AUTOMAKERS
Nissan profit beats forecasts
Nissan Motor Co yesterday reported profit that beat analysts’ estimate as deliveries rose in China and the US, its two biggest markets. Net income rose 37 percent to ¥112.1 billion (US$1.1 billion) in the April-June quarter, beating the ¥84.3 billion average of 14 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg, the Yokohama-based automaker said. The company maintained its profit forecast. The profit increase may signal CEO Carlos Ghosn is gaining traction after making dozens of executive changes in November to improve execution and cut incentives in the US.
ENERGY
Reliance to buy three plants
India’s Reliance Power is to buy three hydropower plants from Jaiprakash Power Ventures for an undisclosed sum to cut its dependence on coal, the firm said yesterday. The deal will make Reliance Power — controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani — the largest private provider of hydroelectric power in India, the firm’s statement said. Reliance has signed a memorandum of understanding to buy the three plants, the entire hydropower business of Jaiprakash, which is part of the Delhi-based conglomerate the Jaypee Group. The plants will produce nearly 1,800 megawatts of clean energy for Reliance Power. The companies did not disclose details of the deal.
AIRLINES
Ryanair raises profit target
Irish low-fare airline Ryanair, which hit a weak patch last year, reported a strong recovery, but downward pressures on fares, in a quarterly results statement yesterday. The airline raised its first-quarter net profit by one and a half times and raised its forecast for the whole year, forecasting rising passenger numbers and falling costs. Ryanair lifted its profit guidance for the whole of its year running from April to 620 million euros to 650 million euros (US$833 million to US$873 million), it said in a results statement. That compared with the previous forecast range of 580 million euros to 620 million euros that was given in May. If realized, the forecast for the whole year represents a jump of more than a fifth on last year’s earnings after tax.
INTERNET
Spending leaves Sohu in red
Sohu.com Inc (搜狐), operator of a popular Chinese Internet portal, yesterday said it lost US$45 million in the latest quarter, while revenue rose 18 percent to US$400 million. The loss for the three months ended June 30 compared with a US$69 million loss in the previous quarter and an operating profit of US$64 million in the same period last year. Sohu chairman Charles Zhang (張朝陽) said in a statement that the firm’s Sogou search engine and browser unit achieved profitability faster than expected, but operating expenses rose 82 percent over a year earlier to US$292 million due to an increase in spending on marketing and a bigger work force.
ECONOMY
World Bank aids DR Congo
The World Bank has announced a US$100 million donation to boost the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s agriculture sector and another US$100 million for micro-dams to bolster rural electricity access. World Bank vice president Makhtar Diop made the announcement at a press conference on Sunday alongside Congolese Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo. The announcement came at the close of a three-day visit during which Diop visited the construction site for the Inga III dam, a massive hydropower project. The World Bank granted US$73.1 million to build the dam in March.
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
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
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