CHINA
Fashion boss disappears
The chairman of one of China’s most prominent fashion firms, Metersbonwe (美特斯邦威), has disappeared, the company said yesterday. Metersbonwe could reach neither Zhou Chengjian (周成建), ranked China’s 62nd-richest man last year by wealth publisher Hurun, nor the secretary of the board, it said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Trading in its shares would remain suspended “to protect investors’ interests,” the company said. Without citing a source, the Qianjiang Evening News said Zhou might have been detained in connection with an insider trading case. Hurun estimated Zhou’s net worth at US$4.1 billion.
GERMANY
Industrial production slips
Industrial production decreased by 0.3 percent in November from a month earlier, weighed down by falling activity in the manufacturing sector, the economy ministry said yesterday. Manufacturing output was down by 0.8 percent month-on-month, while construction output increased by 1.6 percent and energy output was up 2.5 percent, the ministry said. Other data released showed that exports inched up by a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent to 99.3 billion euros (US$108 billion) in November. Imports grew more strongly, rising by 1.6 percent to 79.6 billion euros, meaning that the trade surplus fell to 19.7 billion euros in November from 20.5 billion euros in October.
UNITED STATES
Time Warner suspects hack
Time Warner Cable Inc on Thursday said the e-mail addresses and passwords of about 320,000 of its customers in the US might have been stolen by hackers. The company was told by the FBI about the possible compromise and has yet to determine how the information was stolen. However, the company said there is no evidence of a breach of the Time Warner Cable systems that operate customer e-mail accounts. The company said it is likely that the e-mails and passwords were previously stolen either through malware downloaded during phishing attacks, or indirectly through data breaches of other companies that stored the company’s customer information.
INVESTMENT
Noble downgraded to junk
Embattled trader Noble Group Ltd saw its credit rating downgraded to junk status by the Standard & Poor’s ratings agency on Thursday, citing the Hong Kong-based firm’s weakening “liquidity position.” Noble’s long-term corporate credit rating was lowered to “BB+” from “BBB-,” the ratings agency said, adding that the current depressed commodities markets and heightened risk aversion by lenders could complicate the company’s fund raising plans for the next few months. S&P’s move followed a similar move by Moody’s Investors Service in late last month.
RETAIL
Gap sales fall 5 percent
Gap Inc’s slump continued through the holiday season. The San Francisco-based retailer, which operates stores under its own brand, as well as Banana Republic and Old Navy, said on Thursday that a key sales measure fell 5 percent for the five-week period ending on Saturday last week. The decline was worse than the 3.5 percent drop analysts expected, on average. The company’s total revenue dropped 4 percent to US$2.01 billion for the five-week period. Gap’s shares dropped more than 8 percent in after-hours trading to US$24.52. Shares have been down nearly 40 percent for the past 12 months.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
Taipei is today suspending its US$2.5 trillion stock market as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed-income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Yesterday, schools and offices were closed in several cities and counties in southern and eastern Taiwan, including in the key industrial port city of Kaohsiung. Taiwan, which started canceling flights, ship sailings and some train services earlier this week, has wind and rain advisories in place for much of the island. It regularly experiences typhoons, and in July shut offices and schools as
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
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