ENTERTAINMENT
Pixar cofounder to retire
Ed Catmull, the president of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios since 2006, is retiring next year. The 73-year-old Pixar cofounder would remain in an advisory role through July next year, Walt Disney Co said on Tuesday. Disney chairman and chief executive officer Robert Iger said in a statement that Catmull’s impact on the entertainment industry was immeasurable. Catmull was a pioneer in computer animation and technology in film. George Lucas hired him in 1979 to head Lucasfilm’s computer division. Catmull in 1986 cofounded Pixar with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter. He has overseen films at Disney from Frozen to Up and has been recognized multiple times by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for advances in technology and computer graphics. No replacement has been named.
BANKING
Barclays profit up 72 percent
British bank Barclays PLC yesterday reported a 72 percent surge in quarterly net profit as strong performances by its retail and credit card divisions offset weakness at its investment unit. Profit after tax jumped to £1 billion (US$1.3 billion) in the three months to last month, compared with the third quarter of last year, Barclays said in a statement. “In spite of macroeconomic uncertainty, and particularly concerns over Brexit which weigh heavily on market sentiment, 2018 is proving to be a year of delivery ... at Barclays,” chief executive Jes Staley said.”We remain focused on generating improved returns, and on distributing a greater proportion of excess capital to shareholders over time,” he added.
FRANCE
Manufacturing output shrinks
Manufacturing output in the country contracted for the first time in more than two years as automakers scaled back production while growth in services accelerated. A composite purchasing managers’ index rose to 54.3 this month from 54 the previous month, IHS Markit said yesterday. While orders picked up in services, demand for manufacturing goods fell to the lowest in four months. Renault SA on Tuesday reported a bigger-than-expected drop in third-quarter sales, as turmoil in emerging markets from Turkey to Iran cut into its business. This month, job creation accelerated to a six-month high across the private sector, cost pressures continued to build and capacity constraints remained elevated, IHS Markit said.
CAMBODIA
Garment exports grow
The nation’s garment exports grew 10.73 percent in the first half of this year and are projected to remain strong, despite an EU threat to withdraw duty-free trading access, official data showed yesterday. The country exported US$3.2 billion of garments in the first half of this year, compared with US$2.9 billion in the same period last year, Ministry of Commerce data showed. Garment exports to the EU grew 6.03 percent to US$1.9 billion, while exports to the US increased 16.49 percent to more than US$1 billion, the data showed. The EU this month began a formal procedure to strip the country of its “Everything but Arms” initiative, following July elections that returned Prime Minister Hun Sen to power after 33 years in office and gave his party all the parliamentary seats. The garment industry is the largest employer in the nation and garment exports account for about 40 percent of the Southeast Asian country’s economy.
RESTAURANTS
Italian chef visiting Taipei
Mandarin Oriental, Taipei’s Michelin-recommended Italian restaurant Bencotto is to invite Mandarin Oriental, Milan executive chef Antonio Guida, who oversees the two-star restaurant Seta, to showcase a reinterpretation of classic Italian cuisine with Bencotto’s newly appointed chef, Iacopo Frassi. The four-course lunch set menu with wine pairings is to be available next week at NT$4,980 per person, the hotel said, adding that the seven-course dinner set menu with wine pairings would be available from Wednesday to Saturday next week at NT$7,980 per person. Guida has always been fascinated by culinary alchemy and has worked at various Michelin-starred restaurants, including Pierre Gagnaire in Paris, Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, Italy, and Don Alfonso 1890 on the Amalfi Coast.
INDIA
Zydus to buy Kraft brands
Zydus Wellness Ltd and parent Cadila Healthcare Ltd have agreed to pay 46 billion rupees (US$629.02 million) to acquire some Kraft Heinz Co businesses to strengthen their presence in the world’s fastest-growing major economy. Zydus is to gain control of nutrition drink Complan, instant-energy drink Glucon-D, talcum powder brand Nycil and ghee brand Sampriti from the acquisition of Heinz India Pvt, Zydus said in a statement yesterday. Zydus is to use a mix of debt and equity to fund the transaction. The deal gives Zydus access to the top brands in the supplement nutrition drinks market estimated by Euromonitor International to be worth 17 billion rupees last year. Greater awareness is encouraging more young Indians to prefer healthier options to carbonated drinks, and that is in turn leading to intensifying competition in the segment.
AUTOMAKERS
Ford spins off China unit
Ford Motor Co has made its China business a stand-alone unit, recruiting the head of local automaker Chery Automobile Co (奇瑞汽車) to be its CEO, the company said yesterday. Chen Anning (陳安寧) would replace Jason Luo (羅冠宏), who quit earlier this year, just months after taking over at Ford in China. The firm said the restructuring is aimed at accelerating its return to profitable growth. “Success in China is critical as we reposition our global business for long-term success,” Ford president and CEO Jim Hackett said. By having a separate China business, the company intends to move quicker and strengthen local leadership. Ford is in the midst of renewing its product lineup in China and has announced plans to increase local production for both Ford and Lincoln models. China’s auto sales last month shrank 12 percent from a year earlier, the third straight month of declines as demand weakens amid a cooling economy.
BREWERIES
Heineken sees 4.4% growth
Dutch brewing giant Heineken NV yesterday toasted 4.4 percent growth in global beer sales for the third quarter after a warm European summer and strong performances in Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and Vietnam. The world’s No. 2 brewer also reported an 8 percent yearly increase in net profit for the first nine months to 1.6 billion euros (US$1.82 billion). The brewer saw double-digit growth in key markets in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America with Van Boxmeer. The highest organic growth in beer volume — about 8.1 percent — came from advertising boosts in North and Latin America, particularly in Mexico, as well as in Brazil, driven by the Heineken, Amstel and Devassa brands.
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