MULTINATIONALS
Sony eyes ￥500bn profit
Sony Corp forecast operating profit will reach ￥500 billion (US$4.2 billion) in the year starting April 2017, the Tokyo-based company said yesterday. That compares with its forecast for ￥20 billion in operating profit this year. Sony is also targeting a boost in its return-on-equity to above 10 percent. Sony shares closed at ￥3,174.5 before the announcement. The stock has surged 28 percent this year, compared with a 5.3 percent rise in the benchmark TOPIX. Sony this month forecast an annual operating profit of ￥20 billion, compared with an earlier projection for a ￥40 billion loss.
HONG KONG
Shanghai short sales coming
Foreign investors will be able to bet on declines in Shanghai equities through the exchange link with Hong Kong starting on March 2. Short sales will be limited to 1 percent or less of daily turnover for a specific stock, or a maximum 5 percent for the total trading over a 10-day period, Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd (HKEx) said yesterday. Traders can only input short-selling orders in multiples of 100 shares, while the price can’t be lower than the most recent execution level for a security, HKEx said.
SHIPPING
Neptune sells logistics unit
Singapore container shipping firm Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) said on Tuesday it is selling its logistics business to Japanese freight company Kintetsu World Express Inc for US$1.2 billion. NOL said in a filing with the Singapore Exchange its decision to sell APL Logistics would allow it to focus on its core liner shipping business. Proceeds from the sale will be used to strengthen the company’s financial position, including repaying debts, said NOL, Southeast Asia’s biggest container line. NOL, which is 65 percent owned by Singapore state-linked investment firm Temasek Holdings Ltd, said the transaction would be completed by the middle of this year.
REAL ESTATE
Morgan Stanley seeks exit
Morgan Stanley’s property unit appointed advisers as it seeks to exit its A$9 billion (US$7 billion) real estate business in Australia. Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing said in a statement it plans to sell its holding in Investa Property Group, Australia’s third-biggest owner of city center offices, and that UBS AG and Morgan Stanley Australia would “explore strategic alternatives.” Morgan Stanley said successful bidders could engage the office management unit to run any of the properties they acquire. Potential overseas buyers include LaSalle Investment Management, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Blackstone Group, the Australian newspaper has reported.
TRAVEL
Expedia to raise AAE stake
US online travel operator Expedia Inc announced on Tuesday that it had signed an agreement with AirAsia Berhad to purchase an additional 25 percent equity interest of a Singapore-based joint venture between the two companies. This US$86.3 million investment will increase Expedia’s total ownership in AAE Travel Pte Ltd to 75 percent, the company said in a statement. The joint venture was formed in 2011. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of this year, at which point Expedia expects to include the joint venture financial results in its consolidated financial statements. The company said its consolidated sales this year may show a strong growth from US$5.76 billion last year.
JAPAN
Household spending tumbles
Japanese household spending last year declined at its fastest pace in eight years, official data showed on Tuesday, underscoring the impact of the country’s first sales tax hike in nearly two decades. The world’s No. 3 economy posted zero growth in economy over the full year, partly due to weak private spending which accounts for about 60 percent of GDP. Last year, the average household spent ￥251,481 (US$2,115) each month, down 3.2 percent from the previous year and marking the first year-over-year decline since Japan’s quake-tsunami accident in 2011.
UNITED KINGDOM
Inflation hits new low
British officials say the inflation rate fell last month to an annual 0.3 percent — the lowest on record — amid falling energy prices and supermarket price wars. The Office of National Statistics said on Tuesday the rate is down from December’s rate of 0.5 percent. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has predicted that inflation may turn negative in the coming months, but said he believed low inflation to be a short-term phenomenon that would boost spending among consumers. Inflation is well below the central bank’s 2 percent target rate, but Carney said last week the bank will “look through” what it sees as temporary drops.
GERMANY
Investor confidence rises
A survey shows that investor confidence in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, has risen to its highest level in a year though the increase was a little short of expectations amid concerns over Ukraine and Greece. The ZEW institute said on Tuesday its monthly confidence index, which measures investors’ economic outlook for the next six months, rose to 53 points for this month from 48.4 last month — the fourth consecutive increase. Economists had predicted a rise to 55 points. ZEW president Clemens Fuest said the European Central Bank’s decision to start buying government bonds with newly printed money improved sentiment along with robust fourth-quarter German economic growth.
TELECOMS
Hutchison steps up talks
Hong Kong’s Hutchison Whampoa Ltd (和記黃埔) has intensified negotiations with VimpelCom Ltd to combine their wireless assets in Italy, according to two people familiar with the matter. The companies have made progress in resolving disagreements over ownership structure, with talks focusing on Hutchison’s 3 Italia unit buying VimpelCom’s Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA, one of the people said. The combined businesses, with more than 30 million mobile subscribers and about 6.7 billion euros (US$7.6 billion) in 2013 revenue, would challenge market leader Telecom Italia SpA. In the UK, Hutchison started exclusive talks last month to acquire Telefonica SA’s O2 unit for as much as ￡10.25 billion (US$15.8 billion).
RETAIL
Tesco names chairman
Troubled British supermarket giant Tesco on Tuesday named John Allan as chairman, ending a four-month search after Richard Broadbent resigned amid an accounting scandal. Allan, 66, will join the board and be appointed chairman on March 1, when Broadbent will step down from the board, Tesco said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange. Allan is currently on the boards of electrical retailer Dixons Carphone and postal operator Royal Mail, but is to step down from those positions when he takes up his new role at Tesco.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
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