CHINA
Fashion boss disappears
The chairman of one of China’s most prominent fashion firms, Metersbonwe (美特斯邦威), has disappeared, the company said yesterday. Metersbonwe could reach neither Zhou Chengjian (周成建), ranked China’s 62nd-richest man last year by wealth publisher Hurun, nor the secretary of the board, it said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Trading in its shares would remain suspended “to protect investors’ interests,” the company said. Without citing a source, the Qianjiang Evening News said Zhou might have been detained in connection with an insider trading case. Hurun estimated Zhou’s net worth at US$4.1 billion.
GERMANY
Industrial production slips
Industrial production decreased by 0.3 percent in November from a month earlier, weighed down by falling activity in the manufacturing sector, the economy ministry said yesterday. Manufacturing output was down by 0.8 percent month-on-month, while construction output increased by 1.6 percent and energy output was up 2.5 percent, the ministry said. Other data released showed that exports inched up by a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent to 99.3 billion euros (US$108 billion) in November. Imports grew more strongly, rising by 1.6 percent to 79.6 billion euros, meaning that the trade surplus fell to 19.7 billion euros in November from 20.5 billion euros in October.
UNITED STATES
Time Warner suspects hack
Time Warner Cable Inc on Thursday said the e-mail addresses and passwords of about 320,000 of its customers in the US might have been stolen by hackers. The company was told by the FBI about the possible compromise and has yet to determine how the information was stolen. However, the company said there is no evidence of a breach of the Time Warner Cable systems that operate customer e-mail accounts. The company said it is likely that the e-mails and passwords were previously stolen either through malware downloaded during phishing attacks, or indirectly through data breaches of other companies that stored the company’s customer information.
INVESTMENT
Noble downgraded to junk
Embattled trader Noble Group Ltd saw its credit rating downgraded to junk status by the Standard & Poor’s ratings agency on Thursday, citing the Hong Kong-based firm’s weakening “liquidity position.” Noble’s long-term corporate credit rating was lowered to “BB+” from “BBB-,” the ratings agency said, adding that the current depressed commodities markets and heightened risk aversion by lenders could complicate the company’s fund raising plans for the next few months. S&P’s move followed a similar move by Moody’s Investors Service in late last month.
RETAIL
Gap sales fall 5 percent
Gap Inc’s slump continued through the holiday season. The San Francisco-based retailer, which operates stores under its own brand, as well as Banana Republic and Old Navy, said on Thursday that a key sales measure fell 5 percent for the five-week period ending on Saturday last week. The decline was worse than the 3.5 percent drop analysts expected, on average. The company’s total revenue dropped 4 percent to US$2.01 billion for the five-week period. Gap’s shares dropped more than 8 percent in after-hours trading to US$24.52. Shares have been down nearly 40 percent for the past 12 months.
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