LUXURY GOODS
LVMH sells Donna Karan
French luxury goods group LVMH said yesterday it had sold ready-to-wear group Donna Karan International to US clothing manufacturer G-III Apparel in a transaction that valued the company at US$650 million. The move would see ownership of the Donna Karan and DKNY brands return to New York where they were launched by the US designer in the 1980s. G-III also owns the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger labels. LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods group, owns fabled brands such as Dior, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton, Moet champagne and Hennessy cognac.
BANKING
HSBC in Blom Bank talks
HSBC Holdings PLC has been in talks with Lebanon’s Blom Bank SAL over the possible sale of its banking business in the nation as the London-based lender cuts costs. There was no certainty that a binding agreement would be reached and HSBC would make a further announcement if a deal has been agreed, HSBC said in an e-mailed statement yesterday, without giving further details. HSBC Lebanon was established in 1946 and it operates three branches in the nation, employing about 200 people. It offers a full range of banking services to international, retail and corporate clients, the bank said in the statement.
HEALTHCARE
Philips profit beats estimates
Royal Philips NV, the Dutch healthcare equipment maker, reported second-quarter profit that rose more than expected on cost savings and said earnings would improve in the second half of the year. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and amortization rose 8.6 percent to 544 million euros (US$596 million), the Amsterdam-based company said in a statement yesterday. That beat the 519 million euros average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The company maintained its full-year outlook. Faced with stiffer competition from Chinese manufacturers, Philips has sought to lower costs, add contracts for services and incorporate more technology into its healthcare products, which include heart monitors and scanners.
INSURANCE
Hiscox unveils Brexit plan
Lloyd’s of London underwriter Hiscox Ltd said it would set up a new EU-based insurance company if it is needed to weather the possible impact of Britain’s decision to leave the EU. Insurers are ahead of banks when it comes to making public their Brexit contingency plans, with many keen to reassure clients they have plans in place should they lose their access to the EU. Hiscox chief executive Bronislaw Edmund Masojada said that it was “business as usual” for insurers and that the company did not have to take any decisions until 2018.
ENERGY
Oil prices extend losses
Crude oil prices dipped yesterday, extending last week’s losses on fresh worries about a global supply glut as more US rigs come back online and the US dollar strengthens. “Crude oil markets have been under pressure as oil supplies have started growing with the resumption of output from the capacity lost due to wildfires in the Canadian oil sands,” EY oil and gas head Sanjeev Gupta said in a note, referring to blazes that hit the nation’s key oil fields. Gupta said media reports of increased production from Iraq have also added to market pressure. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was down US$0.17 at US$44.02 a barrel, a new two-month low, and Brent crude was US$0.20 lower at US$45.49.
Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登精密), the sole extreme ultraviolet pod supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), yesterday said it has trimmed its revenue growth target for this year as US tariffs are likely to depress customer demand and weigh on the whole supply chain. Gudeng’s remarks came after the US on Monday notified 14 countries, including Japan and South Korea, of new tariff rates that are set to take effect on Aug. 1. Taiwan is still negotiating for a rate lower than the 32 percent “reciprocal” tariffs announced by the US in April, which it later postponed to today. The
MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR: Revenue from AI servers made up more than 50 percent of Wistron’s total server revenue in the second quarter, the company said Wistron Corp (緯創) on Tuesday reported a 135.6 percent year-on-year surge in revenue for last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, with the momentum expected to extend into the third quarter. Revenue last month reached NT$209.18 billion (US$7.2 billion), a record high for June, bringing second-quarter revenue to NT$551.29 billion, a 129.47 percent annual increase, the company said. Revenue in the first half of the year totaled NT$897.77 billion, up 87.36 percent from a year earlier and also a record high for the period, it said. The company remains cautiously optimistic about AI server shipments in the third quarter,
ELECTRONICS: Strong growth in cloud services and smart consumer electronics offset computing declines, helping the company to maintain sales momentum, Hon Hai said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday announced that its sales for last month rose 10 percent year-on-year, driven by strong growth in cloud and networking products amid the ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company, also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), reported consolidated sales of NT$540.24 billion (US$18.67 billion) for the month, the highest ever for the period, and a 10.09 percent increase from a year earlier, although it was down 12.26 percent from the previous month. Hon Hai, which is Apple Inc’s primary iPhone assembler and makes servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators, said its cloud
APPRECIATION: The central bank stepped in to stabilize the NT dollar after a surge in foreign institutional investment, triggered by optimism about tariffs and US Fed policy Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high at the end of last month, as the central bank intervened in the currency market to curb the New Taiwan dollar’s appreciation against the US dollar. Foreign exchange reserves increased by US$5.48 billion from May, reaching an all-time high of US$598.43 billion, the central bank said on Friday. While the central bank did not disclose the scale of its intervention, Department of Foreign Exchange Director-General Eugene Tsai (蔡炯民) said that the currency market remained relatively stable until the middle of last month. However, a shift occurred following the US Federal Reserve’s signal of a
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