LOGISTICS
Kingtrans damaged in blast
Evergreen Group’s (長榮集團) Chinese logistics subsidiary, Kingtrans International Logistics (Tianjin) Co (天津長華國際物流), has been badly damaged by the deadly explosions in Tianjin this week. Evergreen on Friday said the Tianjin logistics unit is only 500m from the center of the explosions — the Tianjin Binhai New Area — on Wednesday night, therefore the blasts have dealt a big blow to its subsidiary. Sources from Tianjin familiar with the situation said that Kingtrans could lose tens of millions of yuan as the plant and shipping containers it owns have been almost completely destroyed.
LAWSUITS
‘Flash crash’ trader bailed
A British court has granted bail to the financial trader accused of contributing to the 2010 Wall Street “flash crash.” District Judge Quentin Purdy, sitting at Westminster Magistrate’s Court, accepted a renewed bail application from Navinder Singh Sarao with conditions, including a ban on travel outside Greater London and restrictions on the use of the Internet for financial purposes. Sarao must also provide a ￡50,000 (US$78,225) surety deposit. Sarao, 36, had been in custody awaiting an extradition hearing since he was arrested April 21 in London on charges including fraud and commodities manipulation.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
UBS finded for misstatement
A unit of UBS AG was fined US$750,000 for misstating that tax-exempt interest paid to customers was taxable, according to the US’ Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. As a result of inadequate procedures to address short positions in municipal bonds, UBS told about 4,370 customers that about US$1.2 million in interest the firm paid them was exempt from taxes, the authority said. In fact, UBS did not hold the bonds on behalf of the customers and the interest the firm paid them was taxable as ordinary income. The error resulted in the underpayment of about US$282,000 in federal taxes, the regulator said.
RETAIL
JC Penney losses narrow
JC Penney Co on Friday said that its losses narrowed in the second quarter on better-expected sales, fueled by men’s clothing, fine jewelry and the beauty brand Sephora. “Although there is much work to do ... it’s clear that when we execute well, we can deliver profitable sales and take market share,” JC Penney chief executive officer Marvin Ellison said. The retailer lost US$138 million, or US$0.45 per share, for the quarter that ended Aug. 1. That compares with a loss of US$172 million, or US$0.56 per share, a year earlier.
ENERGY
EU expected to pass GE bid
General Electric Co (GE) is expected to secure approval from EU antitrust regulators for its proposed 12.4 billion euro (US$13.78 billion) deal to buy French peer Alstom’s power business, two people familiar with the matter said on Friday. The green light from the European Commission is to come 14 years after it rejected General Electric’s attempt at a US$42 billion takeover of Honeywell International, despite clearance by US authorities. The US conglomerate, which offered concessions to head off the commission’s worries about the company’s largest-ever acquisition, improved its package last week.
EXTRATERRITORIAL REACH: China extended its legal jurisdiction to ban some dual-use goods of Chinese origin from being sold to the US, even by third countries Beijing has set out to extend its domestic laws across international borders with a ban on selling some goods to the US that applies to companies both inside and outside China. The new export control rules are China’s first attempt to replicate the extraterritorial reach of US and European sanctions by covering Chinese products or goods with Chinese parts in them. In an announcement this week, China declared it is banning the sale of dual-use items to the US military and also the export to the US of materials such as gallium and germanium. Companies and people overseas would be subject to
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) yesterday said that Intel Corp would find itself in the same predicament as it did four years ago if its board does not come up with a core business strategy. Chang made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions about the ailing US chipmaker, once an archrival of TSMC, during a news conference in Taipei for the launch of the second volume of his autobiography. Intel unexpectedly announced the immediate retirement of former chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger last week, ending his nearly four-year tenure and ending his attempts to revive the
WORLD DOMINATION: TSMC’s lead over second-placed Samsung has grown as the latter faces increased Chinese competition and the end of clients’ product life cycles Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) retained the No. 1 title in the global pure-play wafer foundry business in the third quarter of this year, seeing its market share growing to 64.9 percent to leave South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, the No. 2 supplier, further behind, Taipei-based TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report. TSMC posted US$23.53 billion in sales in the July-September period, up 13.0 percent from a quarter earlier, which boosted its market share to 64.9 percent, up from 62.3 percent in the second quarter, the report issued on Monday last week showed. TSMC benefited from the debut of flagship
TENSE TIMES: Formosa Plastics sees uncertainty surrounding the incoming Trump administration in the US, geopolitical tensions and China’s faltering economy Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), Taiwan’s largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday posted overall revenue of NT$118.61 billion (US$3.66 billion) for last month, marking a 7.2 percent rise from October, but a 2.5 percent fall from one year earlier. The group has mixed views about its business outlook for the current quarter and beyond, as uncertainty builds over the US power transition and geopolitical tensions. Formosa Plastics Corp (台灣塑膠), a vertically integrated supplier of plastic resins and petrochemicals, reported a monthly uptick of 15.3 percent in its revenue to NT$18.15 billion, as Typhoon Kong-rey postponed partial shipments slated for October and last month, it said. The
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