INDIA
Industrial output slips
Industrial output slipped by a surprise 0.6 percent in December from a year earlier, data showed yesterday, dampening hopes that Asia’s third-largest economy could be on the upswing. The deterioration in the output of India’s factories, mines and utilities, undershot market expectations of a 0.8 percent rise in December, according to a Dow Jones Newswires poll. The weak official figures will deal another blow to the scandal-tainted government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has been keen to revive the economy with his Congress-led administration facing elections next year. Manufacturing output slipped 0.7 percent in December from the same month a year earlier, while mining production slid 4.0 percent.
OPTICS
Olympus cuts profit outlook
Olympus Corp, a Japanese camera and endoscope maker, cut its outlook for profit after booking an impairment loss at its imaging division and said it will announce new plans for its camera business in coming months. Net income will probably be ¥6 billion (US$64 million) in the 12 months ending March 31, compared with the previous forecast for ¥8 billion, according to a statement from the Tokyo-based company yesterday. Sales will be ¥740 billion, compared with a previous projection for ¥757 billion. The company aims to have a reorganization plan ready for its camera business by the time it announces earnings for the year ending March 31, senior executive director Yasuo Takeuchi said. Olympus expects to lose about ¥16 billion this fiscal year at its camera business, double the ¥8 billion target set in November, according to the statement. Olympus cut its full-year sales target for cameras to ¥110 billion from the ¥129 billion estimate made in November, according to the statement.
CONSUMER GOODS
Colgate expects bolivar hit
US giant Colgate-Palmolive said on Monday it would take a significant loss in the current quarter from Venezuela’s 32 percent currency devaluation announced last week. The company said that in a preliminary assessment of the impact of the devaluation of the bolivar, it would take a one-time after-tax loss of US$120 million, or US$0.25 per share, in this year’s first quarter, “related to the re-measurement of the local balance sheet at the date of the devaluation.” There would also be an ongoing impact of US$0.05 to US$0.07 a share each quarter this year related to adjusting local Venezuela financial statements to the new currency regime, Colgate said. However, it added: “The devaluation will not have any impact on the company’s 2012 results of operations or financial position.”
TIRES
Michelin drives up profits
Tire maker Michelin says its profits rose 7.5 percent last year despite a struggling car market in Europe, and expects to keep up volumes this year. Michelin SA said in a statement yesterday that it was helped by growth in emerging markets and high margins on specialty tires. Michelin reported 21.47 billion euros (US$28.75 billion) in sales, up 5.8 percent from 20.72 billion euros in 2011, but slightly below forecasts of 21.62 billion euros by analysts surveyed by FactSet. The company, based in Clermont-Ferrand in central France, said last year’s profits were 1.57 billion euros, up from 1.46 billion euros the year before. Michelin says it expects to “hold volumes steady this year, in a market environment that is uncertain in mature markets, but still expanding in the new ones.”
RETAIL
AmEx starts Twitter sales
American Express on Monday began letting users of its payment cards make purchases with messages fired off at Twitter as the popular social network dabbles with making money from e-commerce. American Express announced that members who synchronize their cards with Twitter can take advantage of offers “tweeted” by the financial services company. American Express will promote products in messages fired off at Twitter. Card holders buy items by tweeting indicated hashtags, with their accounts being charged accordingly. Depending on the offers, products will be shipped to buyers or picked up in shops.
COSMETICS
New markets boost L’Oreal
French cosmetics giant L’Oreal said on Monday its net profit rose by 17.6 percent last year to 2.87 billion euros (US$3.8 billion) and that it expects to top the performance this year. Sales rose by 10.4 percent to 22.46 billion euros, or a 6.2 percent gain taking currency fluctuations into account. Chief executive Jean-Paul Agon said: “2012 also marked a milestone in the acceleration of the Group’s internationalization, as the ‘New Markets’ became the No. 1 geographic zone.” This includes the Asia-Pacific region, where sales rose by 9.6 percent on a like-for-like basis and 18.4 percent on a reported basis. Latin American sales rose by 8.7 percent on a reported basis, and by 17.6 percent in Africa and the Middle East.
STEEL
ThyssenKrupp earnings fall
ThyssenKrupp AG, Germany’s biggest steelmaker, reported adjusted earnings for the first fiscal quarter that fell 38 percent as the economic slowdown eroded demand. Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes fell to 229 million euros (US$307 million) from 372 million a year earlier, the Essen, Germany-based company said yesterday in a statement. Sales for the quarter ended Dec. 31 fell 7.9 percent to 8.84 billion euros. “We cannot be satisfied with the Group’s current earning power,” chief executive officer Heinrich Hiesinger said in the statement. The company intends to save 500 million euros by reorganizing its European steel business and cutting more than 2,000 jobs.
BAKERY PRODUCTS
Hostess auctions approved
Hostess Brands Inc won bankruptcy court approval to hold auctions for brands including Wonder Bread, Twinkies and Drake. US Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in White Plains, New York, on Monday approved Flowers Foods Inc, McKee Foods Corp, United States Bakery Inc, Apollo Global Management LLC and C. Dean Metropoulos & Co as so-called stalking-horse, or lead, bidders for most of Hostess’ cake and bread brands, setting the thresholds other suitors will have to exceed. A sale hearing, to approve the highest and best bids, is set for March 19.
INDONESIA
Key rate held for 12th month
The central bank yesterday kept its key interest rate steady at 5.75 percent for the 12th straight month as it looks to boost growth in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. Inflation hit a four-year high on a monthly basis last month at 1.03 percent, from 0.54 percent in December as food prices soared following seasonal flooding. Bank Indonesia spokesman Difi Johansyah said there were risk factors that could increase inflationary pressure, “such as weather that could disrupt food production and distribution.” The bank expects inflation to remain in check, however, between 3.5 and 5.5 percent until 2014.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to