INDIA
Industrial output slips
Industrial output slipped by a surprise 0.6 percent in December from a year earlier, data showed yesterday, dampening hopes that Asia’s third-largest economy could be on the upswing. The deterioration in the output of India’s factories, mines and utilities, undershot market expectations of a 0.8 percent rise in December, according to a Dow Jones Newswires poll. The weak official figures will deal another blow to the scandal-tainted government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has been keen to revive the economy with his Congress-led administration facing elections next year. Manufacturing output slipped 0.7 percent in December from the same month a year earlier, while mining production slid 4.0 percent.
OPTICS
Olympus cuts profit outlook
Olympus Corp, a Japanese camera and endoscope maker, cut its outlook for profit after booking an impairment loss at its imaging division and said it will announce new plans for its camera business in coming months. Net income will probably be ￥6 billion (US$64 million) in the 12 months ending March 31, compared with the previous forecast for ￥8 billion, according to a statement from the Tokyo-based company yesterday. Sales will be ￥740 billion, compared with a previous projection for ￥757 billion. The company aims to have a reorganization plan ready for its camera business by the time it announces earnings for the year ending March 31, senior executive director Yasuo Takeuchi said. Olympus expects to lose about ￥16 billion this fiscal year at its camera business, double the ￥8 billion target set in November, according to the statement. Olympus cut its full-year sales target for cameras to ￥110 billion from the ￥129 billion estimate made in November, according to the statement.
CONSUMER GOODS
Colgate expects bolivar hit
US giant Colgate-Palmolive said on Monday it would take a significant loss in the current quarter from Venezuela’s 32 percent currency devaluation announced last week. The company said that in a preliminary assessment of the impact of the devaluation of the bolivar, it would take a one-time after-tax loss of US$120 million, or US$0.25 per share, in this year’s first quarter, “related to the re-measurement of the local balance sheet at the date of the devaluation.” There would also be an ongoing impact of US$0.05 to US$0.07 a share each quarter this year related to adjusting local Venezuela financial statements to the new currency regime, Colgate said. However, it added: “The devaluation will not have any impact on the company’s 2012 results of operations or financial position.”
TIRES
Michelin drives up profits
Tire maker Michelin says its profits rose 7.5 percent last year despite a struggling car market in Europe, and expects to keep up volumes this year. Michelin SA said in a statement yesterday that it was helped by growth in emerging markets and high margins on specialty tires. Michelin reported 21.47 billion euros (US$28.75 billion) in sales, up 5.8 percent from 20.72 billion euros in 2011, but slightly below forecasts of 21.62 billion euros by analysts surveyed by FactSet. The company, based in Clermont-Ferrand in central France, said last year’s profits were 1.57 billion euros, up from 1.46 billion euros the year before. Michelin says it expects to “hold volumes steady this year, in a market environment that is uncertain in mature markets, but still expanding in the new ones.”
RETAIL
AmEx starts Twitter sales
American Express on Monday began letting users of its payment cards make purchases with messages fired off at Twitter as the popular social network dabbles with making money from e-commerce. American Express announced that members who synchronize their cards with Twitter can take advantage of offers “tweeted” by the financial services company. American Express will promote products in messages fired off at Twitter. Card holders buy items by tweeting indicated hashtags, with their accounts being charged accordingly. Depending on the offers, products will be shipped to buyers or picked up in shops.
COSMETICS
New markets boost L’Oreal
French cosmetics giant L’Oreal said on Monday its net profit rose by 17.6 percent last year to 2.87 billion euros (US$3.8 billion) and that it expects to top the performance this year. Sales rose by 10.4 percent to 22.46 billion euros, or a 6.2 percent gain taking currency fluctuations into account. Chief executive Jean-Paul Agon said: “2012 also marked a milestone in the acceleration of the Group’s internationalization, as the ‘New Markets’ became the No. 1 geographic zone.” This includes the Asia-Pacific region, where sales rose by 9.6 percent on a like-for-like basis and 18.4 percent on a reported basis. Latin American sales rose by 8.7 percent on a reported basis, and by 17.6 percent in Africa and the Middle East.
