UNITED KINGDOM
Consumer confidence rises
UK consumer confidence edged higher this month after Brexit talks finally showed signs of progress. YouGov and the Centre for Economics and Business Research said their optimism index rose from its lowest level since the aftermath of the Brexit vote, driven by the breakthrough in the government’s negotiations with the EU and greater confidence in property prices. Still, the score for household finances over the past 30 days deteriorated to its lowest since January 2014.
GERMANY
Consumers optimistic: poll
German consumers’ festive mood is expected to continue into the new year, a closely watched survey said yesterday, as shoppers remain unfazed by a political impasse in Europe’s purring top economy. Market research firm GfK said its forward-looking poll of about 2,000 people edged up 0.1 points to 10.8 for next month. The survey found that Germans expected their income to rise in the near future, bouncing back from the more pessimistic outlook seen in previous months.
BANKING
IMF urges overhaul in India
The IMF said that India’s record US$32 billion bank-recapitalization plan must be accompanied by restructuring of state-run lenders, as the central bank warned of rising bad loans. Under the baseline scenario in a stress test, the Indian banking sector’s gross bad-loan ratio would increase to 10.8 percent in March and 11.1 percent by September next year, from 10.2 percent in September this year, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s Financial Stability Report published on Thursday.
GAMBLING
GVC to buy Ladbrokes
GVC Holdings PLC has agreed to buy UK bookmaker Ladbrokes Coral Group PLC for as much as £4 billion (US$5.4 billion) as gambling companies seek greater scale in a business that is shifting online. Investors are to receive as much as £2.072 for every Ladbrokes share, the companies said in statements yesterday. That would be 19 percent higher than Thursday’s closing price. The bid consists of £0.327 and 0.141 GVC shares and a contingent payment of as much as £0.428 a share.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Roche to buy Ignyta
Roche Holding AG has agreed to buy US drug developer Ignyta Inc for US$1.7 billion to gain a company specialized in rare types of cancers. Ignyta investors are to get US$27 a share in cash, the companies said in a statement yesterday. That is 74 percent higher than Thursday’s closing price. Both companies’ boards agreed to the deal. San Diego-based Ignyta makes tests and treatments for cancers with rare mutations. Roche said it aims to complete the purchase in the first half.
CONGLOMERATES
HNA pledges stock for loan
HNA Group Co (海航集團) used part of its stake in Postal Savings Bank of China Co (中國郵政儲蓄銀行) to borrow money, as the Chinese conglomerate seeks to boost liquidity amid concerns debt from acquisitions is weighing on its finances. HNA pledged 919.3 million shares, a 4.13 percent stake, at HK$3.08 apiece on Friday last week, the group said in a filing late on Thursday, without saying how much it borrowed. HNA lent the shares to institutional investors as part of a financing arrangement that does not reduce its holding in the bank, a company representative said.
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”