AUTOPARTS
Takata trade suspended
Shares in Takata Corp were suspended in early trade after the Nikkei business daily reported that the airbag maker was preparing for a possible bankruptcy protection filing of its US unit as recall costs rise. However, Takata said it “has not made any decision nor has facts to be disclosed,” concerning the matter and added there was no new decision since a similar news report last month. The company’s shares eventually resumed trading, closing down 1.74 percent at ¥337, an almost six-month low. Regulators have ordered recalls scheduled into 2019 that could eventually exceed 100 million air bags used by more than a dozen automakers. Potential suitors proposed bankruptcy for Takata’s US unit at meetings with automakers in New York last week.
AUTOMAKERS
BMW Q3 profit rises 1.1%
BMW AG’s third-quarter profit rose 1.1 percent as demand for its sport utility vehicles propelled sales in Europe and China, offsetting a slump in the US. Earnings before interest and taxes climbed from 2.35 billion euros a year earlier to 2.38 billion euros (US$2.61 billion to US$2.64 billion), the Munich-based company said in a statement yesterday. The company repeated that sales and pretax profit at its automotive unit would post “slight increases” this year. Global sales of BMW’s namesake marque rose 6 percent in the year through to September to 1.48 million vehicles, growing at only half the rate of Mercedes, according to data published last month.
BEVERAGES
Starbucks bucks industry trend
Starbucks Corp posted earnings that topped analysts’ estimates as new food items and digital efforts like mobile ordering helped its US business defy a restaurant-industry slowdown. The world’s largest coffee-shop operator said its profit rose to US$0.56 a share, excluding some items, in the most recent quarter. That topped analysts’ average prediction of US$0.55. Globally, same-store sales rose 4 percent. Analysts had projected 4.8 percent. Sales by that measure increased 1 percent in the China and Asia-Pacific unit, and fell 1 percent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
AVIATION
Singapore Air to be vigilant
Singapore Airlines Ltd said it would be vigilant on costs as it warned yet again that the weak operating outlook is likely to persist amid excess capacity and aggressive pricing by competitors. The prospects in most major economies remain “tepid,” while passenger airline business continued to be impacted by geopolitical uncertainty and weak global economic conditions, Singapore Air said on Thursday. The premium carrier reported its first quarterly slump in two years, saying passenger and cargo yields — a key measure of profitability in the industry — continue to be under stress.
INDIA
Bonds sales hit record high
Indian companies are selling record amounts of rupee bonds to individuals, tapping savers dissatisfied with deposit rates at decade lows. Debt offerings to the public by companies surged to 239 billion rupees (US$3.6 billion) in the seven months from April through last month, up sixfold from the year-earlier period and the fastest pace on record, Securities & Exchange Board of India data showed. About 94 percent of the 239 billion rupees raised through the public market in the April to October period was by first time issuers.
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