ADVERTISING
WPP cuts full year outlook
WPP PLC, the world’s largest advertising group, yesterday cut its full-year net sales outlook after it missed first-half targets due to a drop in demand from consumer goods clients and weak trading in the US. WPP, led by the high-profile businessman Martin Sorrell, reported first-half like-for-like net sales down 0.5 percent, below a consensus of 0.7 percent growth. It cut its full-year underlying net sales target to between 0 and 1 percent growth, from a previous forecast of 2 percent growth. Despite the slowdown at the top line, the group reiterated its target for a 0.3 point improvement in its operating margin.
AVIATION
Air New Zealand profit falls
Air New Zealand yesterday posted a 17.5 percent fall in annual net profit as increased competition hit the carrier’s bottom line. The airline said net profit for the 12 months to June 30 was NZ$382 million (US$278 million), down from a record NZ$463 million in the previous financial year. The carrier said it was still its second-highest figure ever recorded, describing it as a “strong” result. Pre-tax earnings also dipped 20.5 percent to NZ$527 and operating revenue was off 2.3 percent at NZ$4.4 billion.
AUTOMAKERS
Solar roofs for Audis
Hanergy Thin Film Power Group Ltd (漢能薄膜發電集團) said its US unit, Alta Devices Inc, will work with Audi AG to outfit the rooftops of select models from the German car maker with solar cells. The cells will be used to harvest solar energy to power air conditioning and other electrical functions, boosting mileage in the process, Hong Kong-listed Hanergy said in a statement yesterday. The companies plan to present a vehicle prototype from Audi with a solar roof by the end of the year. Eventually, the companies plan to use solar energy to provide additional primary power, Hanergy said. Alta Devices, which was acquired by Hanergy in 2014, produces gallium arsenide thin-film solar cells.
MACROECONOMICS
UAE to tax tobacco, drinks
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will start imposing a tax on selected goods starting on Oct. 1 as Gulf Arab nations seek to deepen government revenue to counter the drop in oil prices. A levy on designated goods — tobacco, energy drinks and soft drinks — will include those sold at airports and free zones, Ministry of Finance Undersecretary Younis Al Khoori told the state-run WAM news agency. Products purchased at airports by travelers taking the goods abroad will be exempt, he said. The levy is estimated to generate about 7 billion dirhams (US$1.9 billion) in annual revenue for the UAE government, according to WAM.
ENERGY
US puts duties on biodiesel
The US on Tuesday announced new import duties on biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia, which officials said received improper government subsidies. The action was spurred by complaints from a coalition of US producers who said the imports constituted unfair competition. According to preliminary US Department of Commerce determinations, Argentinian imports were subsidized at a rate of 50.3 percent to 64.2 percent while Indonesian imports benefited from subsidies at a rate of 41 percent to 68.3 percent. The determinations are preliminary, with final determinations due on Nov. 7.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by