STEEL
ThyssenKrupp earnings fall
ThyssenKrupp AG, Germany’s biggest steelmaker, reported adjusted earnings for the first fiscal quarter that fell 38 percent as the economic slowdown eroded demand. Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes fell to 229 million euros (US$307 million) from 372 million a year earlier, the Essen, Germany-based company said yesterday in a statement. Sales for the quarter ended Dec. 31 fell 7.9 percent to 8.84 billion euros. “We cannot be satisfied with the Group’s current earning power,” chief executive officer Heinrich Hiesinger said in the statement. The company intends to save 500 million euros by reorganizing its European steel business and cutting more than 2,000 jobs.
BAKERY PRODUCTS
Hostess auctions approved
Hostess Brands Inc won bankruptcy court approval to hold auctions for brands including Wonder Bread, Twinkies and Drake. US Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in White Plains, New York, on Monday approved Flowers Foods Inc, McKee Foods Corp, United States Bakery Inc, Apollo Global Management LLC and C. Dean Metropoulos & Co as so-called stalking-horse, or lead, bidders for most of Hostess’ cake and bread brands, setting the thresholds other suitors will have to exceed. A sale hearing, to approve the highest and best bids, is set for March 19.
INDONESIA
Key rate held for 12th month
The central bank yesterday kept its key interest rate steady at 5.75 percent for the 12th straight month as it looks to boost growth in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. Inflation hit a four-year high on a monthly basis last month at 1.03 percent, from 0.54 percent in December as food prices soared following seasonal flooding. Bank Indonesia spokesman Difi Johansyah said there were risk factors that could increase inflationary pressure, “such as weather that could disrupt food production and distribution.” The bank expects inflation to remain in check, however, between 3.5 and 5.5 percent until 2014.
Japanese technology giant Softbank Group Corp said Tuesday it has sold its stake in Nvidia Corp, raising US$5.8 billion to pour into other investments. It also reported its profit nearly tripled in the first half of this fiscal year from a year earlier. Tokyo-based Softbank said it sold the stake in Silicon Vally-based Nvidia last month, a move that reflects its shift in focus to OpenAI, owner of the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT. Softbank reported its profit in the April-to-September period soared to about 2.5 trillion yen (about US$13 billion). Its sales for the six month period rose 7.7 percent year-on-year
CRESTING WAVE: Companies are still buying in, but the shivers in the market could be the first signs that the AI wave has peaked and the collapse is upon the world Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported a new monthly record of NT$367.47 billion (US$11.85 billion) in consolidated sales for last month thanks to global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Last month’s figure represented 16.9 percent annual growth, the slowest pace since February last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 11 percent. Cumulative sales in the first 10 months of the year grew 33.8 percent year-on-year to NT$3.13 trillion, a record for the same period in the company’s history. However, the slowing growth in monthly sales last month highlights uncertainty over the sustainability of the AI boom even as
BUST FEARS: While a KMT legislator asked if an AI bubble could affect Taiwan, the DGBAS minister said the sector appears on track to continue growing The local property market has cooled down moderately following a series of credit control measures designed to contain speculation, the central bank said yesterday, while remaining tight-lipped about potential rule relaxations. Lawmakers in a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee voiced concerns to central bank officials that the credit control measures have adversely affected the government’s tax income and small and medium-sized property developers, with limited positive effects. Housing prices have been climbing since 2016, even when the central bank imposed its first set of control measures in 2020, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) said. “Since the second half of
Tax revenue from securities transactions last month increased 41.9 percent from a year earlier to NT$30.3 billion (US$975.8 million), rising on an annual basis for the third consecutive month and marking the highest for the month of October as Taiwanese stocks continued to perform strongly, data released by the Ministry of Finance showed yesterday. Last month, the TAIEX surged 2,412.81 points, or 9.34 percent, marking its largest-ever monthly rise for October as market sentiment was buoyed by a nearly 15 percent gain in contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which accounts for more than 40 percent of the
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