RETAIL
Asia luxury sales fall
Cartier watch maker Richemont SA said sales growth had ground to a halt in the Asia-Pacific region, rekindling fears about a market which has been the driving force of luxury sales in recent years. Shares in the world’s second-biggest luxury goods company fell more than 6 percent yesterday in early trading after it posted a smaller-than-expected rise in fourth-quarter sales. Other luxury stocks, which have been rallying since the start of the year on hopes that demand in China was recovering, were also dragged lower, including world No. 1 luxury firm LVMH Moet Hennessy, Louis Vuitton SA and watchmaker Swatch Group AG. “At this stage, it is unclear how business patterns may develop and how the business in the Asia-Pacific region will evolve in the near future,” Richemont said in a statement.
PETROCHEMICAL
BASF, Petronas axe venture
BASF AG, the world’s biggest chemicals maker, and Malaysia oil and gas giant Petronas yesterday announced they were terminating plans to set up a specialty chemicals joint venture in Malaysia. The two companies had signed a proposal in March last year to develop, construct and operate production facilities for a host of specialty chemical products in Pengerang. However, “following negotiations, Petronas and BASF concluded that it would be in their mutual interest to terminate the agreement as both parties were unable to come to an agreement on the terms and conditions for the implementation of the proposed venture,” the two said in a joint statement. The statement said that both companies nevertheless remained committed to continuing their existing long-term partnership.
RETAIL
Zelnik mulls Virgin buyout
Patrick Zelnik, the owner of French music label Naive Records, is considering an offer to buy retailer Virgin Megastore France, which is undergoing a court-ordered restructuring, newspaper Les Echos reported yesterday. The news comes as British media are reporting that restructuring specialist Hilco is the front-runner in the battle to save music retailer HMV Group from administration, with music labels and film studios also preparing a rescue package. Zelnik, who co-founded the first books-to-music Virgin Megastore in Paris in 1988 with British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, told Les Echos he would submit an offer “within two to three weeks.” Zelnik hopes to get backing for his offer from the French authorities, including sovereign wealth fund FSI.
PUBLISHING
Pearson gives grim outlook
British education and media group Pearson warned it expected tough market conditions to continue this year after weak trading in its key fourth-quarter selling season hit last year’s earnings. The Financial Times newspaper and Penguin books publisher said it now expects to report on Feb. 25 adjusted earnings per share of about £0.84 for last year, below the £0.849 it had said it expected in October last year, due to restrained government funding on education in developed markets and weak advertising. The result was already expected to be down from the previous year’s earnings of £0.865 a share due to the sale last year of its 50 percent stake in the FTSE International market indeces business to the London Stock Exchange, which it said contributed £0.22 a share to earnings in 2011. Shares in the group were down 3 percent at £1.202 by 9:03am, back to the level they were trading at at the start of the year following a jump last week.
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