LUXURY GOODS
Burberry’s sales fall short
Luxury retailer Burberry Group PLC’s quarterly sales missed analysts’ estimates as a decline in the Americas countered gains in China. Retail revenue in the fourth quarter of last year rose 2 percent on a comparable basis, the London-based company said yesterday, less than the 5 percent increase predicted in a Bloomberg survey. Sales in the Americas showed a mid single-digit percentage decline in the second half of last year. “The relative strength of the US dollar drove a strong increase in sales from US customers abroad, while demand at home reduced,” Burberry said of its performance in the Americas.
MATERIALS TESTING
Exova announces its sale
UK-based materials testing company Exova Group yesterday said Dutch firm Element Materials Technology is to buy it in a deal valued at £620.3 million (US$795.84 million). Element said it would pay Exova shareholders £2.40 per share in cash, representing a 10.7 percent premium to the stock’s closing price on March 24 before Exova entered talks with potential buyers. Exova, whose laboratories test the safety and performance of products used in industries ranging from aerospace to pharmaceuticals, last month said that it had received proposals for a possible cash offer from Element Materials Technology.
CHIPMAKERS
ASML’s Q1 profits surge
Dutch computer chipmaker and global high-tech bellwether ASML yesterday said that sales and profits soared in the first quarter amid “strong demand” across the sector. Net sales in the first quarter were stronger than expected, jumping 46 percent to 1.94 billion euros (US$2.08 billion). Net income also more than doubled, leaping to 452 million euros from 198 million in the first quarter of last year. “A positive industry environment provided a strong start to 2017 and healthy demand is expected to continue throughout the rest of the year,” ASML president Peter Wennink said in a statement.
JAPAN
Ten-year yield falls to 0%
The nation’s benchmark 10-year yield yesterday fell to 0 percent for the first time since November last year as US Treasury yields plunged on weak economic data, while lingering tensions over North Korea and uncertainty over the French presidential election keep haven demand intact. The 10-year Treasury yield fell eight basis points on Tuesday to a five-month low of 2.17 percent. The Bank of Japan aims to keep 10-year yield about 0 percent under its yield curve control policy to bolster momentum for economic recovery.
DISTILLER
Remy’s Q4 sales disappoint
French distiller Remy Cointreau SA reported fourth quarter last year sales that disappointed analysts as sales of liqueurs and spirits declined after the company phases out lower-price offerings. Organic sales growth was 0.9 percent, while the company-compiled consensus was for a 1.7 percent increase. The stock fell as much as 6.1 percent in early Paris trading yesterday. Revenue ebbed after two quarters of faster growth. Sales of liqueurs and spirits declined 7.7 percent, more than double the decline analysts expected. The business weakened as Remy Cointreau decided to focus on higher-end spirits and reduce volumes of Mount Gay rum and St-Remy brandy.
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