AVIATION
Boeing sells 110 planes
Vietnam’s Bamboo Airways and VietJet Aviation JSC have signed deals to buy 110 aircraft from Boeing Co during US President Donald Trump’s visit to Hanoi for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Bamboo agreed to purchase 10 787-9 Dreamliners for about US$3 billion, while VietJet’s order is for 100 737 Max planes valued at US$12.7 billion, Boeing said yesterday. However, VietJet’s 100-plane commitment was announced at the Farnborough Air Show in England last year. The agreements were signed in the presence of Trump and Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong. Vietnam’s airlines are expanding their fleets as the region’s growing economies are spurring many to fly for the first time. Demand is also expected to climb after US regulators last month approved the nation’s air-safety system, making its airlines eligible to begin direct flights to the US.
RESTAURANTS
Papa John’s sales decline
Papa John’s closed out a tough year on a weak note, but says it expects improvement this year. The Louisville, Kentucky-based pizza chain on Tuesday said that sales at established locations in North America dropped 8 percent in the fourth quarter last year compared with the same period the previous year. International same-store sales were down 3 percent. Papa John’s lost US$14 million, or US$0.44 per share, in the fourth quarter. Excluding one-time items, the company earned US$0.15 per share. Analysts had expected US$0.17. Papa John’s said its fourth-quarter revenue fell 20 percent to US$374 million.
EQUITIES
Emerging markets riskier
Investors who put their money in emerging-market equities back in 1900 have failed to match the returns of their counterparts in advanced economies, according to a Credit Suisse-backed study by London Business School. One US dollar invested in developed markets in 1900 was worth US$11,821 by last year, compared with just US$3,745 in emerging markets. Investors can blame World War II and the Chinese revolution. From 1945 to 1949 equities lost 98 percent of their value in Japan, which was not classified as a developed market until 1967, while their counterparts in China were all but wiped out financially by the Chinese Communist Party’s victory in 1949. It is a different story since 1950, though, as emerging markets have generated annual returns of 11.7 percent, compared with 10.5 percent for advanced economies.
AUTOMAKERS
Hyundai to invest US$40bn
Hyundai Motor Co joined automakers pledging massive spending in the years ahead to address the industry’s transformation and fend off new competition from the likes of Tesla Inc. The South Korean maker of Sonata sedans and Tucson SUVs plans to invest 45.3 trillion won (US$40 billion) in the next five years in development of electric and autonomous vehicles, as well as transportation services. The average annual spending would be 58 percent more than over the past five years, the firm said.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Mylan shares fall 9.2%
Shares of Mylan NV, one of the world’s biggest makers of generic drugs, fell in late trading on Tuesday after it forecast declining earnings this year and said that its North American sales slowed in the fourth quarter last year. The company sees adjusted earnings per share for the year of US$3.80 to US$4.80, below the US$5.02 average of Wall Street estimates. Mylan shares fell 9.2 percent.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last