ENERGY
Rosneft seeks Chinese loan
Rosneft is seeking to borrow up to US$30 billion from China in exchange for possibly doubling oil supplies, making Beijing the largest consumer of Russian oil and further diverting supplies away from Europe. Industry sources familiar with the situation said Rosneft was in talks with China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC, 中國石油天然氣), about the borrowing, which would echo a US$25 billion deal the companies clinched last decade. Rosneft said it was not currently in talks about obtaining a loan from China, but declined to comment when asked whether it may enter in negotiations at a later date. Rosneft wants to borrow money as it is close to completing a US$55 billion acquisition of rival TNK-BP to become the world’s largest listed oil producer. Russia’s leading oil company is considering ultimately doubling supplies to China, sources said.
FOOD
Nestle’s sales growth slows
Nestle SA, the world’s largest food company, reported the slowest sales growth in three years on decelerating revenue growth in emerging markets and weak consumption in Europe. Revenue advanced 5.9 percent excluding acquisitions, disposals and currency shifts, the Vevey, Switzerland-based company said yesterday. That was less than the 6 percent average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Sales advanced 8.4 percent on a so-called organic basis in the Asia, Oceania and Africa region in the full year, slowing from the 9.4 percent pace in the first nine months. Analysts had expected a rebound after Nestle said in October last year that the third quarter was weighed down by one-time factors and business disruptions that would not repeat. Net income rose 12 percent to 10.61 billion Swiss francs (US$12 billion), more than the SF10.4 billion average estimate.
AVIATION
France, India talk plane deal
India and France are speeding up negotiations on a US$10 billion deal for 126 Rafale aircraft following months of delays because of disagreements over the cost of building them in India, two Indian Defense Ministry officials said. India started exclusive talks with French Dassault Aviation’s Rafale for a 126-plane order in January last year, over the competing Eurofighter Typhoon. The two sides still have to sign a final contract. The talks have progressed slowly because of differences about how to price technology transfer, sourcing of spares and the selection of an Indian partner, the officials said.
BANKING
BNP Paribas posts Q4 drop
BNP Paribas SA, France’s largest bank, posted a 33 percent decline in fourth-quarter profit on a goodwill writedown at its Italian branch network and an accounting charge tied to its own debt. Net income was 514 million euros (US$691 million), compared with 765 million euros a year earlier, the Paris-based bank said in a statement yesterday. The lender plans to increase its dividend to 1.50 euros a share from 1.20 euros a year earlier. BNP Paribas booked 345 million euros of impairments, including a 298 million euro goodwill writedown at its Rome-based Banca Nazionale del Lavoro unit. The bank announced plans to reduce its annual cost base by 2 billion euros by 2015, while also hiring 1,300 staff at its corporate- and investment-banking and money management units in Asia over the next three years. “We are in a process to invest a lot to modernize the group and to improve the efficiency quite dramatically,” chief executive Jean-Laurent Bonnafe said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six