JAPAN
Exports fail to improve
Exports declined the most since 2009, with shipments down for a 10th consecutive month. The continued drop highlights the difficulty of stimulating growth and pulling the economy out of the doldrums. Overseas shipments fell 14 percent last month from a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg indicated a 13.7 percent decline. Imports dropped 24.7 percent, leaving a trade surplus of ¥513.5 billion (US$5.1 billion). Exports to the US fell 11.8 percent from a year earlier, while those to the EU dropped 6.5 percent and shipments to China, Japan’s largest trading partner, fell 12.7 percent.
Philippines
Economy rapidly expanding
The economy grew 7 percent in the second quarter from the same period last year, the fastest quarterly growth in three years, officials said. Expansion in the services industry, investments and election-year spending boosted growth. The number brought first-half GDP growth to 6.9 percent from a year earlier. Last year, the economy grew 5.9 percent in the second quarter and 5.5 percent in the first six months. Secretary of Socio-economic Planning Ernesto Pernia yesterday said that the growth increases the probability of attaining the full-year target of 6 to 7 percent growth. The economy has grown by an annual average of 6.2 percent in the past six years.
FOOD
URC to buy Snack Brands
Philippine food giant Universal Robina Corp (URC) on Wednesday said it would buy Snack Brands Australia for US$460 million, the latest big deal in a global shopping spree by Philippine firms reflecting the nation’s economic rise. URC said it had sealed an agreement to buy the Australian company — maker of local brands including Kettles, Thins, CC’s and Cheezels — for A$600 million (US$460 million) as part of its ambitions to expand throughout the Asia-Pacific region. URC already has a large presence in Southeast Asian markets and in 2014 it bought 150-year-old New Zealand snack company Griffin’s for NZ$700 million (US$610 million).
FOOD and Beverage
Tax deferral sees Nestle dip
Swiss food and beverage giant Nestle SA said first-half profits dipped due to a one-time tax expense even as revenues edged up behind growth in its key North American food business and despite a slowdown in the Chinese market. The maker of Kit Kats, Lean Cuisine meals, Maggi noodles and Gerber baby foods said net profit came in at 4.10 billion Swiss francs (US$4.28 billion), down from SF4.52 billion a year earlier, due to a SF400 million deferred tax adjustment. Sales rose under 1 percent to SF43.16 billion.
TECHNOLOGY
Cisco announces job cuts
Cisco Systems said it would lay off 5,500 employees as the Internet gear maker scrambles to adapt to technology changes that have reduced demand for its main products. The shake-up announced on Wednesday means about 7 percent of Cisco’s roughly 74,000 workers are to lose their jobs beginning this summer. The company’s fiscal fourth-quarter results, also released on Wednesday, showed revenue increased by just 2 percent from last year to US$12.6 billion. Previous cost cutting helped boost Cisco’s profit 21 percent to US$2.8 billion, or US$0.56 per share.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the