CHEMICALS
Bayer boosts forecasts
German chemicals and pharmaceuticals powerhouse Bayer AG upped its growth forecasts for the year after a strong second quarter saw profits surge by 19 percent. While revenues fell 1.4 percent to 11.8 billion euros (US$13 billion), profits hit 1.4 billion euros. The company pointed to strong growth in sales of prescription and non-prescription drugs as the main contributor to the boost. Annual revenues are expected to hit about 35 billion euros, excluding income from the recently separated plastics business Covestro, the company said. Earnings before interest, tax and special items are expected to see almost 10 percent growth over the whole year, it said.
AVIATION
Airbus profits rise
Airbus Group’s profits rose in the first half of the year thanks to asset sales and a satellite launch merger, but the planemaker suffered losses linked to its troubled A400M military transporter and A350 passenger jet, its long-delayed rival to Boeing’s popular 787. The Toulouse, France-based company reported profit of 1.76 billion euros, up from 1.52 billion in the first half of last year. First-half sales were steady at 28.8 billion euros, compared with 28.9 billion last year. Overall orders were down despite a spate of deals announced at the recent Farnborough Air Show.
BANKING
Deutsche Bank profit falls
Deutsche Bank AG yesterday blamed a weak economic environment and its complicated restructuring for a 98 percent plunge in its second-quarter net profit. Net earnings in the second quarter totaled 20 million euros, compared with 796 million in the same period of last year. Deutsche’s performance fell well short of the average of 188 million euros expected by analysts surveyed by Factset. Revenue for the quarter was 7.4 billion euros, down 20 percent year-on-year. The bank also said it is nearing an agreement with the US Department of Justice to settle a long-running investigation into its mortgage-backed securities business.
CHIPMAKERS
Analog Devices buys Linear
Analog Devices Inc has agreed to acquire Linear Technology Corp for about US$14.8 billion, potentially restarting a scramble by chipmakers to add scale amid record industry consolidation. Analog will pay US$60 a share for rival Linear, in cash and stock — a premium of 24 percent to its closing price on Monday — the two companies said in a statement on Tuesday. They expect to close the transaction by the first half of next year. The deal is expected to give Analog Devices, which specializes in data converters and chips that translate real world things into electronic signals, access to the market for chips that control power in devices.
AUTOMAKERS
Nissan profit drops
Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co yesterday reported a ￥136.4 billion (US$30.7 million) profit for the fiscal quarter through last month, down nearly 11 percent from the same period last year. The result was in line with forecasts from analysts surveyed by FactSet. Quarterly sales shrank 8.4 percent to 2.65 trillion yen due to a stronger yen. The Yokohama-based automaker kept its full-year forecast for a ￥525 billion profit, up slightly from the ￥524 billion earned the previous fiscal year. Nissan blamed volatility in emerging markets for the lower profit, noting vehicle sales dipped in South America, the Middle East and Africa.
EXTRATERRITORIAL REACH: China extended its legal jurisdiction to ban some dual-use goods of Chinese origin from being sold to the US, even by third countries Beijing has set out to extend its domestic laws across international borders with a ban on selling some goods to the US that applies to companies both inside and outside China. The new export control rules are China’s first attempt to replicate the extraterritorial reach of US and European sanctions by covering Chinese products or goods with Chinese parts in them. In an announcement this week, China declared it is banning the sale of dual-use items to the US military and also the export to the US of materials such as gallium and germanium. Companies and people overseas would be subject to
WORLD DOMINATION: TSMC’s lead over second-placed Samsung has grown as the latter faces increased Chinese competition and the end of clients’ product life cycles Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) retained the No. 1 title in the global pure-play wafer foundry business in the third quarter of this year, seeing its market share growing to 64.9 percent to leave South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, the No. 2 supplier, further behind, Taipei-based TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report. TSMC posted US$23.53 billion in sales in the July-September period, up 13.0 percent from a quarter earlier, which boosted its market share to 64.9 percent, up from 62.3 percent in the second quarter, the report issued on Monday last week showed. TSMC benefited from the debut of flagship
TENSE TIMES: Formosa Plastics sees uncertainty surrounding the incoming Trump administration in the US, geopolitical tensions and China’s faltering economy Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), Taiwan’s largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday posted overall revenue of NT$118.61 billion (US$3.66 billion) for last month, marking a 7.2 percent rise from October, but a 2.5 percent fall from one year earlier. The group has mixed views about its business outlook for the current quarter and beyond, as uncertainty builds over the US power transition and geopolitical tensions. Formosa Plastics Corp (台灣塑膠), a vertically integrated supplier of plastic resins and petrochemicals, reported a monthly uptick of 15.3 percent in its revenue to NT$18.15 billion, as Typhoon Kong-rey postponed partial shipments slated for October and last month, it said. The
COLLABORATION: The operations center shows the close partnership between Taiwan and Japan in the field of semiconductors, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo said Tokyo Electron Ltd, Asia’s biggest semiconductor equipment supplier, yesterday launched a NT$2 billion (US$61.5 million) operations center in Tainan as it aims to expand capacity and meet growing demand. Its new Taiwan Operations Center is expected to help customers release their products faster, boost production efficiency and shorten equipment repair time in a cost-effective way, the company said. The center is about a five-minute drive from the factories of its major customers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) advanced 3-nanometer and 2-nanometer fabs. The operations center would have about 1,000 employees when it is fully utilized, the company
RSS