TRADE
China exports recover
China’s trade rebounded last month from the previous month’s surprise contraction, but imports were subdued in another sign of an economic slowdown. Customs data yesterday showed exports rose 0.9 percent, recovering from March’s 6.6 percent decline. Imports rose 0.8 percent, up from the previous month’s 11.3 percent decline. Official data show total exports and imports down 0.5 percent so far this year. China’s trade surplus narrowed by 1 percent from a year earlier to US$18.4 billion last month.
BANKING
Barclays to cut 14,000 jobs
Barclays PLC yesterday said it would axe 7,000 jobs at its struggling investment bank unit and sell or run down about £115 billion (US$195 billion) of non-core assets, in a major strategic shake-up. The bank also said the overall number of job cuts planned for this year had risen to 14,000. Barclays had originally said that up to 12,000 jobs would be lost worldwide this year out of a total workforce of about 139,000. The bank said that the 7,000 investment banking jobs would go by 2016.
ENERGY
Toshiba eyeing Alstom unit
Toshiba Corp will offer to buy Alstom’s power-grid business from General Electric Co, if the US firm completes a US$17 billion bid for a chunk of the French conglomerate, Japan’s Nikkei Shimbun reported yesterday. Alstom SA, which builds power stations and electricity generating equipment as well as the French TGV high-speed train, is mulling a bid from General Electric for its energy unit and a rival offer by German group Siemens AG. The division includes fossil-fuel-fired power plants, renewable energy and power grid equipment.
INVESTMENT
GIC buys Netshoes stake
Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC has bought a stake in Brazilian online sports goods retailer Netshoes in a further diversification of its vast global portfolio. GIC said in a statement that it led a new round of investment in Netshoes of US$170 million, along with other investors, including Singapore state investment arm Temasek Holdings, Tiger Global Management, Iconiq Capital and Kaszek Ventures. It did not give a breakdown of the investment in Netshoes, which has a network in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.
MINING
Queensland okays Adani bid
An Australian state government yesterday approved a massive A$16.5 billion (US$15.5 billion) mine development, saying the Indian-backed coal mine could be among the largest in the world. Indian firm Adani Enterprises Ltd’s proposed Carmichael coal mine and rail project in Queensland is subject to dozens of environmental and social conditions and is yet to receive the federal government green light. Queensland Minister for State Development Jeff Seeney said if it were to go ahead, the development would play a major role in opening up the state’s resource-rich Galilee Basin.
AUTOMAKERS
Toyota profit nearly doubles
Toyota Motor Corp yesterday posted a record annual net profit of US$17.9 billion, as the world’s biggest automaker saw a recovery in major markets and got a boost from a weaker yen. The Japanese giant said it earned ¥1.82 trillion over the fiscal year to March, nearly doubling from a year earlier, as sales rose 16.4 percent to ¥25.69 trillion. Operating income also jumped to ¥2.29 trillion, from ¥1.32 trillion, during the period, it said.
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