MULTINATIONALS
Henkel data beat estimates
Henkel AG reported third-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates, as the German maker of Persil washing powder reported sales growth across its three business units. Earnings before interest and taxes increased 7.6 percent to 837 million euros (US$924 million), the Dusseldorf-based company said in a statement yesterday. Analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg had predicted on average 829 million euros. Sales increased 3.4 percent to 4.7 billion euros. Henkel, which also makes Schwarzkopf shampoo and industrial adhesives, is pushing into the highly competitive US detergent market, bolstered by the US$3.6 billion acquisition of Sun Products Corp in May.
STEEL
ArcelorMittal profit surges
ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, posted its highest quarterly profit since 2014 after prices of the metal rebounded, but warned that a dramatic surge in coal prices would crimp earnings for the last three months of the year. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in the three months ended Sept. 30 rose to US$1.9 billion from US$1.35 billion a year earlier, the Luxembourg-based company said in a statement yesterday. That missed the US$1.95 billion average of nine analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Steelmakers’ earnings have been boosted by an increase in steel prices as China’s economy stabilized and policymakers around the world pledged to back growth.
AUTOMAKERS
China sales rise again
China’s passenger-vehicle sales climbed for an eighth consecutive month as consumers rushed to buy small-engine autos ahead of a tax cut due to expire at the end of the year, boosting deliveries at local carmakers, including Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd (吉利汽車) and Great Wall Motor Co (長城汽車). Retail sales of cars, sport utility and multipurpose vehicles increased 20 percent to 2.22 million units last month, the China Passenger Car Association said. Deliveries rose 15 percent to 18.7 million units in the first 10 months.
TOBACCO
BAT to sell Glo in Japan
British American Tobacco PLC (BAT) will begin selling its heated tobacco product Glo in Japan next month, ratcheting up competition in the country that has become the foremost battleground for next-generation cigarettes. Glo, a silver device that resembles an iPod and heats tobacco without burning it, is to go on sale in about 600 stores in Sendai, London-based BAT said in a statement yesterday. A starter kit will sell for ¥8,000 (US$76.49), about 20 percent cheaper than Philip Morris International Inc’s rival iQOS device. Japan — the world’s fifth-biggest tobacco market — is the only country to have three heat-not-burn smoking alternatives on the market.
FIREARMS
Smith & Wesson to rebrand
Smith & Wesson Holding Corp is to ask shareholders for permission to change its name. The board already approved changing the name of the 164-year-old company to American Outdoor Brands Corp starting on Jan. 1, Smith & Wesson said in a statement on Monday. Investors will vote on the change at a Dec. 13 meeting. While about 90 percent of its sales are generated from firearms, Smith & Wesson has expanded to four units that include non-weapon products such as flashlights and Hooyman tree saws.
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