CONSTRUCTION
Arabtec loses US$600m
The Dubai construction company that helped build the Burj Khalifa and many other buildings in the United Arab Emirates said it lost more than US$600 million last year as building slowed amid a slump in oil prices. Arabtec Holding’s preliminary results released on Sunday showed a loss of 2.3 billion dirhams (US$626.7 million) last year. That compares with a profit of 215 million dirhams in 2014. Sales fell 12 percent to 7.3 billion dirhams. Arabtec said results were hurt by “the continuing difficult environment ... and the challenging economic backdrop,” as well as several “poorly performing projects.” The company said it plans further cuts this year.
ENERGY
South Africa to probe firm
South African Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan is to order the Treasury to scrutinize all the coal-supply contracts awarded by Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd, the Sunday Times newspaper reported, citing unidentified sources. “If it is true we will await a directive from the Treasury,” Khulu Phasiwe, an Eskom spokesman, said on Sunday. “At this stage I am not aware of any request. If the Treasury would like information about the coal contracts we have, we will make the information available.” State-owned Eskom is building two coal-fired power plants and a hydro-power complex as well as renewable energy plants to help reduce rolling power cuts that were implemented due to inadequate generation capacity.
CONSTRUCTION
WTC to meet budget
The total cost of the World Trade Center (WTC) rebuilding project will come in at the lower end of the US$14.8 billion to US$15.8 billion range projected four years ago, Steve Plate, chief of major capital projects for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said on Friday last week as he gave a tour of the almost-complete transportation hub at the center. The hub is scheduled to open the first week of next month, connecting the authority’s PATH commuter trains from New Jersey with the New York subway system as well as trans-Hudson ferries. The transit center is to cost between US$3.7 billion and US$3.99 billion, which was the estimate given in a 2012 report, Plate said.
GOLD
AngloGold loses US$73m
AngloGold Ashanti Ltd, the world’s third-largest producer of the metal, made a full-year net loss of US$73 million last year, compared with a net loss of US$79 million the previous year. The company’s adjusted headline earnings were US$49 million last year, compared with a US$1 million loss the prior year, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement. Production was 3.95 million ounces with all-in sustaining costs at US$910 per ounce, 11 percent lower than the previous year.
FINANCE
SEC probing HSBC’s hires
HSBC Holdings PLC, Europe’s biggest bank, said it is among financial institutions being investigated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in relation to their hiring practices in the Asia-Pacific region. The probe is linked to the hiring of candidates referred by, or related to, government officials or employees of state-owned companies in the region, HSBC said in a Hong Kong exchange statement yesterday that accompanied its latest earnings report. The London-based lender had received “various requests for information” and is cooperating with the SEC, it said.
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
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last