BITCOIN
Mt. Gox to be liquidated
Failed bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox has given up its plan to rebuild under bankruptcy protection and has asked a Tokyo court that it be liquidated, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. Reasons for the decision are the complexity of the procedures involved, including the difficulty of holding meetings with creditors spread around the world, the report said, citing “people familiar with the situation.”
BEVERAGES
Coca-Cola soda sales fall
Coca-Cola Co, the world’s biggest beverage maker, said on Tuesday that the amount of soda it sold globally fell for the first time in 15 years. The drop in the first quarter was offset by stronger sales of its non-carbonated drinks that include Minute Maid, Powerade and Dasani bottled water. Overall volume rose 2 percent, an improvement from the 1 percent increase the previous quarter. However, the 1 percent decline in global soda volume is notable for Coca-Cola: The last time the figure fell was in 1999, according to the company.
MINING
BHP Billiton raises outlook
Global giant BHP Billiton raised its fiscal year iron-ore production outlook for a second time this year yesterday after seeing a better-than-expected jump in output in the first quarter of the year. The world’s biggest mining company increased its guidance for production this year until June to 217 tonnes, up from the 212 tonnes previously forecast. That comes despite concerns about the strength of the economy in China, the No. 1 buyer of ore. It said production in the first quarter rose 23 percent year-on-year to 49.6 million tonnes.
BRAZIL
Minister eyes GDP growth
The nation’s economy is forecast to expand by 3 percent next year, picking up briskly after years of stagnant growth, a top government economist said on Tuesday. Brazilian Minister of Planning Miriam Belchior said in a report presented to the national legislature that inflation for Latin America’s biggest economy was expected to be 5 percent next year. Last year, GDP grew a modest 2.3 percent for a third consecutive year, compared with a torrid pace of 7.5 percent in 2010.
BANKING
Bond woes hit Credit Suisse
Swiss giant Credit Suisse said its net profit fell 34 percent in the first quarter as bond-market woes hurt earnings at its investment banking business. Profit fell to 859 million Swiss francs (US$979 million) from SF1.303 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Group core revenues fell 8 percent to SF6.469 billion. Income before taxes rose 15 percent to SF1.102 billion. The bank said yesterday it saw lower revenues and earnings at its investment banking division, which faced “a challenging market environment.”
LUXURY GOODS
Burberry revenue up 19%
British group Burberry PLC said strong sales in China and South Korea helped it to a 19 percent rise in second-half revenue, but that it expected currency headwinds to hit profits in the next two years. The firm, which sells trench coats and leather goods emblazoned with its distinctive camel, red and black check pattern, said yesterday total revenue for the six months to March 31 was £1.3 billion (US$2.2 billion), broadly in line with analysts’ forecasts.
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained