MINING
Randgold Q1 profit up 33%
Gold miner Randgold Resources Ltd reported a 33 percent rise in first-quarter profit to US$84.9 million, helped by strong output at its Kibali and Tongon mines amid lower production costs. Randgold, which has gold mines in Mali, the Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, reported a 10 percent rise in gold production to 322,470 ounces in its first quarter. Gold sales for the quarter stood at US$409.6 million compared with US$345.7 million a year earlier. It was on track to achieve its full-year guidance, the company added.
INSURANCE
Lancashire Q1 profit up 8%
Insurer Lancashire Holdings Ltd reported an 8 percent rise in first-quarter profit, as it moderated its risk exposure against a tough underwriting environment. The company said it had seen some evidence of a slowdown in the rate of premium declines. “Lancashire is well positioned relative to others to manage any future insurance market turbulence and to respond to the opportunities which will arise,” CEO Alex Maloney said. The company, which writes policies for heavy-duty assets, such as oil rigs, ships and aircraft, said pre-tax profit rose to US$28.7 million in the quarter ended March 31, from US$26.5 million a year earlier. Gross premiums written fell almost 15 percent to US$196.5 million.
SERVICES
UK growth beats estimates
Growth in Britain’s services sector unexpectedly strengthened last month, giving the economy a solid start to the second quarter after a weaker-than-forecast performance at the start of the year. IHS Markit’s index rose to 55.8 last month from 55 in March, defying expectations for a drop to 54.5. Its measures for manufacturing and construction published earlier this week also improved, and the gauges suggest UK economic growth is running at a 0.6 percent pace. New business grew at the fastest pace this year and employment rose, albeit modestly.
NORWAY
Norges Bank keeps rates
The central bank yesterday kept interest rates unchanged at a record low amid signs that rising oil prices are supporting a recovery in western Europe’s largest crude producer. The benchmark deposit rate was held at 0.5 percent, Norges Bank said in Oslo. After a three-year slump caused by a global oil glut, the nation’s economic growth is reviving and unemployment is falling. The bank’s regional network survey has also added to evidence that the momentum has changed, with output expectations for the coming six months climbing back to levels not seen since the oil shock of mid-2014.
BANKING
Deutsche Bank buys offices
Deutsche Bank AG’s asset-management unit agreed to buy two office buildings near London Bridge railway station for about ￡400 million (US$517 million), two people with knowledge of the plan said. Deutsche Asset Management will buy the Bankside 2 & 3 properties near the Tate Modern art gallery from M&G Investments, the people said, asking not be identified as the deal is not public. Spokesmen for M&G, a unit of Prudential PLC, and Deutsche Bank declined to comment. Continental European investors who shunned London’s commercial property in the run-up to the Brexit referendum are flocking back as the weak pound cuts prices. Investors from the region spent ￡1.7 billion on the capital’s offices, shops and warehouses this year through April 18, compared with ￡824 million a year ago, Savills PLC said.
OpenAI has warned US lawmakers that its Chinese rival DeepSeek (深度求索) is using unfair and increasingly sophisticated methods to extract results from leading US artificial intelligence (AI) models to train the next generation of its breakthrough R1 chatbot, a memo reviewed by Bloomberg News showed. In the memo, sent on Thursday to the US House of Representatives Select Committee on China, OpenAI said that DeepSeek had used so-called distillation techniques as part of “ongoing efforts to free-ride on the capabilities developed by OpenAI and other US frontier labs.” The company said it had detected “new, obfuscated methods” designed to evade OpenAI’s defenses
NEW IMPORTS: Car dealer PG Union Corp said it would consider introducing US-made models such as the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Stellantis’ RAM 1500 to Taiwan Tesla Taiwan yesterday said that it does not plan to cut its car prices in the wake of Washington and Taipei signing the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade on Thursday to eliminate tariffs on US-made cars. On the other hand, Mercedes-Benz Taiwan said it is planning to lower the price of its five models imported from the US after the zero tariff comes into effect. Tesla in a statement said it has no plan to adjust the prices of the US-made Model 3, Model S and Model X as tariffs are not the only factor the automaker uses to determine pricing policies. Tesla said
Australian singer Kylie Minogue says “nothing compares” to performing live, but becoming an international wine magnate in under six years has been quite a thrill for the Spinning Around star. Minogue launched her first own-label wine in 2020 in partnership with celebrity drinks expert Paul Schaafsma, starting with a basic rose but quickly expanding to include sparkling, no-alcohol and premium rose offerings. The actress and singer has since wracked up sales of around 25 million bottles, with her carefully branded products pitched at low-to mid-range prices in dozens of countries. Britain, Australia and the United States are the biggest markets. “Nothing compares to performing
AUSPICIOUS TIMING: Ostensibly looking to spike the guns of domestic rivals, ByteDance launched the upgrade to coincide with the Lunar New Year China’s ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動) has rolled out its Doubao 2.0 model, an upgrade of the country’s most widely used artificial-intelligence (AI) app, the company announced on Saturday. ByteDance is one of several Chinese firms hoping to generate overseas and domestic buzz around its new AI models during the Lunar New Year holiday, which began yesterday, when hundreds of millions of Chinese partake in family gatherings in their hometowns. The company, like rival Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴), was caught off-guard by DeepSeek’s (深度求索) meteoric rise to global fame during last year’s Spring Festival, when Silicon Valley and investors worldwide were
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