BANKING
UBS reports no trading loss
UBS Group AG, Switzerland’s biggest bank, said its trading businesses did not suffer a loss in the market turmoil that erupted when the Swiss National Bank surprisingly scrapped its limit on the franc. “In aggregate, UBS did not experience negative revenues in its trading businesses in connection with the announcement,” the bank said in a statement yesterday. It said it would provide further information on its outlook for the first quarter when it releases fourth-quarter results next month.
GAMING
Galaxy expanding in Macau
Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd (銀河娛樂集團), the casino operator controlled by billionaire Lui Che-woo (呂志和), plans to spend about HK$57 billion (US$7.4 billion) more to expand in Macau and will recreate New York’s Broadway theater to woo more visitors. The company will add a 3,000-seat entertainment theater in Macau, Lui said yesterday at a press conference in Hong Kong. Galaxy has committed HK$100 billion to Macau’s Cotai strip, with a part of it already invested.
RESORTS
France clears Club Med sale
French regulators on Thursday cleared the way for Chinese conglomerate Fosun International Ltd (復星國際) to buy the holiday resorts group Club Med for about 939 million euros (just more than US$1 billion) and set Feb. 9 as the closing date for the offer. The Financial Markets Authority said that stock market operator Euronext Paris “will make known, in an announcement, the conditions for completing [the deal] and a detailed calendar.”
CONGLOMERATES
Sony may delay profit report
Sony Corp yesterday said it was asking Japanese regulators for permission to delay the release of its earnings next month after a cyberattack at its Hollywood film unit compromised “a large amount of data” on its systems. The Japanese firm said its US-based Sony Pictures Entertainment subsidiary will not have time to put together its financial statements owing to the attack linked to its controversial movie The Interview.
SPORTING GOODS
Adidas meets targets
Adidas yesterday said it met its targets for last year, but earnings were hit by special factors such as the falling ruble and the sale of its Rockport brand. Full-year sales grew 2 percent to 14.8 billion euros (US$16.7 billion) last year, and net profit “reached the earnings target of around 650 million euros,” the German company said. Adidas said these were 80 million euros in writedowns on its Russian business “as a result of the significant deterioration of the Russian ruble.” In addition, the sale of its Rockport brand would hit profits by a “double-digit million euro amount” or tens of millions euros, it said.
RETAIL
Starbucks profit jumps 82%
Starbucks Corp’s fiscal first-quarter earnings soared 82 percent as the coffee chain attracted more customers who snapped up an expanded offerings of food and drinks over the holidays. Starbucks said it earned US$983.1 million in the quarter ended Dec. 28, or US$1.30 per share. That compared with US$540.7 million or US$0.71 per share, a year earlier. The coffee chain posted revenue of US$4.8 billion in the period, beating consensus forecasts. Analysts expected US$4.79 billion, according to Zacks Investment Research.
JITTERS: Nexperia has a 20 percent market share for chips powering simpler features such as window controls, and changing supply chains could take years European carmakers are looking into ways to scratch components made with parts from China, spooked by deepening geopolitical spats playing out through chipmaker Nexperia BV and Beijing’s export controls on rare earths. To protect operations from trade ructions, several automakers are pushing major suppliers to find permanent alternatives to Chinese semiconductors, people familiar with the matter said. The industry is considering broader changes to its supply chain to adapt to shifting geopolitics, Europe’s main suppliers lobby CLEPA head Matthias Zink said. “We had some indications already — questions like: ‘How can you supply me without this dependency on China?’” Zink, who also
The number of Taiwanese working in the US rose to a record high of 137,000 last year, driven largely by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) rapid overseas expansion, according to government data released yesterday. A total of 666,000 Taiwanese nationals were employed abroad last year, an increase of 45,000 from 2023 and the highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic, data from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed. Overseas employment had steadily increased between 2009 and 2019, peaking at 739,000, before plunging to 319,000 in 2021 amid US-China trade tensions, global supply chain shifts, reshoring by Taiwanese companies and
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) received about NT$147 billion (US$4.71 billion) in subsidies from the US, Japanese, German and Chinese governments over the past two years for its global expansion. Financial data compiled by the world’s largest contract chipmaker showed the company secured NT$4.77 billion in subsidies from the governments in the third quarter, bringing the total for the first three quarters of the year to about NT$71.9 billion. Along with the NT$75.16 billion in financial aid TSMC received last year, the chipmaker obtained NT$147 billion in subsidies in almost two years, the data showed. The subsidies received by its subsidiaries —
At least US$50 million for the freedom of an Emirati sheikh: That is the king’s ransom paid two weeks ago to militants linked to al-Qaeda who are pushing to topple the Malian government and impose Islamic law. Alongside a crippling fuel blockade, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) has made kidnapping wealthy foreigners for a ransom a pillar of its strategy of “economic jihad.” Its goal: Oust the junta, which has struggled to contain Mali’s decade-long insurgency since taking power following back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, by scaring away investors and paralyzing the west African country’s economy.
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