MINING
Rio Tinto profit falls 47%
Rio Tinto Group reported its worst profit since 2004 as depressed prices for iron ore, aluminum and copper eroded earnings at the world’s second-largest mining company. Underlying profit fell 47 percent to US$1.56 billion in the six months through June, compared with US$2.92 billion in the same period last year, London-based Rio said in a statement yesterday. That matched the US$1.56 billion average estimate from seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The company’s estimate for capital spending was maintained at US$4 billion for the whole of this year. First-half spending was US$1.3 billion, down 47 percent from US$2.5 billion a year ago. Net debt was US$12.9 billion, compared with US$13.8 billion on Dec. 31.
BANKING
ING profit up 26.7%
Dutch bank ING, the country’s biggest lender, yesterday said that its second-quarter operating profits rose by more than one-quarter as it boosted lending. Underlying net profit, which strips out one-off items, rose by 26.7 percent to 1.4 billion euros (US$1.6 billion), the firm said. Net profit more than quadrupled to 1.3 billion euros, but the huge increase was due to the fact ING booked in the second quarter last year 1.1 billion in losses as it lowered its stake in domestic insurer NN Group.
AIRLINES
ANA profit down 20.7%
The parent company of Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) yesterday cited “terrorist incidents” in Europe and earthquakes at home for helping drag its April-to-June net profit down more than a fifth. ANA Holdings posted net profit of ¥6.6 billion (US$65.8 million) for its first fiscal quarter, 20.7 percent lower than the same period last year, adding that a strong yen also took a bite out of its bottom line. The airline’s cargo business struggled in the quarter, while demand for domestic flights were affected by deadly earthquakes in southern Japan in April.
AUTOMAKERS
VW warns on tax cut
Volkswagen AG (VW) said industrywide demand in China will plunge if a tax cut due to expire at the end of the year is allowed to lapse. The German automaker is in talks with both the government and the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers to find out whether the tax cut will be extended, Volkswagen China president Jochem Heizmann said. Volkswagen Group delivered a record 1.86 million vehicles in the first half in China and Hong Kong, after the government cut the tax on purchases of models with smaller engines to 5 percent from 10 percent.
MEDIA
Axel Springer cuts forecast
German media group Axel Springer yesterday cut its full-year revenue forecast after a first half burdened by costs from a Swiss joint venture. Between April and June, Springer posted a net profit of 63.8 million euros, a fall of 6.2 percent compared with the same period last year and short of the 81 million predicted in a Factset survey of analysts. Revenue increased by 0.7 percent to 801.9 million euros, while underlying, or operating, profit as measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was steady at 147 million euros. That contributed to a first half that saw revenues grow just 0.5 percent to 1.59 billion euros.
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
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],”