CHEMICALS
Royal DSM posts profit
Royal DSM NV, the largest vitamin manufacturer in the world, yesterday said its nutrition unit supplying ingredients for healthfoods and animal feed returned to growth in the fourth quarter, helping profit meet analyst estimates. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 3 percent to 261 million euros (US$291 million) in the fourth quarter, the Heerlen, Netherlands-based company said in a statement. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had estimated profits of 258 million euros on average. DSM, which makes vitamins, pharmaceuticals and fibers used in clothes and car parts, forecast a higher EBITDA for this year, in line with the targets it set out in its strategy for 2018.
AVIATION
More contracts at show
Boeing Co and Airbus have announced orders at the Singapore Airshow amid concern that a two-year, multibillion-dollar order spree by Asian carriers is losing steam. Chicago-based Boeing yesterday announced a US$1.3 billion order with China’s Okay Airways (奧凱), while Airbus Group SE secured an order from Philippine Airlines Inc valued at US$1.8 billion as the Southeast Asian carrier seeks to fly to New York and the US west coast. The agreement with Airbus includes an option to purchase six more of Airbus’ latest widebody jet. The order value is based on the US$308 million list price of the aircraft, before discounts that are customary in the industry.
CHEMICALS
Akzo Nobel to buy BASF unit
Akzo Nobel NV has agreed to buy a coatings business from BASF SE for 475 million euros to expand in the market for treatments to protect metal products from wind turbines to consumer goods. The coil-coatings business generated about 300 million euros in sales last year, Amsterdam-based Akzo Nobel said in a statement yesterday. The deal is expected to close in the second half of the year. Akzo Nobel chief executive Ton Buechner has said he is interested in making acquisitions and pushing for growth again after years of cutting costs and selling units to bring profitability in line with industry peers.
CHEMICALS
AG Q4 profit rises 7%
AG reported a rise in profit in the fourth quarter on increased demand for catalysts used to improve efficiency in the production of industrial chemicals and plastics. EBITDA and one-time items rose 7 percent to 229 million Swiss francs (US$232 million) in the final three months of last year, the manufacturer of cosmetic ingredients and pigments said yesterday in a statement. Analysts had predicted SF225.2 million. Chief executive officer Hariolf Kottmann has restructured Clariant by cutting costs, selling off low-margin parts of the business and focusing on high-margin areas. The measures bolstered its profit margin to 14.7 percent last year from 12.7 percent in 2010.
ENERGY
RWE suspends dividends
RWE, Germany’s second-biggest power supplier, yesterday said that it would partially suspend dividend payouts after running up a loss last year as a result of collapsing wholesale prices and weak profitability in conventional power generation. RWE booked a net loss of 200 million euros last year compared with a net profit of 1.7 billion euros for 2014, due to a writedown of 2.1 billion euros on its power plants in Germany and Britain, the company said.
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
CUSTOMERS’ BURDEN: TSMC already has operations in the US and is a foundry, so any tariff increase would mostly affect US customers, not the company, the minister said Taiwanese manufacturers are “not afraid” of US tariffs, but are concerned about being affected more heavily than regional economic competitors Japan and South Korea, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said. “Taiwan has many advantages that other countries do not have, the most notable of which is its semiconductor ecosystem,” Kuo said. The US “must rely on Taiwan” to boost its microchip manufacturing capacities, Kuo said in an interview ahead of his one-year anniversary in office tomorrow. Taiwan has submitted a position paper under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act to explain the “complementary relationship” between Taiwan and the US
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