AUTOMAKERS
Renault profits plunge
Renault profits fell sharply last year, the French automaker said yesterday in its first annual results since the shock arrest of former chairman Carlos Ghosn. Net profits last year plunged 37 percent from a record 5.1 billion euros (US$5.75 billion at the current exchange rate) in 2017, hit by a lower contribution from Japanese partner Nissan and changes in exchange rates in some emerging countries. “This decline came mainly from Nissan’s contribution, down 1.282 billion euros, which notably benefited in 2017 from a one-off gain of 1.021 billion,” Renault said in a statement. Nissan on Tuesday slashed its full-year forecast as nine-month net profit dropped 45 percent. The results came as Renault, Nissan and its partner Mitsubishi Motors are seeking to turn the page on Ghosn’s arrest in Tokyo in November last year.
ELECTRONICS
Nintendo unveils 18 games
Nintendo Co has unveiled 18 previously unannounced games as the company doubles down on software titles to revive slumping sales of the Switch console. Among the most promising new games are Super Mario Maker 2, which is to go on sale in June, and Zelda: Link’s Awakening, slated for some time this year. The release of Fire Emblem: Three Houses was delayed from spring to July 26. The company made the announcement in a regularly scheduled Nintendo Direct Web cast. The event, which typically lasts about 15 minutes, ran more than double the usual time due to the number of new releases. Nintendo last month cut its forecast for Switch shipments to 17 million units, from 20 million units for the fiscal year through next month. The Kyoto-based company desperately needs hit games that appeal to more consumers beyond its most loyal customers, after its shares fell 29 percent last year.
EUROPEAN UNION
Tax crackdown halted
The General Court of the European Court of Justice yesterday dealt a possible blow to an EU crackdown against tax avoidance by global multinationals by annulling an order by the European Commission against a Belgian tax break scheme for about 35 large companies. The anti-avoidance drive led by European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager has included orders to Ireland to recover about 13 billion euros from Apple Inc and to Luxembourg to claw back up to 30 million euros from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, 250 million euros from Amazon.com Inc and about 120 million euros from France’s Engie SA. The Netherlands has been told to recover between 20 and 30 million euros from Starbucks Corp. It is not yet clear what the effects of the decision by the court, the lower branch of the Court of Justice in Luxembourg, might have on other cases.
FOOD
Nestle sees profit surge
Swiss food giant Nestle SA yesterday said that profits surged last year, boosted by income from the disposal of businesses, and it would consider selling its Herta charcuterie business. Net profit leapt 41.6 percent to 10.1 billion Swiss francs (US$10.02 billion) last year, Nestle said in a statement. Sales grew by 2.1 percent to SF91.4 billion, helped by net acquisitions of 0.7 percent, but hit by changes in exchange rates in several emerging markets that reduced sales by 1.6 percent. On the back of the strong results, the company said it would boost its dividend by SF0.10 to SF2.45 per share for last year.
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