SOUTH KOREA
Rates remain unchanged
The central bank yesterday kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record-equaling low of 2 percent for the fourth straight month. The last time the rate was down at 2 percent was in 2009-2010 when Asia’s fourth-largest economy was seeking to recover from the global financial crisis. Some analysts predict a fresh 25 basis points cut by the Bank of Korea in April or May after the first quarter economic performance is confirmed. South Korea’s economy registered its slowest growth for more than two years in the fourth quarter, expanding 0.4 percent in the October-December period from the previous quarter.
AUTOMAKERS
European sales rise
European car-sales gains accelerated last month as price cuts and economic-growth prospects encouraged consumers to buy new models such as Renault SA’s Clio hatchback and a station wagon variant of Volkswagen AG’s Golf. Registrations rose 6.2 percent last month from a year earlier to 1.03 million vehicles, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, or ACEA, said yesterday. That compares with increases of 4.9 percent in December and 5.4 percent for all of last year, the first year of growth after a six-year drop. Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus were among smaller markets in the region where car sales jumped the most last month.
BANKING
Spanish bank makes offer
CaixaBank SA, Spain’s third-largest lender, offered to buy the remainder of Portugal’s Banco BPI SA it does not own for as much as 1.1 billion euros (US$1.3 billion). CaixaBank, which controls 44 percent of BPI, will pay 1.329 euros in cash per share, the company said in a regulatory filing yesterday. BPI shares closed at 1.04 euros on Monday after gaining 1.7 percent this year. CaixaBank will proceed with the acquisition provided BPI shareholders agree to scrap a 20 percent voting right limit for investors, the bank said. In September, the Spanish firm bought Barclays PLC’s banking operations in Spain for 820 million euros.
ENERGY
Shipments may decrease
A shortage of coal-seam gas, needed to feed about US$60 billion of export projects in eastern Australia, might prompt developers to reduce shipments in the long term, according to Credit Suisse AG. The liquefied natural gas developments in Queensland face a potential shortfall of 4,500 to 9,000 petajoules over two decades, or as much as 30 percent of the supplies needed, Sydney-based analysts Mark Samter and Martin Kronborg said yesterday in a telephone interview. While a deal to bring Arrow Energy Ltd’s gas into the plants developed by companies including Santos Ltd and BG Group PLC would fix the problem, getting it to the projects would be expensive, the analysts said.
HOTELS
Profits beat expectations
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC reported that last year’s profit beat analyst’s estimates as the owner of the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza brands boosted revenue in the Americas. Adjusted earnings per share was unchanged from last year at US$1.583, the Denham, England-based company said in a statement yesterday. Analysts predicted US$1.556, the average of 23 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue per available room, an industry measure of occupancy and rates known as revpar, increased by 6.1 percent.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in server chips, expects revenue to decline this year due to sagging demand for 5-nanometer artificial intelligence (AI) chips from a North America-based major customer, a company executive said yesterday. That would be the first contraction in revenue for Alchip as it has been enjoying strong revenue growth over the past few years, benefiting from cloud-service providers’ moves to reduce dependence on Nvidia Corp’s expensive AI chips by building their own AI accelerator by outsourcing chip design. The 5-nanometer chip was supposed to be a new growth engine as the lifecycle
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