Profit warnings increased by more than 70 percent in the final quarter at UK-listed companies, the biggest quarterly jump since the first quarter of 2001, according to Ernst & Young LLP (E&Y).
UK-listed companies issued 88 profit warnings in the fourth quarter, compared with 53 in the third quarter, hit by economic uncertainty and weakened consumer sentiment, E&Y said in a report published yesterday. In total, 206 companies issued 278 profit warnings last year, compared with 196 in the previous year.
“As evidenced by the sharp jump in the number of warnings, 2011 was a tough year for many companies and this year is likely to continue in the same vein with the gap between the winners and losers widening,” Alan Hudson, head of Ernst & Young’s UK restructuring practice, said in a statement. “Creditor patience cannot last forever and as growth becomes increasingly elusive, we expect further rounds of restructuring in the year ahead.”
Retailers issued the most warnings, 39 last year, more than the whole of 2009 and 2010 combined. The support services segment issued 33 warnings, while the software and computer services sector released 31 warnings, the most since 2008 and 40 percent more than in 2010, the report said.
The upward trend may continue this year if European finance leaders don’t resolve the sovereign debt crisis or growth in China slows or demand from the US weakens, it said.
“Moreover, there is still a risk that global unrest — especially in the Middle East and North Africa region — could continue to cause pricing and currency fluctuations, which again will put pressure on margins and make forecasting difficult,” the report said.
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
Nvidia is to open a quantum computing research lab in Boston, where it plans to collaborate with scientists from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said on Thursday. Huang made the announcement at Nvidia’s annual software developer conference in San Jose, California, where the company held a day of events focused on quantum computing. Nvidia added the program after Huang in January said that useful quantum computers are 20 years away, comments that he sought to walk back on Thursday while joined onstage by executives from quantum computing firms. “This is the first event in history
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