BANKING
UBS swings to profit in Q4
Switzerland’s biggest bank, UBS AG, yesterday said it earned 917 million Swiss francs (US$1 billion) in the fourth quarter following a large loss a year earlier — helped by a strong performance from its investment bank unit and a tax gain. UBS lost SF1.9 billion in the final quarter of 2012, when its earnings were dragged down by litigation and restructuring charges. The bank said its fourth-quarter pre-tax operating profit came in at SF449 million, compared with a loss of SF1.84 billion a year earlier, thanks to an increase in fee and commission income largely at its investment bank unit. UBS also reported a net income tax benefit of SF470 million on deferred taxes. The bank’s full-year net profit totaled SF3.17 billion, compared with a loss of SF2.48 billion in 2012. UBS said it would propose a 67 percent dividend increase to SF0.25 per share.
ENERGY
BP slides into loss
BP PLC, the West’s No. 4 oil company, reported weaker quarterly profits after its refining business swung to a loss, and said it would increase the accounting provision for the 2010 US oil spill by US$200 million. The British company yesterday reported underlying replacement cost profit of US$2.8 billion for the fourth quarter, 37 percent lower than the same period a year ago, but ahead of a consensus forecast of US$2.7 billion. BP is struggling to grow profits amid rising costs, the expense of finding fresh reserves and weak refining margins. It is also dealing with the fallout from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill that killed 11 men and despoiled the surrounding coastline in the US’ worst offshore environmental disaster. BP said the provision to cover the spill’s cleanup, fines, compensation and legal costs had risen to US$42.7 billion from US$42.5 billion last year.
ELECTRONICS
Sharp back in the black
Japanese electronics maker Sharp yesterday said it swung back to profit for the nine months to December, thanks to stronger sales and cost cutting. The Osaka-based company booked a ￥17.7 billion (US$175 million) net profit in the April-December period, reversing a net loss of ￥424.3 billion a year earlier. Sales jumped 21 percent to ￥2.16 trillion on brisk demand for panels, including its popular “IGZO” displays for mobile phones. “We have also taken various measures on a company-wide basis to improve our business foundations, including radical reductions in total costs and fixed costs centering on labor costs as well as capital investment,” it said. Sharp revised up its full-year operating profit forecast to ￥100 billion from ￥80 billion, but left its annual net profit forecast unchanged at ￥5 billion.
SEMICONDUCTORS
ARM disappoints in Q4
UK chip designer ARM Holdings missed fourth-quarter expectations for royalty revenue from the use of its processors in smartphones because of slower growth in sales by Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co. The Cambridge-based company reported processor royalties of US$130.4 million, up 7 percent, but short of analyst forecasts of US$137.9 million. Fears that the top-end smartphone market may have reached saturation were reinforced last month when Apple and Samsung, both ARM customers, reported lower-than-expected sales of the iPhone 5S and Galaxy S4 phones in the holiday season. ARM said its royalties continued to grow faster than the broader chip market, but the degree of outperformance was affected by slower sales of high-end smartphone chips in the second half of the year.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
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