PACKAGING
Essentra to miss forecast
Essentra PLC, a supplier of specialty plastic and packaging components, said that full-year adjusted operating profit would miss or could come in at the lower end of its forecast, citing challenging business conditions in health and personal care packaging unit. The company’s stock fell as much as 12.5 percent to £3.87, before reversing some of the losses, making it one of the worst performers on the FTSE mid cap index. Essentra yesterday said it expected adjusted operating profit to be at, or modestly below, the lower end of its guidance range of £137 million to £142 million (US$169.3 million to US$177 million) for the year ended Dec. 31 last year.
SINGAPORE
Consumer prices rise
Consumer prices in the city-state last month rose for the first time in more than two years, adding to signs of recovery in the economy. The consumer price index rose 0.2 percent from a year earlier, compared with unchanged prices in November last year. The median estimate of 16 economists in a Bloomberg survey was for a 0.1 percent gain. Prices increased 0.2 percent in the month. Core inflation, which excludes costs of accommodation and private road transport, last month rose 1.2 percent from a year earlier, in line with the median forecast.
TECHNOLOGY
Cynosure exploring options
Cynosure Inc, a maker of lasers for medical and cosmetic treatments, is exploring strategic options including a sale, according to people familiar with the matter, amid increasing interest in the technology from larger global companies. Cynosure is in talks with financial advisers as it weighs strategic options, the people said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are private. A potential sale of the business, which has a market value of about US$1 billion, might attract companies with a presence in aesthetic treatments, such as Botox maker Allergan PLC, as well as other medical-device businesses, the people said.
ENERGY
Lamprell to check costs
Oil-rig builder Lamprell PLC said it will continue to maintain a tight reign on costs as it stuck to its guidance of lower revenue this year. The company, which mainly focuses on contracts around the United Arab Emirates, said it expected this year’s revenue to be between US$400 to US$500 million, with the market pointing towards the lower half of the range.
MANUFACTURING
LG to supply Samsung
LG Display Co has scored a deal to supply television displays to rival Samsung Electronics Co from as soon as this year, people with direct knowledge of the matter said. LG Display, a major supplier of panels to Apple Inc, will replace a venture between Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Sharp Corp as a supplier to the world’s biggest TV maker, said the people, who asked not to be identified because details of their agreement have not been released. A supply agreement between LG Display and Samsung would be a first for the long-time South Korean rivals who have never used each others panels before. Sakai Display Products Corp, controlled by Sharp and Hon Hai, known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康) outside of Taiwan, has cut back supply of LCD screens to other TV makers, a move that might foster a panel supply shortage and further accelerate a rally in display prices.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six