FOOD
Premier Foods downbeat
Premier Foods PLC, the maker of British brands such as Mr Kipling cakes and Bisto gravy, yesterday cut its full-year profit forecast by 10 percent after saying its third-quarter sales had been weaker than expected. The company faces cost inflation in commodities such as sugar and chocolate, as well as higher imported input costs due to a weaker pound, it said. Group sales in the quarter to Dec. 31 fell 1 percent to ￡251.4 million (US$309.37 million) while volumes increased 3.4 percent, the company said.
DATA SERVICES
Experian revenue soars
Experian PLC, the world’s biggest credit data company, reported a 6 percent rise in third-quarter revenue from ongoing activities at constant exchange rates. The FTSE 100-listed company, best known for running consumer credit checks for banks, landlords and retailers, said revenue for the quarter that ended on Dec. 31 rose 7 percent in North America and 2 percent in the UK and Ireland. Experian, which earns the bulk of its revenue overseas, said total revenue growth from ongoing activities at actual exchange rates was 4 percent, with pound weakness more than offsetting an improvement in the Brazilian real.
REAL ESTATE
Urban China prices surge
Average new home prices in China’s 70 major cities rose 12.4 percent year-on-year last month, slowing slightly from a 12.6 percent annual increase in November, an official survey showed yesterday. Compared with a month earlier, home prices rose 0.3 percent nationwide, slowing from November’s 0.6 percent, according to Reuters’ calculations from data issued by China’s National Bureau of Statistics. Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing prices rose 23.5 percent, 26.5 percent and 25.9 percent respectively from the same period last year.
DEFENSE
Trump targets F-35 costs
US president-elect Donald Trump has asked Lockheed Martin Corp to reduce costs on the US$379 billion F-35 jet program by at least 10 percent, said Roger Carr, chairman of BAE Systems PLC, which is a key subcontractor on the program. Trump has targeted defense contractors, including Lockheed and Boeing Co, for what he says are excessive expenses on government projects. BAE, Europe’s biggest defense firm, is the main subcontractor on the F-35, making the fuselage, tail and wing parts, and overseeing production of the fuel, ejection and life-support systems and elements of weapons integration. Hewson last week told Trump that Lockheed is close to a deal with the Pentagon to lower costs “significantly” on the next and largest production lot yet of F-35s.
INTERNET
Souq.com suitors flee
Amazon.com Inc and India’s Flipkart Online Services Pvt have walked away from talks to acquire Dubai-based Souq.com after disagreeing over the price, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The e-commerce company is now seeking other potential investors and is negotiating with mall-operator Majid Al Futtaim, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the talks are not public. US online retail giant Amazon last year entered into talks with Souq.com in a deal that would have been worth about US$1 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said in November. The Middle Eastern company’s existing investors include Tiger Global Management and South Africa’s Naspers Ltd.
MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest smartphone chip supplier, yesterday said it plans to double investment in data center-related technologies, including advanced packaging and high-speed interconnect technologies, to broaden the new business’ customer and service portfolios. The chip designer is redirecting its resources to data centers, mainly designing application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) with artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities for cloud service providers. The data center business is forecast to lead growth in the next three years and become the company’s second-biggest revenue source, replacing chips used in smart devices, MediaTek president Joe Chen (陳冠州) told a media event in Taipei. “Three or four years
Until US President Donald Trump’s return a year ago, when the EU talked about cutting economic dependency on foreign powers — it was understood to mean China, but now Brussels has US tech in its sights. As Trump ramps up his threats — from strong-arming Europe on trade to pushing to seize Greenland — concern has grown that the unpredictable leader could, should he so wish, plunge the bloc into digital darkness. Since Trump’s Greenland climbdown, top officials have stepped up warnings that the EU is dangerously exposed to geopolitical shocks and must work toward strategic independence — in defense, energy and
Motorists ride past a mural along a street in Varanasi, India, yesterday.
For the second year in a row, a Brazilian movie has wowed international audiences and critics, securing multiple Oscar nominations and drawing fresh interest in the Latin American giant’s film industry. Experts say the success of The Secret Agent, which has won four Oscar nominations, a year after I Am Still Here won Brazil its first Oscar, is no fluke, with a bit of a push from the country’s political climate. “This is neither a coincidence nor a miracle. It is the result of a lot of work, consistent policies, and, of course, talent,” Ilda Santiago, director of the Rio International Film
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