FINANCE
S&P cuts Russia’s rating
The Standard & Poor’s (S&P) credit agency yesterday cut Russia’s credit rating for the first time in more than five years, citing the capital flight and risk to investment in the wake of the Ukraine crisis. Russia’s economic growth slowed to 0.8 percent in the first quarter, sharply worse than earlier forecast while spooked investors pulled about US$70 billion out of the country — more than in all of last year. However, the cut in Russia’s rating from “BBB” to “BBB-” is the most tangible economic result of Russia’s policies toward Ukraine so far. “BBB-” is just a step above a speculative or non-investment grade.
TELECOMS
Nokia excludes India plant
Nokia Oyj will exclude its India phone factory from a 5.44 billion euro (US$7.5 billion) agreement to sell its mobile phone business to Microsoft Corp amid a legal battle over a tax dispute in the country. “We are leaving out the plant because of the tax issues,” Poonam Kaul, a Nokia India spokeswoman, said by telephone on Thursday. The plant, one of the Espoo, Finland-based company’s largest phone factories, will make products for Microsoft as part of a servicing agreement, Kaul said.
INTERNET
Baidu profit surges 24.1%
Baidu Inc (百度), operator of China’s most popular Internet search engine, says its quarterly profit jumped 24.1 percent over a year earlier as its mobile business grew. The Beijing-based company yesterday said it earned 2.5 billion yuan (US$407.8 million) in the three months ending March 31. Revenue rose 59.1 percent to 9.5 billion yuan. In a statement, chairman Robin Li (李彥宏) cited success in search and app distribution for the growth and said Baidu wants to expand in new areas such as location-based services.
INTERNET
Amazon beats expectations
Amazon.com Inc posted higher-than-expected sales growth in the first quarter and boosted its investments in technology, content and warehouses as the e-commerce giant branches out into new businesses. Revenue rose 23 percent from a year ago to US$19.74 billion, more than the average analyst estimate of US$19.4 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The Seattle-based company reported net income of US$108 million, or US$0.23 per share. That compares with net income of US$82 million, or US$0.18 per share last year. Analysts expected US$0.21 per share, according to FactSet.
AUTOMAKERS
Honda profit jumps 56.4%
Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co yesterday said its fiscal year net profit soared to US$5.6 billion, thanks to brisk sales and a weaker yen. For the year to March, Honda said it booked a net profit of ￥574 billion, up 56.4 percent from a year earlier, while revenue rose about 20 percent to ￥11.84 trillion. The company forecast a profit of ￥595 billion for the current year to March 2015.
GAMBLING
Bookmaker to reduce shops
William Hill PLC yesterday said it would close 109 of its British betting shops this year, blaming the decision on a tax increase on high stakes gambling machines. The firm, Britain’s largest bookmaker, said operating profit fell 14 percent in the first quarter of the year, hit by big payouts to gamblers on two weekends on which many of the top soccer sides had won. William Hill said the closure of the betting shops would put 420 jobs at risk and result in exceptional costs of up to ￡24 million (US$40.3 million).
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
‘DECENT RESULTS’: The company said it is confident thanks to an improving world economy and uptakes in new wireless and AI technologies, despite US uncertainty Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it plans to build a new server manufacturing factory in the US this year to address US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy. That would be the second server production base for Pegatron in addition to the existing facilities in Taoyuan, the iPhone assembler said. Servers are one of the new businesses Pegatron has explored in recent years to develop a more balanced product lineup. “We aim to provide our services from a location in the vicinity of our customers,” Pegatron president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng (鄭光治) told an online earnings conference yesterday. “We
LEAK SOURCE? There would be concern over the possibility of tech leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday stayed mum after a report said that the chipmaker has pitched chip designers Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Broadcom Inc about taking a stake in a joint venture to operate Intel Corp’s factories. Industry sources told the Central News Agency (CNA) that the possibility of TSMC proposing to operate Intel’s wafer fabs is low, as the Taiwanese chipmaker has always focused on its core business. There is also concern over possible technology leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺)
It was late morning and steam was rising from water tanks atop the colorful, but opaque-windowed, “soapland” sex parlors in a historic Tokyo red-light district. Walking through the narrow streets, camera in hand, was Beniko — a former sex worker who is trying to capture the spirit of the area once known as Yoshiwara through photography. “People often talk about this neighborhood having a ‘bad history,’” said Beniko, who goes by her nickname. “But the truth is that through the years people have lived here, made a life here, sometimes struggled to survive. I want to share that reality.” In its mid-17th to
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