BANKING
UBS swings to profit in Q4
Switzerland’s biggest bank, UBS AG, yesterday said it earned 917 million Swiss francs (US$1 billion) in the fourth quarter following a large loss a year earlier — helped by a strong performance from its investment bank unit and a tax gain. UBS lost SF1.9 billion in the final quarter of 2012, when its earnings were dragged down by litigation and restructuring charges. The bank said its fourth-quarter pre-tax operating profit came in at SF449 million, compared with a loss of SF1.84 billion a year earlier, thanks to an increase in fee and commission income largely at its investment bank unit. UBS also reported a net income tax benefit of SF470 million on deferred taxes. The bank’s full-year net profit totaled SF3.17 billion, compared with a loss of SF2.48 billion in 2012. UBS said it would propose a 67 percent dividend increase to SF0.25 per share.
ENERGY
BP slides into loss
BP PLC, the West’s No. 4 oil company, reported weaker quarterly profits after its refining business swung to a loss, and said it would increase the accounting provision for the 2010 US oil spill by US$200 million. The British company yesterday reported underlying replacement cost profit of US$2.8 billion for the fourth quarter, 37 percent lower than the same period a year ago, but ahead of a consensus forecast of US$2.7 billion. BP is struggling to grow profits amid rising costs, the expense of finding fresh reserves and weak refining margins. It is also dealing with the fallout from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill that killed 11 men and despoiled the surrounding coastline in the US’ worst offshore environmental disaster. BP said the provision to cover the spill’s cleanup, fines, compensation and legal costs had risen to US$42.7 billion from US$42.5 billion last year.
ELECTRONICS
Sharp back in the black
Japanese electronics maker Sharp yesterday said it swung back to profit for the nine months to December, thanks to stronger sales and cost cutting. The Osaka-based company booked a ¥17.7 billion (US$175 million) net profit in the April-December period, reversing a net loss of ¥424.3 billion a year earlier. Sales jumped 21 percent to ¥2.16 trillion on brisk demand for panels, including its popular “IGZO” displays for mobile phones. “We have also taken various measures on a company-wide basis to improve our business foundations, including radical reductions in total costs and fixed costs centering on labor costs as well as capital investment,” it said. Sharp revised up its full-year operating profit forecast to ¥100 billion from ¥80 billion, but left its annual net profit forecast unchanged at ¥5 billion.
SEMICONDUCTORS
ARM disappoints in Q4
UK chip designer ARM Holdings missed fourth-quarter expectations for royalty revenue from the use of its processors in smartphones because of slower growth in sales by Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co. The Cambridge-based company reported processor royalties of US$130.4 million, up 7 percent, but short of analyst forecasts of US$137.9 million. Fears that the top-end smartphone market may have reached saturation were reinforced last month when Apple and Samsung, both ARM customers, reported lower-than-expected sales of the iPhone 5S and Galaxy S4 phones in the holiday season. ARM said its royalties continued to grow faster than the broader chip market, but the degree of outperformance was affected by slower sales of high-end smartphone chips in the second half of the year.
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