RETAIL
Carrefour mulls China sale
Carrefour SA is weighing options including a sale of its Chinese business, people familiar with the matter said. The French retail giant is working with an adviser and has begun reaching out to potential suitors, the people said. Carrefour could seek about US$1 billion for the Chinese business, but it might also opt to divest just a stake or decide against a sale, the people said. A spokeswoman for Carrefour said a sale of the China unit is “not on the agenda.”
STEEL
ArcelorMittal profit dips 34%
ArcelorMittal SA, the world’s biggest steelmaker, reported its smallest quarterly profit since 2016 and warned that global demand outside of China would be lower than previously expected as the industry faces increasing pressure. The company posted first-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of US$1.65 billion, down 34 percent from a year earlier. ArcelorMittal expects global demand outside of China to increase 1 to 2 percent and forecasts a contraction of up to 1 percent in Europe.
CHINA
Inflation rises in China
Factory and consumer inflation picked up last month, a positive sign for the world’s second-largest economy. Data released yesterday showed that the consumer price index — a key measure of retail inflation — rose 2.5 percent year-on-year last month, up from 2.3 percent in March. The gain came on the back of soaring pork prices — rising 14.4 percent year-on-year — owing to an outbreak of African swine fever that has led to the culling of a million pigs. The producer price index — an important barometer of domestic demand — climbed 0.9 percent, from 0.4 percent in March.
ELECTRONICS
Panasonic expects profit fall
Panasonic Corp yesterday reported a boost in annual net profit, but offered a pessimistic forecast for the year ahead due to slower sales of industrial systems and reform costs. Annual net profit was up 20.4 percent year-on-year at ¥284.1 billion (US$2.59 billion), with asset sales and a revision of its pension scheme compensating for declining profits in key segments. The company forecasts a 29.6 percent fall in net profit to ¥200 billion for the year to March next year.
BANKING
UniCredit Q1 profit up 25%
UniCredit SpA, Italy’s biggest bank, reduced operating expenses by 4.2 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier and set aside less money for bad loans. That helped the bank beat estimates for net income even as low interest rates and a weakening Italian economy weighed on revenue. First-quarter net income rose about 25 percent to 1.39 billion euros (US$1.56 billion), boosted by 258 million euros of gains from real-estate disposal and a 320 million euro release of provisions after a settlement with the US over Iran sanctions.
MINING
AngloGold to sell assets
AngloGold Ashanti Ltd moved closer to exiting South Africa by announcing plans to sell its remaining assets in the country. The sale would include Mponeng, the world’s deepest mine and AngloGold’s last underground operation in South Africa. AngloGold said the sales process is at an early stage. The company’s gold output in South Africa has already dropped sharply, with production falling to 487,000 ounces last year, from 903,000 ounces in 2017.
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