FINANCE
Shares soar on new rules
Shares of India’s gold-based finance companies soared yesterday after the central bank eased rules on amounts they could loan in return for gold deposits. The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday allowed non-banking finance companies to lend up to 75 percent of the value of gold jewelry deposited with them, up from 60 percent. Manappuram Finance shares jumped 19.8 percent to a day’s high of 18.15 rupees and rival Muthoot Finance rose as much as 19.98 percent to 129.10 rupees on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The central bank said its easing of the rules was done “in view of the moderation in the growth of gold loan portfolios of these firms in the recent past.”
CREDIT CARDS
AmEx to appeal settlement
American Express Co (AmEx) said it is appealing a federal judge’s order approving Visa Inc and MasterCard Inc’s US$5.7 billion settlement that ended years of litigation with US merchants over allegations that credit-card fees are improperly fixed. American Express, in a filing yesterday in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, joined retailers and trade associations — including Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Amazon.com Inc, 7-Eleven Inc and Barnes & Noble Inc — that have already filed notices that they would appeal the decision. US District Judge John Gleeson approved the accord on Dec. 13, saying he was satisfied with the settlement, which was estimated to be the largest-ever US antitrust accord.
AUTOMAKERS
Wanxiang raises Fisker bid
Chinese auto parts conglomerate Wanxiang Group Corp (萬向集團) has increased its offer for Fisker Automotive, heating up the fight for the failed electric-vehicle maker. Wanxiang sweetened its bid with an additional US$10 million in cash. An attorney for Fisker’s official committee of unsecured creditors told a Delaware bankruptcy judge on Wednesday that Wanxiang may increase its offer even more if the judge approves a competitive auction for Fisker. “They have told us they have considerable room to go,” attorney William Baldiga said. However, Fisker wants the judge to approve a private sale to Hybrid Technology LLC, which is owned by Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li (李澤楷).
BOOKSTORES
New CEO at struggling chain
Barnes & Noble Inc has promoted Michael Huseby, who has served as its chief financial officer and president, to chief executive officer as the chain struggles to retain customers increasingly shifting to digital books. Huseby also has been elected to the board, the New York-based company said on Wednesday in a statement. Barnes & Noble, which has more than 670 stores, has been heavily investing in its Nook digital unit to gain a foothold in electronic books. After some initial success with its Nook e-readers and tablets, the division’s sales slumped during the Christmas holidays in 2012 and have not recovered.
AIRLINES
Qantas debt now ‘junk’
Embattled Australian carrier Qantas faces a further increase in its borrowing costs after Moody’s downgraded its credit rating to “junk” status yesterday, just weeks after Standard and Poor’s took the same action. Moody’s cited “a sharp deterioration in the company’s core domestic business” following the airline issuing a shock profit warning and slashing jobs last month. In cutting Qantas’ rating to “Ba2,” or junk status, from “Baa3,” Moody’s senior vice president Ian Lewis blamed competition from rival Virgin Australia.
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
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
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