JAPAN
Further stimulus likely
The government will announce about ￥12 trillion (US$136 billion) in fiscal stimulus measures to boost the nation’s shrinking economy, local media reported yesterday. The Yomiuri Shimbun and Kyodo News both reported the figure for extra spending in the fiscal year through March, with the Yomiuri saying that ￥5 trillion to ￥6 trillion will be directed to public works projects, without citing any sources. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told business leaders yesterday that he hopes to compile the measures this week. More than ￥4 trillion would be allocated for public works and the extra budget will also allocate around ￥2.6 trillion to fund pension payments, Kyodo News reported.
SOUTH KOREA
LG to boost investment
LG Group says it is increasing annual investments to record highs despite the uncertainty in the global economy and slow consumer demand. The conglomerate said yesterday it is boosting spending on facilities, and research and development by 19 percent this year, over a year earlier, to 20 trillion won (US$18.8 billion). LG says it has allocated 67 percent of the investment to its electronics units, LG Electronics and LG Display. The electronics firms will use 13.4 trillion won to build production lines for small-size LCD panels and advanced organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays. Part of the money will be invested in developing future displays, including flexible displays and transparent screens.
AUTOMAKERS
Japan’s vehicle sales soar
The number of vehicles sold in Japan last year jumped 26.1 percent from 2011, as annual sales of cars, trucks and buses, excluding mini vehicles — four-wheeled vehicles with engines under 660cc — came in at 3,390,274 units, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said yesterday. Sales of passenger cars totaled 3,014,651 units last year, up 26.3 percent year-on-year, while sales of trucks climbed 24.4 percent to 363,685 units. Bus sales gained 12.1 percent to 11,938 units, industry data showed. In 2011, Japan’s domestic vehicle sales dropped 16.7 percent after a tsunami and earthquake damaged factories and crippled automakers’ supply chains.
ATOMIC ENERGY
Toshiba ups US firm stake
Toshiba Corp has boosted its stake in US nuclear power plant builder Westinghouse Electric to 87 percent, the company said yesterday, as it eyes atomic opportunities outside Japan. The Japanese technology conglomerate said it paid about ￥125 billion for a 20 percent holding in Westinghouse held by US-based engineering firm The Shaw Group. The deal announced yesterday finalized an option that Shaw exercised in October last year to sell its entire stake in Westinghouse to Toshiba.
AIRLINES
Air Berlin boss to step down
Germany’s second-biggest airline, Air Berlin PLC, says its chief is stepping down after leading a drive to turn around the company over the past 16 months. The airline said yesterday that chief executive officer Hartmut Mehdorn, who took over in 2011 after company founder Joachim Hunold quit, is retiring from the position “by mutual agreement.” Mehdorn will become a non-executive director. Air Berlin has struggled in Europe’s highly competitive travel market. Under Mehdorn, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways has become its biggest shareholder with a stake of nearly 30 percent. It has cut some routes and sold a majority stake in its frequent flyer program to Etihad.
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Taiwan’s property market is entering a freeze, with mortgage activity across the nation’s six largest cities plummeting in the first quarter, H&B Realty Co (住商不動產) said yesterday, citing mounting pressure on housing demand amid tighter lending rules and regulatory curbs. Mortgage applications in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung totaled 28,078 from January to March, a sharp 36.3 percent decline from 44,082 in the same period last year, the nation’s largest real-estate brokerage by franchise said, citing data from the Joint Credit Information Center (JCIC, 聯徵中心). “The simultaneous decline across all six cities reflects just how drastically the market
Ashton Hall’s morning routine involves dunking his head in iced Saratoga Spring Water. For the company that sells the bottled water — Hall’s brand of choice for drinking, brushing his teeth and submerging himself — that is fantastic news. “We’re so thankful to this incredible fitness influencer called Ashton Hall,” Saratoga owner Primo Brands Corp’s CEO Robbert Rietbroek said on an earnings call after Hall’s morning routine video went viral. “He really helped put our brand on the map.” Primo Brands, which was not affiliated with Hall when he made his video, is among the increasing number of companies benefiting from influencer
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