AUTOMOBILES
British registrations fall
New car registrations in Britain last month fell by about 3 percent from a year earlier as uncertainty over diesel and Brexit continued to hit consumer confidence, according to preliminary data from an industry body. Sales of diesel vehicles fell by about 20 percent, while demand for gasoline cars rose by roughly 5 percent, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said. March is a major selling month in Britain, as it is one of two occasions each year when the license plate series changes.
GERMANY
Industrial orders decline
Industrial orders saw a sharp fall last month, official data showed yesterday, the second month in a row as signs of slowing growth multiply in the eurozone. New orders fell 4.2 percent month-on-month, federal statistics authority Destatis said in preliminary figures adjusted for price, seasonal and calendar effects. The reading disappointed expectations for a 0.5 percent rebound from analysts surveyed by Factset.
BANKING
UniCredit merger mooted
UniCredit SpA could explore a merger with Commerzbank AG if talks with Deutsche Bank AG fall through, two people with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The people said that UniCredit would not crash the current talks about a tie-up between Germany’s two largest banks and that UniCredit’s current focus was now on its turnaround plan. The news is likely to rekindle expectations of further consolidation in the battered European banking sector, analysts said.
BANKING
Mideast merger discussed
Abu Dhabi is considering combining Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC with First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC to create the Middle East’s largest lender, people with knowledge of the matter said. The emirate plans to wait for a three-way combination of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC, Union National Bank PJSC and Al Hilal Bank to close before starting fresh talks to condense the finance industry further, the people said. Deliberations about a potential combination are in early stages and are being discussed at the shareholder level of both banks, the people said.
FRANCE
Laws for bonuses mulled
The government plans to cap executive “golden handshakes” at 30 percent of their salary, Minister of Finance Bruno le Maire said yesterday, describing as “excessive” a multimillion-euro exit package planned for Airbus SAS chief executive officer Tom Enders. “I will limit the amount of bosses’ golden handshakes to 30 percent of their salary,” Le Maire told the BFM news channel. Le Monde newspaper earlier reported that Enders could get a golden parachute farewell pay deal worth 36.8 million euros (US$41 million).
ENTERTAINMENT
Singapore plan criticized
Genting Singapore Ltd and Las Vegas Sands Corp’s pledges to put S$9 billion (US$6.7 billion) into tourist attractions in Singapore to keep their exclusive casino operating licenses was met with little enthusiasm by analysts and investors. At least six analysts downgraded Genting in the wake of the news, citing the hefty price tag for the license extension and the Singaporean government’s plan to raise gambling taxes after 2022. Genting shares yesterday fell as much as 9.8 percent, the most since August 2015.
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
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day