■Flat-screen TVs
Sanyo to meet demand
Sanyo Electric Co, whose shares have declined 41 percent this year, said it will increase production of flat-screen televisions next year as demand rises. Sanyo wants to sell more than 100,000 liquid-crystal display televisions in the six months to March 2004 from less than 10,000 annually at present, spokesman Atsushi Watanabe said. "The liquid-crystal display television market is growing quite rapidly," Watanabe said. "If we don't have a strong line up there, we'll lose share to rivals." Sanyo, which had a fiscal second-quarter loss, is reorganizing its businesses. The world's biggest maker of mobile-phone batteries and digital cameras for other companies should focus on its core strengths rather than take on stronger rivals in the market for flat-screen televisions, some investors said. "Sanyo is a weak brand," said Yasuo Kamaji, who manages Japanese Yen 300 billion (US$2.4 billion) at Sakura Investment Management Co, including Sanyo shares.
■ Electronics
TI boosts its Q4 forecast
Texas Instruments Inc said fourth-quarter earnings and revenue will top forecasts, as rising sales of chips for wireless devices signal a possible recovery for semiconductor companies. Net income will be about 1 cent a share, up from a forecast of break-even, and sales will drop 7 percent from the third quarter, instead of the 10 percent decline predicted in October, the company said in a statement. Shares of Texas Instruments and other chipmakers have climbed in the last month as investors bet that growing chip sales indicate a rise in technology spending. The Semiconductor Industry Association said Friday that chip sales in October rose 20 percent from the same period a year ago, largely on the strength of sales of semiconductors for wireless phones.
■ Economy
Japan's GDP shrinks
The Japanese government said yesterday its economy shrank 1.4 percent in the financial year to March 2002, less than the 1.8 percent decline announced earlier. The figures were revised due to changes in the measurement of private consumption, private inventories and public demand. The revised GDP figure for last financial year was partly boosted by an increase in private consumption to 1.5 percent from the earlier estimate of 1.3 percent. Economic growth in the year to March 2001 was revised sharply higher to 3.2 percent from 1.7 percent, in what was the strongest performance by the world's second largest economy since the year to March 1997, the Cabinet Office said.
■ Newcastle
First-half profit rises 40%
Scottish & Newcastle Plc, Britain's biggest beermaker, said fiscal first-half profit climbed 40 percent after it added Hartwall Oyj in February to gain share of faster-growing markets in Eastern Europe. The maker of Kronenbourg and Courage beer posted net income of UK Pound 137.9 million (US$215 million), or 25.1 pence a share, in the six months ended Oct. 27, compared with UK Pound 98.2 million, or 23 pence, a year ago. Sales grew 19 percent. "While conditions in many of our markets are less buoyant than a year ago, the fundamentals of the business are sound and our competitive position in all key markets is very strong," Chairman Brian Stewart said in a Regulatory News Service statement. Scottish & Newcastle plans to sell some or all of its UK pubs.
Agencies
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