CONGLOMERATES
CK Hutchison posts profits
CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd (長和集團), billionaire Li Ka-shing’s (李嘉誠) flagship company, reported its first earnings since the tycoon reorganized the ports-to-retail conglomerate. Net income was HK$101.9 billion (US$13.1 billion) during the first six months of the year, CK Hutchison said in a statement yesterday. The company also announced an interim dividend of HK$0.70 a share and at least US$40 billion in mergers related to its telecoms businesses.
MINING
BHP profit plunges 86%
BHP Billiton Ltd, the world’s biggest miner, yesterday reported an 86 percent drop in annual profit amid plummeting commodity prices, as the company warned that China’s slowing economy would lead to further market volatility. BHP saw a net profit of US$1.9 billion for the 12 months to June 30, down from US$13.8 billion a year ago, the Australian company said in a statement. Revenue was down 22 percent to US$52 billion. The mining giant said it would cut costs, lowering its target for capital spending in the next fiscal year from US$9 billion to US$8.5 billion.
CONSUMER GOODS
Russia probes global firms
Russia’s consumer-safety watchdog has restricted sales of household-chemical goods produced by global firms including Procter & Gamble Co, Colgate-Palmolive Co and Henkel AG over safety concerns. The regulator known as Rospotrebnadzor said in a statement that a probe into washing powders and detergents made by these firms, as well as by Clorox Co, Werner & Mertz GmbH and others, showed violations of toxicological safety requirements and batches were withdrawn from sale. Studies of household chemicals and detergents produced by other manufacturers are continuing, it said.
AUTOMOBILES
Imperial eyes acquisitions
Imperial Holdings Ltd, owner of South Africa’s biggest car dealership network, is looking for acquisitions to expand its logistics business in other countries on the continent to counter slower growth in its home market. Imperial plans to sell some assets “while acquiring mainly foreign businesses to offset the limited growth opportunities” in South Africa, the company said in its full-year earnings statement yesterday. Imperial’s South African business, which accounts for almost two-thirds of sales, battled softer demand in the year through June as power shortages and a weaker currency resulted in “skittish” consumption patterns, it said.
EQUITIES
Japan ready to take action
Japan is ready to “take appropriate measures,” if necessary, to quell volatility in the financial markets, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters. Suga said that Japan’s economy, the world’s third largest, is still “on track for a moderate recovery,” despite the roller-coaster market gyrations of recent weeks. However, recent swings in share prices and foreign exchange markets have taken a toll, he said.
GERMANY
Business confidence up
A closely watched survey shows that business confidence in Germany has unexpectedly increased as fears over the Greek debt crisis subside. The Ifo think tank yesterday said that its monthly confidence index rose to 108.3 points for this month from 108 last month. Analysts had predicted a slight decrease to 107.6 points. However, companies’ outlook for the coming months fell.
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
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