INVESTMENT
LSEG to grow margins
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) yesterday said operating margin for its information services division would rise, driven by revenue growth and cost savings from the integration of its FTSE and Russell benchmark businesses. The company, which owns Borsa Italiana, MillenniumIT and the London Stock Exchange, expects double-digit revenue growth annually over the next three years for FTSE Russell, UnaVista and the Stock Exchange Daily Official List. LSEG said last month it would sell Frank Russell Company’s asset management business to US private-equity firm TA Associates for gross proceeds of about US$1.15 billion. The company said at that time that the separation of the Russell Index business from Russell Investments was expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year, following which, the Russell Index would be integrated with the FTSE. Information services accounted for 27 percent of LSEG’s revenue for the year ended Dec. 31.
INSURANCE
Hiscox premiums surge
Hiscox, which underwrites a range of risks from oil refineries to kidnappings, said gross written premiums rose to US$2.31 billion in the nine months ended Sept. 30, from US$2.05 billion a year earlier The underwriter also said it benefited from good risk selection and a lack of storms, floods and hurricanes in the period. Based on early estimates, Hiscox said it expected net claims of US$10 million from the explosion in the Port of Tianjin in August, and that it had limited exposure to the Californian wildfires in September and the more recent South Carolina floods. Hiscox’s London Market increased gross written premiums by 16.9 percent in local currency to £453.4 million (US$683.33 million), while gross written premiums at Hiscox USA rose 17.1 percent to US$321.4 million.
INVESTMENT
Chinese stocks rise
Chinse stocks closed up yesterday, as investors welcomed Friday evening’s announcement by the securities regulator that initial public offerings would resume in the next several weeks. After a lull of more than three months and the market now up over 20 percent from its September low, regulators appear to have concluded that sentiment has recovered sufficiently to permit some additional supply of shares. The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose 1.2 percent, to 3,840.35, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.6 percent, to 3,646.88 points. Total turnover of A shares traded in Shanghai was 50.2 billion lots, while Shenzhen volume was 42.2 billion lots.
DEFENSE
India to build Apache
US aerospace group Boeing and India’s Tata Advanced Systems announced yesterday they are joining up to make airframe parts for the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. After initially building a manufacturing center in India for the Apache, they are to expand the partnership to compete for further work on Boeing commercial and defense platforms, they said in a statement released during the Dubai Air Show. The firms gave no financial details. “This partnership would capitalize on India’s industrial capability, innovation and talent to contribute to Boeing’s long-term competitiveness and position us for future growth in the global marketplace,” said Chris Chadwick, chief executive of Boeing Defense, Space & Security.
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
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six