INTERNET
Expedia seeks to buy Wotif
US-based online travel giant Expedia Group yesterday launched a A$700 million (US$658 million) takeover bid for Australian hotel booking Web site Wotif.com and its other businesses, the companies said. Under the deal, Expedia will pay A$3.06 per share to acquire all of the Wotif Group as the company widens its exposure to the fast-growing Asia-Pacific travel market. Wotif shareholders will also receive a special dividend of A$0.24 per share with the total A$3.30, a 25 percent premium to the last traded price.
MINING
Anglo to sell Lafarge
Global miner Anglo American PLC said it would sell its 50 percent stake in Lafarge Tarmac to Lafarge for a minimum consideration of ￡885 million (US$1.51 billion) in cash, on a debt and cash free basis. Lafarge Tarmac was formed as a 50:50 joint venture between Lafarge UK and Anglo American’s Tarmac business. The miner said it expects to use the proceeds to pay down debt. Anglo American and Lafarge would work toward finalizing the terms of a definitive agreement in the third quarter of this year, the company said.
ECONOMY
German output down
German industrial production contracted in May, hit by the number of public holidays, data showed yesterday. According to regular data compiled by the economy ministry, industrial output decreased by 1.8 percent in May, after slipping by 0.3 percent in April. Manufacturing output fell by 1.6 percent and construction output was down by as much as 4.9 percent, while energy construction output expanded by 1.0 percent, data showed.
HUMAN RESOURCES
Roberts Walter profits up
White-collar recruiter Robert Walters PLC reported a 5 percent rise in second-quarter gross profit, as an improved business environment encouraged firms to bring more permanent employees on board. The staffing company, which places workers in engineering, legal, marketing and banking jobs, said it expects full-year profit before tax to be at the upper end of market expectations. Analysts on average expect a full-year pretax profit of ￡12.13 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
FINANCE
Appeal in ‘whale’ case
A former JPMorgan Chase & Co trader has filed an appeal with a London tribunal court to challenge civil findings made by the UK’s financial watchdog against the bank over the “London Whale” debacle of 2012, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing tribunal records. Julien Grout, a junior trader with JPMorgan who was indicted in the US in September last year on five charges, will allege that he was “readily identifiable” in findings which were meant to be anonymous, the daily quoted people familiar with the matter as saying.
ECONOMY
Egypt raises taxes
Egypt raised the sales tax on cigarettes by up to 120 percent on Sunday last week and doubled the tax on alcohol as part of a series of measures to curb the budget deficit and reform the economy. The decisions were taken by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and published in the state’s official gazette, a day after a subsidy cut that increased the price of fuel and natural gas by more than 70 percent, angering drivers. The government is trying to reduce the deficit to 10 percent of GDP in the next fiscal year, from an expected shortfall of 12 percent last year and this year.
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
‘IMMENSE SWAY’: The top 50 companies, based on market cap, shape everything from technology to consumer trends, advisory firm Visual Capitalist said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the 10th-most valuable company globally this year, market information advisory firm Visual Capitalist said. TSMC sat on a market cap of about US$915 billion as of Monday last week, making it the 10th-most valuable company in the world and No. 1 in Asia, the publisher said in its “50 Most Valuable Companies in the World” list. Visual Capitalist described TSMC as the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry operator that rolls out chips for major tech names such as US consumer electronics brand Apple Inc, and artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers Nvidia Corp and Advanced
Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco), the Saudi state-owned oil giant, yesterday posted first-quarter profits of US$26 billion, down 4.6 percent from the prior year as falling global oil prices undermine the kingdom’s multitrillion-dollar development plans. Aramco had revenues of US$108.1 billion over the quarter, the company reported in a filing on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange. The company saw US$107.2 billion in revenues and profits of US$27.2 billion for the same period last year. Saudi Arabia has promised to invest US$600 billion in the US over the course of US President Donald Trump’s second term. Trump, who is set to touch
SKEPTICAL: An economist said it is possible US and Chinese officials would walk away from the meeting saying talks were productive, without reducing tariffs at all US President Donald Trump hailed a “total reset” in US-China trade relations, ahead of a second day of talks yesterday between top officials from Washington and Beijing aimed at de-escalating trade tensions sparked by his aggressive tariff rollout. In a Truth Social post early yesterday, Trump praised the “very good” discussions and deemed them “a total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner.” The second day of closed-door meetings between US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) were due to restart yesterday morning, said a person familiar
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