RETAIL
India approves IKEA plan
The Indian government on Thursday approved a plan worth almost US$2 billion by Swedish furniture giant IKEA to open stores in India for the first time, officials said. IKEA’s plan to invest in India was approved in a Cabinet meeting headed by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, officials said. The Swedish firm, which submitted its application in June last year, hopes to open 25 stores in India through a 100 percent owned unit called Ingka Holding. It comes as part of a wider push into emerging markets, such as China and Russia.
INTERNET
LinkedIn continues streak
LinkedIn Corp continued its uninterrupted streak of beating analysts’ expectations with its quarterly results on Thursday as earnings and revenue soared. LinkedIn earned US$22.6 million, or US$0.20 per share, in the first quarter. That is up from US$5 million, or US$0.04 per share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue grew 72 percent to US$324.7 million from US$188.5 million. The company said it expects revenue between YS$342 million and US$347 million for the period from last month to next month. For the full year, LinkedIn expects revenue of between US$1.43 billion and US$1.46 billion, an increase of its previous guidance range by US$20 million.
RETAIL
Adidas beats estimates
Adidas AG reported a first-quarter profit that beat estimates and said its gross margin widened to a record, sending the shares to the highest level ever. Net income climbed 6.5 percent to 308 million euros (US$403 million), the Herzogenaurach, Germany-based sporting-goods maker said yesterday, exceeding the 298.5 million-euro average estimate of 15 analysts in a survey.
AVIATION
Airline reports sharp losses
Air France-KLM said its losses mounted sharply in the first quarter compared to a year earlier, when earnings were boosted by a gain in the value of oil price hedging contracts the airline uses to manage its fuel costs. Air France-KLM says it lost 630 million euros in the January-March quarter, compared to a loss of 379 million euros a year earlier. Last year’s result benefited from a 220 million euros gain on the airline’s hedging contracts. The airline, in the midst of a three-year turnaround plan, says it is hoping to strengthen its position by paying down debt and reducing staff costs further.
INDUSTRY
Siemens bearish on forecast
German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG warned on Thursday that its forecast for this year be at the “low-end” of what it had anticipated because of numerous one-off charges and restructuring costs, despite posting a rise in second-quarter net income. Charges related to the program are estimated to come in at 900 million euros for this year — lowering the company’s bottom line this year, the company said. Siemens had predicted income from continuing operations at between 4.5 billion euros and 5 billion euros, but now says it expects income “to approach the low end of our original expectation.”
AUTOMAKERS
GM reports drop in profits
General Motors Co (GM) on Thursday reported a 13.8 percent drop in first-quarter profit largely due to weakness in North America, but pared losses in recession-riddled Europe. GM reported net income of US$865 million in the quarter to March 31, down from US$1.0 billion a year earlier.
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