, beating the US$0.27 average estimate of 24 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Chief executive officer James Gorman, 54, is grappling with higher capital requirements and the firm’s failure to post revenue growth in the first nine months of last year. His plan to reduce costs through job cuts and pay deferrals helped fuel a 28 percent jump in the stock price.
APPLIANCES
GE’s revenue rises 4%
General Electric Co (GE) reported an operating profit per share of US$0.44, US$0.01 higher than analysts polled by FactSet expected. The firm’s revenue rose 4 percent to US$39.3 billion and beat Wall Street expectations. Chief executive officer Jeff Immelt said the outlook for developed markets remained uncertain. However, China and other emerging markets, along with regions that are exploiting natural resources, are growing. GE also improved its cash flow and in turn gave some cash back to shareholders. It repurchased US$2.1 billion in stock in the quarter and US$5.2 billion for the year, while boosting the quarterly dividend 12 percent to US$0.19 per share.
MEDIA
Disney CEO’s pay up 18%
Walt Disney Co chief executive officer Bob Iger’s pay package got an 18 percent boost last year to US$37.1 million as the company posted record revenue, net income and earnings per share. Disney also cited Iger’s leadership in the US$4.06 billion acquisition of Lucasfilm, along with the launch of theme park additions, cruise ships and the expansion of the Disney Channel overseas. Iger saw the biggest jump in pay from the value of new stock option awards, which hit US$7.8 million last year, up from US$4.8 million in 2011, according to a regulatory filing on Friday. Stock award grants valued at US$9.5 million were above the US$8.1 million he received a year earlier. He also received incentive pay of US$16.5 million, up from US$15.5 million, while his salary rose to US$2.5 million from US$2 million. Compensation for security and personal air travel was US$800,700.
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
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day