■BANKING
French bank’s profits rise
Societe Generale SA, France’s second-largest bank, said yesterday that net profit more than doubled in the third quarter after better market conditions helped earnings at its investment banking unit. SocGen said in a statement that it made a net profit of 426 million euros (US$627 million) in the July to September period, compared with 183 million euros a year earlier. The results were slightly lower than the consensus forecast. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had predicted a net profit of 457 million euros.
■AUTOMOBILES
Nissan’s profit plummets
Nissan Motor said yesterday its first-half net profit plunged 92.9 percent from a year earlier due to weak sales, but it narrowed its full-year loss forecast. Japan’s No. 3 automaker, in which France’s Renault has a 44 percent stake, said it performed better than expected thanks to brisk growth in China and government incentives for people to buy new cars during the recession. Nissan logged a net profit of ¥9 billion (US$100 million) for the six months to September, against a profit of ¥126.3 billion in the same period a year earlier.
■APPAREL
Adidas profits drop 30%
German sportwear and equipment maker Adidas said yesterday that its net profit fell by 30 percent to 213 million euros in the third quarter of this year. The result was in line with forecasts and demonstrated the tough conditions faced by retailers, with Adidas adding that it expected a decline in income for the year as a whole. Sales for the three-month period slipped by 6 percent to 2.89 billion euros, a statement said, though when corrected for foreign exchange effects the figure showed an increase of 7 percent.
■RETAIL
M&S half-year profits rise
British retailer Marks and Spencer (M&S) said yesterday that net profits rose by half a percent to £224.3 million (US$369 million) during the first six months of its financial year. The company said its profit after tax figure for the six months to the end of September compared with a net gain of £223.2 million a year earlier. Pre-tax profits dipped slightly to £306.7 million in the first half while group revenue rose 2.8 percent to £4.3 billion.
■ICELAND
Keep controls, IMF says
The IMF has recommended Reykjavik maintain currency controls for the time being in order to ensure a stable currency, a report released on Tuesday said. The Icelandic central bank published the 98-page report containing the IMF recommendations and an assessment of Iceland’s economy. A year ago the global financial crisis sparked the collapse of three of the nation’s major banks and a rapid depreciation of the krona. It was later granted a US$2.1 billion emergency loan by the IMF.
■ELECTRONICS
Peek offers Twitter gadget
A US maker of mobile devices is offering a gadget solely dedicated to sending and receiving Twitter messages. The “TwitterPeek,” made by New York-based Peek, costs US$100 with six months of service or US$200 for a lifetime service plan. Peek called the TwitterPeek “the world’s first dedicated Twitter mobile device.” The device resembles a BlackBerry smartphone with a full-color screen for viewing messages and a keyboard for typing them.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary