MINING
BHP Billiton’s profit plunges
Global mining giant BHP Billiton yesterday said its first-half net profit almost halved to US$4.26 billion on the back of collapsing commodity prices as it reiterated a plan to demerge non-core assets. The 47.4 percent slump in the six months to Dec. 31 last year compared with US$8.1 billion in the previous corresponding period, with revenues dropping 11.9 percent to US$29.9 billion. Underlying earnings — which exclude one-off writedowns — were down 31 percent to US$5.35 billion, slightly better than analyst expectations. The world’s biggest miner has been hard hit by falling prices for its two main commodities, iron ore and oil, with a 23 percent reduction in capital and exploration expenditure helping offset some of the damage. However, the company boosted its interim dividend by 5.1 percent to US$0.62.
MANUFACTURING
Hitachi buys Italian firms
Hitachi Ltd agreed to buy Finmeccanica SpA’s rail business and a signals affiliate in its largest overseas acquisition as it seeks growth abroad. The Japanese industrial group, which makes nuclear power equipment, rail systems and industrial machinery will pay 773 million euros (US$876 million) in the deal for Ansaldo STS SpA and 36 million euros for AnsaldoBreda SpA, the companies said in a joint statement. Rome-based Finmeccanica said in November that it received an offer from Hitachi. The Japanese firm has sought to expand overseas as Japan’s population declines and most nuclear power plants in the country remain shut after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami led to radiation leaks at a facility on the northeast coast. Finmeccanica chief executive officer Mauro Moretti is selling the rail unit to focus on faster-growing helicopter, aerospace and defense electronics businesses.
TAXES
Jakarta warns tax evaders
Jakarta will crack down on corporate tax avoidance via transfer pricing this year to try and recoup 200 trillion rupiah (US$15.6 billion) in lost state income, mainly in the commodities sector, Indonesian Director-General of Taxes Sigit Priadi Pramudito said late on Monday. The government is planning to double its infrastructure spending this year to build ports, power plants and other projects, and the tax office figure for lost income would cover more than two-thirds of that spending. As a proportion of GDP, Indonesia has one of the lowest tax takes in the region, trailing behind Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, according to the World Bank. Sigit said that many Indonesian companies, particularly in the coal, palm oil, cocoa and other commodities sectors, were avoiding corporate taxes by using transfer pricing.
LABOR
Key union reaches deal
Germany’s powerful metalworkers’ union, IG Metall, yesterday said that it has reached agreement with management for a 3.4 percent wage increase, in a deal expected to benefit 4 million workers in the sector. The deal, which applies to workers in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, but is expected to be adopted for the whole country, came after hours of talks and was welcomed by IG Metall as “an important step.” The union had been demanding pay increases of 5.5 percent for workers in the electronics sector, the auto industry, household electrical goods, semi-conductors and other industries. Its pay deals are used as a benchmark for much of the nation’s industry.
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
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