E-COMMERCE
Zilingo raises US$226m
Zilingo Pte, a Singapore-based online fashion marketplace, raised US$226 million to fund an expansion into the Philippines, Indonesia and Australia. Investors in the series D financing included Sequoia Capital, Temasek Holdings Pte, Burda Principal Investments, Sofina and EDB Investments Pte, the company said yesterday without disclosing a valuation. The start-up is valued at US$970 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
CHINA
FX reserves up on yuan rally
The country’s foreign exchange reserves last month rose slightly more than expected as the yuan rallied on hopes for progress in Sino-US trade talks. The reserves rose by US$15.2 billion to US$3.088 trillion, central bank data showed on Monday. That compared with a rise of US$11 billion in December last year. Meanwhile, the value of the country’s gold reserves rose to US$79.319 billion from US$76.331 billion at the end of December last year.
AVIATION
IAG braces for Brexit
IAG SA is freezing the percentage of its shares that can be held by non-EU citizens and funds amid a lack of clarity about potential ownership restrictions following Britain’s exit from the bloc. Non-EU shareholdings are restricted to 47.5 percent, London-based IAG said in a statement on Monday. Under EU rules, the airline could allow the figure to rise to just below 50 percent. Restricting it at the lower level gives IAG added breathing room to comply with the rules in case UK citizens, now part of the EU, are later recategorized.
LUXURY
Chinese boost Gucci sales
Kering SA’s Gucci label continued to outpace competitors in the fourth quarter of last year, rising ahead of expectations, giving another signal that Chinese appetite for luxury goods remains healthy. Fourth-quarter sales at Gucci rose 28 percent on an organic basis to 2.3 billion euros (US$2.6 billion), Paris-based Kering said yesterday. Analysts expected 27 percent growth. Kering’s profitability jumped 5 percentage points to 28.9 percent last year, helped by the spinoff of sportswear brand Puma. Demand from Chinese customers remained “extremely dynamic,” chief financial officer Jean-Marc Duplaix said.
INTERNET
Amazon to buy Eero
Amazon.com Inc has agreed to acquire Eero, a builder of Wi-Fi networking tools, in another deal aimed at bolstering the retail and technology giant’s home devices business. Eero, based in San Francisco, makes gadgets that extend Wi-Fi coverage throughout a home using local networking, known as mesh technology, that removes hiccups in broadcasting Internet signals. The companies did not disclose the purchase price on Monday. Eero has raised US$148 million in equity and debt, according to PitchBook Data Inc.
INDUSTRY
Thyssenkrupp confirms forecast
German industrial conglomerate Thyssenkrupp yesterday confirmed its earnings forecasts for the full year after increasing profits in its first quarter, while announcing a January next year vote on its split into two separate firms. Net profit at the group rose 69 percent between October and December last year, to 136 million euros. Revenues edged 2 percent higher to reach 9.7 billion euros. Adjusted operating profit fell 26 percent, to 333 million euros.
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],”