BANKING
BNP profit slumps 13.2%
French bank BNP Paribas saw its earnings fall significantly in the second quarter, driven in part by a downturn in its corporate and investment banking division. France’s largest bank by revenue yesterday said net income dropped 13.2 percent in the April-to-June period to 1.8 billion euros (US$2.2 billion). Its revenues slumped 8 percent to 10.1 billion euros, as corporate and investment banking clients pulled back business in light of the uncertainty of Europe’s debt crisis and the global economic slowdown. Revenue at the corporate and investment banking arm fell 23.6 percent over the second quarter last year.
COMMODITIES
Mitsubishi earnings fall
Japan’s top trading house Mitsubishi Corp yesterday said that lower commodity prices and labor action at its Australian coking-coal subsidiary weighed on quarterly earnings. The company said its net profit slipped 15.2 percent to ￥98.14 billion (US$1.25 billion) in the three months to June from a year ago, while revenue edged down 0.8 percent to ￥4.8 trillion in the quarter. Mitsubishi blamed the revenue drop on lower prices and falling output at the coal project amid the labor strife. A strong yen and higher sales and administrative costs also weighed on results, it said in a statement.
SPORTSWEAR
Adidas raises profit forecast
Sportswear maker Adidas reported a nearly 18 percent increase in second-quarter earnings and raised its full-year profit forecast, citing growth in emerging markets and the impact of major events, such as soccer’s European Championship and the Olympics. Adidas AG yesterday said its net earnings totaled 165 million euros in the April-June period, up from 140 million euros a year earlier. The company’s revenue rose nearly 15 percent to 3.52 billion euros from 3.06 billion euros during the same period. The company raised its full-year earnings growth forecast to between 15 and 17 percent. That compares with its previous forecast of a range between 12 and 17 percent.
CONFECTIONERY
Darrell Lea closes 32 outlets
Australian chocolate retailer Darrell Lea, which has stores across Australia, New Zealand and the US, was forced to close 32 outlets yesterday as it battles to stay in business. The confectionery firm, an iconic brand in Australia that was set up in 1927 and is still owned by the same family, was placed into voluntary administration on July 10 over concerns about its ability to meet its financial obligations. PPB Advisory, which has been placed in charge of administering the company, said it had no choice but to shut Australian shops with immediate effect, with the loss of nearly 200 jobs.
INTERNET
Yahoo sued for negligence
Yahoo Inc, the operator of the biggest US Web portal, was sued for negligence over its disclosure that as many as 450,000 user names and passwords were stolen from one of its sites. A Yahoo user who said his login credentials were posted online after a hacker infiltrated a company database on July 11 filed a complaint on Tuesday in federal court in San Jose, California. TrustedSec, a Berea, Ohio-based security consulting company, said that a hacker group called D33DS had posted details of 450,000 user accounts on an unencrypted file taken from Yahoo Voices, a site where users can share their own content.
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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