MALAYSIA
High deficit target set
The government aims to push its budget deficit to the highest in five years and seek to draw more income from the state oil company to help plug the shortfall. In the first budget since Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad took office in May, the government is widening its deficit target for this year to 3.7 percent of GDP from a 2.8 percent target under the previous government. The shortfall is set to ease to 3.4 percent next year, according to reports released by the government yesterday.
SOUTH AFRICA
President fires tax chief
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday sacked the head of the tax collection agency, an ally of scandal-tainted former president Jacob Zuma, the presidency said. Ramaphosa dismissed Tom Moyane after a judiciary inquiry recommended his immediate removal “to forestall any further deterioration of our tax administration system,” a statement from his office said. Ramaphosa suspended the tax chief in March and ordered the probe into the South African Revenue Authority.
GAMING
Caesars CEO to step down
Caesars Entertainment Corp president and CEO Mark Frissora is to step down next year, the casino giant said on Thursday. The Las Vegas-based company said Frissora, who joined the company in 2015, is to remain on the job until Feb. 8. The announcement came just before Caesars reported third-quarter net income of US$110 million, after posting a loss in the same period a year earlier. On a per-share basis, company said it had net income of US$0.14. Revenue was US$2.19 billion in the third quarter.
BANKING
Macquarie ups profit target
Macquarie Group is headed for another year of earnings growth after the Australian investment bank and asset manager upgraded its profit forecast on the back of a surge in income from its commodities and capital markets businesses. Net income rose 5 percent to A$1.31 billion (US$944 million) in the six months ended Sept. 30, the Sydney-based company said yesterday. The bank forecast full-year income would rise 10 percent, a big upgrade from its previous guidance.
INTERNET
Spotify falls on outlook
Spotify AB shares slid 5.7 percent on Thursday after a disappointing growth outlook offset the first-ever quarterly profit posted by the streaming music sector leader. Spotify said the number of paid “premium” subscribers rose to 87 million in the quarter, and it posted a first-ever profit of 43 million euros (US$49 million) as a result of a tax adjustment. Total revenue was US$1.35 billion, up 31 percent from a year ago, largely in line with forecasts. However, its growth outlook was weaker than expected, with the Swedish firm forecasting revenue increases of between 18 and 35 percent in the coming quarter.
ENERGY
Ivory Coast nears deals
The Ivory Coast is nearing production-sharing deals for oil and gas with Total SA and Eni SpA, two people familiar with the matter said. Talks between the government and the companies over separate deals for two blocks each are at an advanced stage and expected to be concluded before the end of the year, the people said. While the size of the companies’ holdings are yet to be finalized, their stakes would be at least 85 percent, with state-owned oil producer Petroci Holdings owning the remaining portion, the people said.
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