INSURANCE
Hiscox premiums up 14%
Lloyd’s of London underwriter Hiscox Ltd said its gross written premiums for the first nine months of the year jumped more than 14 percent in local currency, driven by strong performance across all its businesses. Hiscox, which underwrites a range of risks from oil refineries to kidnappings, said gross written premiums rose to £1.86 billion (US$2.31 billion) in the nine months ended Sept. 30, from £1.54 billion a year earlier. The underwriter, which earns the bulk of its revenue overseas, benefited from the fall in the value of the pound against the US dollar and the euro after Britain’s vote to leave the EU, with gross written premiums in reported currency rising 20.9 percent.
AVIATION
Brexit weighs on Ryanair
Ireland’s budget airline Ryanair yesterday reported a slowdown in first-half profits growth due to Britain’s June vote to leave the EU. The company posted net profits of 1.2 billion euros (US$1.3 billion) in the six months to the end of September, Ryanair said in a results statement. That compared with 1.1 billion euros for the same period last year. Chief executive Michael O’Leary added that it had faced “difficult market conditions” that included “the adverse economic impact of the Brexit vote in June which saw sterling weaken materially over the peak summer period.”
WATCHMAKERS
TAG Heuer eyes record
TAG Heuer could report record growth in revenue as it increases market share amid a slump in the Swiss watch industry. The brand that considers itself the leader in “accessible luxury” has achieved double-digit growth so far this year, which might make it a “record year,” chief executive officer Jean-Claude Biver said in a Bloomberg interview on Sunday in Singapore. TAG Heuer’s increase in sales coincides with a 15-month decline in exports of Swiss watches, according to data from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH, released last month.
PRECIOUS METALS
Gold falls as Clinton cleared
Gold tumbled, joining a slide in other haven assets, after the FBI said it maintains the view that Democratic US presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton’s handling of her e-mails was not a crime, boosting her in the final stretch of the US presidential election campaign. Bullion lost as much 1.2 percent to US$1,288.30 an ounce on the Comex in New York and traded at US$1,290.30 at 7:38am in Singapore. Last week, the metal surged 2.2 percent amid concern Republican candidate Donald Trump might capture the White House, with Citigroup Inc predicting a rally to US$1,400 if he were to win. Bullion prices have traded in recent weeks as a barometer of Trump’s chances of winning the contest even as investors also track US data to gauge the likelihood of higher interest rates.
AUTOMAKERS
Nissan profit down 16%
Nissan Motor Co’s profit fell 16 percent as a stronger yen eroded overseas earnings and the Japanese automaker increased incentives in the US. Net income declined to ¥146.1 billion (US$1.4 billion) in the three months through September from ¥172.8 billion a year earlier, the automaker said in a statement yesterday. That compares with the ¥125.5 billion average of seven analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The automaker maintained its full-year profit forecast at ¥525 billion.
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