BANKING
NAB to sell wealth unit
National Australia Bank (NAB) yesterday announced plans to sell its wealth management arm as it continues to offload assets to simplify its business. The lender made the move as it posted a 16 percent slump in cash profit — the financial industry’s preferred measure — to A$2.76 billion (US$2.07 billion) in the six months to March 31. Without the one-off costs, profit was flat at A$3.3 billion. Interim net profit inched marginally higher to A$2.58 billion, with the dividend steady at A$0.99.
SPORTING GOODS
Adidas Q1 profit on track
German sporting goods firm Adidas AG yesterday said that efficiency savings had powered a leap in profits in the first quarter, staying confident of hitting its full-year targets as the World Cup looms. Net profit attributable to shareholders surged 18.7 percent year-on-year to 540 million euros (US$647 million) in the first three months of the year. Operating or underlying profit increased 17.1 percent to 746 million euros, far outpacing revenue growth of just 1.9 percent to 5.5 billion euros.
VENEZUELA
IMF warns of censure
The IMF on Wednesday said it ordered Venezuela to swiftly provide key economic data, threatening to exclude the South American country under a process known as “censure.” The IMF board concluded that Venezuela has failed to implement measures ordered by the global body, or to provide key information. “The Fund has issued a declaration of censure against Venezuela,” it said in a statement. The IMF has not has not been able to conduct the annual review of the Venezuelan economy since 2004.
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