■ENERGY
Shells reports profit jump
Royal Dutch Shell yesterday reported a 15 percent jump in net profits to US$4.393 billion in the second quarter, on cutting costs and raising output. “This is a good performance from Shell, despite today’s challenging macro-economic conditions. We are on track for growth,” Shell’s chief executive Peter Voser said in the company’s earnings statement. Shell added that its net profit, when also adjusted for the value of inventories of oil and gas, soared to US$4.21 billion in the three months to last month compared with the equivalent figure in the second quarter last year.
■AUTOMOBILES
Nissan sees net profit
Nissan Motor yesterday announced a quarterly net profit of ¥106.6 billion (US$1.22 billion), after a ¥16.5 billion loss a year earlier. Despite the strong quarterly result, it maintained its May forecast of a profit of ¥150 billion for the fiscal year ending March last year, with the automaker still wary of “exchange rate volatility.” Sales recovered globally in the quarter from April to last month, led by Asia, where revenue jumped 102.5 percent from a year earlier to ¥433.7 billion.
■CREDIT
Visa profit slips 2 percent
Visa Inc on Wednesday said its third-quarter profit slipped 2 percent, hurt by a sharp drop in investment income, but it posted increased operating income and maintained a strong forecast for its fiscal year. The San Francisco company posted net income of US$716 million, or US$0.97 per share, for the period ended June 30. That compared with net income of US$729 million, or US$0.97 cents per share, in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue rose 23 percent to US$2.03 billion from US$1.65 billion last year.
■PHARMACEUTICALS
Bayer’s profit plummets
German pharmaceutical giant Bayer said yesterday that its second-quarter net profit fell to 525 million euros (US$680 million), well below market expectations. Net profit fell by just 1.3 percent, but that compared with analysts forecasts for a leap of 45 percent compiled by Dow Jones Newswires. The poor result was because of weaker sales of Bayer’s pharmaceutical and agricultural products, the group said in a statement.
■ELECTRONICS
Recovery helps Siemens
A strong increase in orders in a recovering economy helped push earnings at Siemens AG 9 percent higher in the most recent quarter, the industrial conglomerate said yesterday. Siemens, based in Munich, reported net profit of nearly 1.44 billion euros for the period from April to last month, the company’s fiscal third quarter, up from 1.32 billion euros a year earlier. Orders were up 22 percent at 20.87 billion euros from last year’s 17.16 billion euros. The company said its order backlog now stands at 89 billion euros.
■PHARMACEUTICALS
Genzyme receives bid
Sanofi-Aventis is likely to make an unsolicited offer of up to US$70 a share for Genzyme, raising the stakes for what could become one of the year’s biggest deals, people briefed on the matter said on Wednesday. Sanofi’s board met on Wednesday and agreed to let management make a formal proposal, one of these people said. At US$70 a share, Sanofi’s bid would be worth about US$18.6 billion. Sanofi would likely issue a bear hug letter that would outline its proposed bid, these people said. Such a letter is friendly on its surface, but signals a willingness to go hostile if necessary.
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
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)