PHARMACEUTICALS
Novartis sees strong growth
Novartis AG said that its net profit rose 3 percent in the second quarter amid strong growth for some of its top products, as the Swiss pharmaceuticals giant moves to spin off its Alcon eye-care business. New chief executive officer Vas Narasimhan touted Novartis’ plans to create a “focused medicines company.” Second-quarter core net profit rose to US$3.01 billion from US$2.87 billion a year earlier. Novartis’ overall net profit was skewed by a US$5.7 billion net gain from the sale of its stake in the GSK consumer healthcare joint venture. Sales climbed 5 percent to US$13.16 billion.
ELECTRONICS
ASML profits up by 25%
Dutch global high-tech bellwether ASML Holding NV yesterday reported its profits rose 25 percent year-on-year to 584 million euros (US$679 million) in the second quarter, up from 466 million euros in the same quarter last year. “Our second-quarter sales were above expectations, including higher-than-forecasted EUV sales,” said chief executive officer Peter Wennink, referring to the company’s cutting-edge extreme ultraviolet light lithography machines. Second-quarter sales rose to 2.7 billion euros from 2.1 billion euros in the same period last year.
WATCHMAKERS
Swatch thanks millenials
Swatch, the world’s top watchmaker, yesterday announced an all-time record in half-year sales, saying it has millennials to thank for bringing wristwatches back. Group net sales increased by 14.7 percent at current exchange rates in the first half of this year to 4.27 billion Swiss francs (US$4.26 billion). Net profit rose by 66.5 percent to SF468 million, with operating profit soaring 69.5 percent to SF629 million, the statement said.
ENERGY
Carlyle plans oil, gas fund
Carlyle Group LP is trying to raise a US$4 billion fund that is to invest in oil and gas assets outside North America, a person familiar with the matter said. The fund plans to buy companies active in the energy supply chain and use them to acquire assets in exploration and production, refining, marketing and oilfield services. A representative for the private equity firm declined to comment. The Financial Times reported on the fund earlier on Tuesday.
EUROZONE
Bank program vindicated
New research published by the European Central Bank pushes back against criticism leveled at its 2.4 trillion euro stimulus program, indicating it did not increase inequality and helped boost poorer households’ income by putting people back to work. The arguments in the paper released yesterday help counter accusations, particularly from German politicians and news media, that the stimulus program hurt savers by depressing returns and benefited financially wobbly southern European governments such as Italy’s through lower borrowing costs.
CHINA
Buybacks aim to stem rout
More companies are pledging to buy back their shares as authorities seek to stem a US$2 trillion rout in the equity market. At least 109 firms have announced repurchase plans or bought back shares this year, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. Home appliances maker Midea Group Co (美的集團) is one of the latest, with plans to spend up to 4 billion yuan (US$595.18 million) buying its shares after they slid 19 percent from January to early this month.
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],”