RETAIL
M&S profit rises 2 percent
Marks & Spencer PLC (M&S) yesterday reported a 2 percent rise in first-half profit, but underlying sales declined in both clothing and food, hurt by disruption from its latest attempt at a turnaround after more than a decade of failed reinventions. M&S, one of the best known names in British retail, said it made a pretax profit before one-off items of £223.5 million (US$293.2 million) in the six months to Sept. 29 — ahead of analysts’ average forecast of £203 million and £219.1 million made in the same period last year. Clothing and home like-for-like sales fell 1.1 percent, while food sales slid 2.9 percent. Profit was up due to the phasing of its cost program.
TOURISM
Hanoi plans Formula One
Vietnam plans to host a Formula One race in 2020 in Hanoi as the government steps up efforts to boost tourism to be a major economic driver. The People’s Committee of Hanoi was to hold a briefing on the plan yesterday. The city plans to hold the race in April 2020 near its convention center, Thanh Nien newspaper reported. The government expects funding for the event, estimated to cost as much as US$200 million, to come from private companies. Vietnamese officials want to lure more overseas visitors to reduce the nation’s reliance on exports to power growth.
CONSTRUCTION
Persimmon boss quits
The boss of Persimmon PLC is to step down after Britain’s second-biggest housebuilder said controversy surrounding his multimillion-dollar bonus was a continuing distraction that had hit the company’s reputation. Chief executive Jeff Fairburn was the highest paid CEO last year, according to a survey, receiving £47.1 million, more than 20 times his pay in 2016, largely due to a long-term incentive plan dating back to 2012. Fairburn is to leave the company on Dec. 31 and is to be replaced on an interim basis by group managing director David Jenkinson while the board finds a permanent successor.
MATERIALS
Livent forecasts tight market
The lithium industry’s struggle to match booming demand for the rechargeable-battery ingredient is “problematic” and would further tighten the market, according to the only lithium pure-play trading in New York. “It’s almost impossible for me to see a meaningful decrease” in lithium prices,” Livent Corp CEO Paul Graves said in a telephone interview on Tuesday after the company presented quarterly earnings. Livent is also planning to expand operations at the Hombre Muerto salt flat in Argentina. The company has all the approvals it needs to start construction there, Graves said. Livent plans to ramp up its first 8,600 tonnes per year expansion in the second half of 2020 and will work toward three more expansions of similar size through 2024.
RESTAURANTS
Papa John sales surprise
Papa John’s International Inc rose in late trading on Tuesday after reporting a drop in North American franchisees’ same-store sales that was not quite as bad as analysts had been expecting. Systemwide same-store sales fell 9.8 percent, just beating industry expectations. Still, third-quarter revenue missed estimates and the pizza chain lowered the top end of its earnings outlook as it battles through scandal and steep competition. The chain has been fighting back with more ads and discounts, and executives said it would test more value offers in the fourth quarter.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure