■CHEMICALS
BASF net profit slumps
Germany’s BASF, the world’s top chemicals group, said yesterday its second-quarter net profit slumped 74 percent, and while its business appeared to have reached bottom, it saw no signs of a sustained upturn. The group said its net profit came in at 343 million euros (US$480 million) on sales down 23 percent to 24.7 billion euros. In a statement, finance director Kurt Bock said that owing to the global downturn and the cost of integrating the Swiss company Ciba, “BASF expects a significant decline in sales and earnings in 2009.” “We are therefore unlikely to achieve our goal of earning our cost of capital in 2009,” Bock said.
■TELECOMS
Alcatel-Lucent turns profit
French-US telecommunications firm Alcatel-Lucent said yesterday it had earned a profit of 14 million euros (US$19.7 million) in the second quarter. That represents the first profits the company has booked since Alcatel and Lucent merged on Dec. 1, 2006. By the second quarter of last year, the company had lost 1.1 billion euros. Turnover stood at 3.9 billion euros for the quarter, down 4.8 percent from the first quarter of last year. However, company head Ben Verwaayen said market conditions would “remain difficult” and that the market for its products would shrink by between 8 percent and 12 percent this year.
■AVIATION
Rolls-Royce profit surges
Aircraft engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce PLC yesterday reported a five-fold rise in first-half results as it marked up the value of foreign currency hedges on its books. The British company made £1.86 billion (US$3 billion) in the six months ended last month, compared with £292 million a year earlier. Looking ahead, the world’s second-largest aircraft engine maker said its order book jumped by £2 billion to a record £57.5 billion. It said it increased despite a challenging external environment and the impact of delays in production of the Airbus A380, which are now being delivered to airlines, and Boeing 787, which hasn’t flown yet.
■TELECOMS
BT sees drop in profit
BT Group PLC, Britain’s largest telecoms company, yesterday reported a 33 percent drop in first-quarter profits amid tough competition and falling prices for Internet connections. Net profit in the three months to June 30 fell to £214 million from £318 million the year before. Revenues rose 1 percent to £5.2 billion, boosted by favorable exchange rates and acquisitions. Chief executive Ian Livingstone said the group is “on track to deliver reductions in operating costs and capital expenditure of well over £1 billion and to generate group free cash flow of over £1 billion this year.” The company said it also expects revenues to fall by between 4 percent and 5 percent.
■ELECTRONICS
Siemens net profit down 7%
Siemens AG said yesterday that net profit for its fiscal third quarter fell 7 percent as the global recession curbed demand for its products, which range from light bulbs to high-speed trains. The Munich-based company said net profit in three months to June 30 fell to 1.3 billion euros from 1.4 billion euros a year ago. Revenues for the third quarter fell 4 percent to 18.3 billion euros from 19.2 billion euros. The company confirmed its full-year targets, even in the “current challenging global economic environment.”
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique