AIRLINES
Malaysia sees profit by 2018
Malaysia Airlines Bhd is on track to return to profitability by 2018, helped by job cuts and route changes undertaken as the company reeled from two high-profile plane crashes in 2014, CEO Christoph Mueller said. The airline’s restructuring effort is proceeding as planned and the firm is finished laying off employees, Mueller said in an interview yesterday with Bloomberg Television in Singapore. The carrier wants to buy and own some aircraft once its targets are met, as its existing fleet structure is skewed toward leased planes, he said. Malaysia’s government bought out small shareholders to delist the airline. After cutting 6,000 jobs, slashing pay and trimming capacity by 30 percent, Mueller said the major changes are done.
BRAZIL
Default risks high: analysts
In his two decades covering Brazil, Fitch Ratings’ Joe Bormann says he has never seen the nation’s companies in such a dire state. To appreciate just how bad things are, consider this: Brazilian courts granted more than 5,500 bankruptcy filings last year, the most since 2008, Sao Paulo-based credit rater Serasa Experian said. Brazil’s deepest two-year recession in more than a century and plummeting commodity prices are leaving businesses in industries from steel to air travel among the most at risk of default, Fitch said. And more pain is looming in Latin America’s biggest economy as borrowing costs soar, said Bormann, who oversees a team of 60 analysts responsible for rating more than 500 companies in the region. “It’s legitimately a credit crisis,” he said. Fitch and Standard & Poor’s cut Brazil’s bond rating to junk last year.
THAILAND
GDP rose 2.8% last year
Thailand’s economic growth accelerated last year, official figures showed yesterday, after the junta boosted spending to pump up an economy that has wilted amid years of political turmoil. High household debt, weakening exports, slumping foreign investment and low consumer confidence have cramped growth in what for years was Southeast Asia’s flagship economy. The ruling military has tried to spend its way out of the malaise, especially on farmers who have been hit by slumping global commodities prices and now face severe drought. As a result, GDP rose 2.8 percent last year, according to data from the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board, recovering from 0.8 percent in 2014, its slowest rate in three years. While state spending will likely continue, analysts have cooled expectations for this year. “We doubt growth will pick up strongly this year,” Krystal Tan of Capital Economics said in a briefing note, forecasting GDP of 3 percent for this year.
MERGERS
Two firms receive offers
A pair of diverse New Zealand firms said they received takeover offers worth US$1.33 billion in total, drawn by low interest rates and a weak Kiwi dollar. In the larger of the two deals, resins and coating company Nuplex Industries Ltd said Belgian rival Allnex Belgium SA/NV, backed by private equity firm Advent International Corp, made a bid valuing the company at about NZ$1.05 billion (US$695 million). Nuplex said it is in “advanced discussions” with the bidders. Separately, software company Diligent Corp said its board had agreed to a NZ$941 million buyout offer from US investment firm Insight Venture Partners. Diligent said its board has recommended shareholders accept the deal.
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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