SOCCER
Wanda touts sponsorship
Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group (萬達集團) said becoming a FIFA World Cup top-tier sponsor gives it potential to help decide where future editions of the event will be staged. A Wanda news release said becoming one of the major sponsors for world soccer’s governing body will leave it “better placed to play a role in the bidding process to host major football events such as the World Cup.” Chinese leaders said they want to host the World Cup, adding the world’s biggest soccer event to the 2008 Summer Beijing Olympics and the upcoming 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
CHEMICALS
Synthomer to buy units
Synthomer PLC agreed to buy an adhesives and coatings business from Hexion Inc for US$226 million to drive expansion in the US and Asia. The purchase adds seven factories generating annual sales of US$370 million and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of US$30 million, the Harlow, England-based company said in a statement yesterday. Synthomer is paying a multiple of 7.5 times earnings, excluding estimated annualized cost savings from integrating the business of about US$12 million.
RETAIL
X5 Retail shares fall
X5 Retail Group NV, Russia’s second-largest retailer, fell the most in six weeks after quarterly profit missed analysts’ estimates because of management bonus payouts. Fourth-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization slid to 13.5 billion rubles (US$196 million), or 5.8 percent of sales, the retailer said in a statement. That missed Interfax estimates for a 7.3 percent margin. Former chief executive officer Stephan DuCharme received 916 million rubles in compensation last year, about a sixfold boost from his 2014 pay, thanks largely to a 440 million ruble exit payment and a long-term bonus of 399 million rubles.
AVIATION
Strike halts French flights
Up to a third of flights were canceled at French airports yesterday as air traffic controllers entered a second day of strikes. Low-cost airline Ryanair deplored what it said was the 41st strike by French air traffic controllers since 2009. About 140 passengers spent the night in Paris’s Orly airport where half of flights were canceled on the first day of strikes on Sunday. Authorities yesterday asked airlines to cut a third of flights at Orly and Marseille airports, and 20 percent at Lyon, Nice and Beauvais near Paris. The striking union, which represents about a fifth of air traffic controllers, is campaigning against job cuts and the lack of investment in new technology.
ENERGY
German firm to cut dividend
Germany’s third-largest electricity supplier, Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG, proposed to cut its dividend even after returning to profit last year. The company proposed to reduce its dividend by 20 percent to 0.55 euros (US$0.62) per share, the Karlsruhe-based company said yesterday in a statement. The company’s net income was 124.9 million euros compared with a net loss of 465.9 million euros a year earlier. The company wrote down the value of its traditional power generators by about 700 million euros last year as renewable energy increased to about 30 percent of national generation, pushing electricity prices to the lowest in more than a decade.
Zhang Yazhou was sitting in the passenger seat of her Tesla Model 3 when she said she heard her father’s panicked voice: The brakes do not work. Approaching a red light, her father swerved around two cars before plowing into a sport utility vehicle and a sedan, and crashing into a large concrete barrier. Stunned, Zhang gazed at the deflating airbag in front of her. She could never have imagined what was to come: Tesla Inc sued her for defamation for complaining publicly about the vehicles brakes — and won. A Chinese court ordered Zhang to pay more than US$23,000 in
‘LEGACY CHIPS’: Chinese companies have dramatically increased mature chip production capacity, but the West’s drive for secure supply chains offers a lifeline for Taiwan When Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) entered a deal with the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access to the promising Chinese market. However, nine years later, that Chinese foundry, Nexchip Semiconductor Corp (合晶集成), has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip space, leveraging steep discounts after Beijing’s localization call forced Powerchip to give up the once-lucrative business making integrated circuits for Chinese flat panels. Nexchip is among Chinese foundries quickly winning market share in the crucial US$56.3 billion industry of so-called legacy
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday held its first board of directors meeting in the US, at which it did not unveil any new US investments despite mounting tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, prompting market speculation that TSMC might consider boosting its chip capacity in the US or ramping up production of advanced chips such as those using a 2-nanometer technology process at its Arizona fabs ahead of schedule. Speculation also swirled that the chipmaker might consider building its own advanced packaging capacity in the US as part
‘NO DISRUPTION’: A US trade association said that it was ready to work with the US administration to streamline the program’s requirements and achieve shared goals The White House is seeking to renegotiate US CHIPS and Science Act awards and has signaled delays to some upcoming semiconductor disbursements, two sources familiar with the matter told reporters. The people, along with a third source, said that the new US administration is reviewing the projects awarded under the 2022 law, meant to boost US domestic semiconductor output with US$39 billion in subsidies. Washington plans to renegotiate some of the deals after assessing and changing current requirements, the sources said. The extent of the possible changes and how they would affect agreements already finalized was not immediately clear. It was not known