STEEL
Tata optimistic despite EU
Tata Steel forecast improving global demand in spite of European woes, as the world’s No.7 steelmaker reported a bigger-than-expected drop in quarterly profit after being squeezed by weak prices, lower volume and higher input costs. The company, whose European operations account for two-thirds of its global capacity of about 28 million tonnes, reported that consolidated net profit for its fiscal fourth quarter plunged 90 percent. In the same period last year, a one-off gain had boosted earnings. “We expect global steel consumption to improve but production may dip again,” finance chief Koushik Chatterjee said. “Steel demand in emerging countries like India and China is growing, but in Europe it is expected to drop.”
TECHNOLOGY
Yahoo mulls Alibaba sale
Yahoo! Inc. may sell half of its 40 percent stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴集團) back to the Chinese Internet company for US$7 billion and consider a dividend payment, AllThingsD Web site reported. The deal values China’s biggest e-commerce operator at US$35 billion, and the closely held company is in the midst of raising funds to buy back the stake, the technology blog site reported today. Yahoo’s board is meeting today to review the transaction, it said. Alibaba stepped up efforts to repurchase stock held by Yahoo in September, when the US company fired former chief executive officer Carol Bartz, who opposed a transaction. Yahoo board member Daniel Loeb is expected to approve the transaction with Alibaba, according to the AllThingsD report.
FINANCE
EBRD elects UK president
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) shareholders on Friday elected senior civil servant Suma Chakrabarti as the bank’s first British president, in a process lauded for its open selection. Chakrabarti replaces Germany’s Thomas Mirow, president since 2008. Previous EBRD presidents have always been French or German. Chakrabarti, who was elected for a four-year term, is currently permanent secretary — the most senior civil servant — at Britain’s Ministry of Justice. He previously ran Britain’s Department for International Development where he worked closely with economies undergoing substantial reform in eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and the Middle East and North Africa. “The success of a British candidate to lead this important European institution shows the strength of and support for Britain’s influence in Europe and around the world,” British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said.
POLITICS
Ireland says no second vote
Ireland’s government denied on Friday that it would stage a second referendum if voters decide this month to reject the EU fiscal treaty, as has happened the last two times the Irish put a complex EU pact to their people. Government leaders scrambled to limit damage to their campaign for a yes vote after Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton appeared to suggest that the treaty must be ratified even if that meant telling uncooperative Irish voters to try again. That is exactly what happened when voters rejected the EU’s previous two treaties in 2001 and 2008, leading to the widely held view that the Irish governments will not take no for an answer when it comes to European accords. Rejecting the treaty in the May 31 referendum could box the country into a cash-flow crisis.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
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