TRADE
Japan logs export surplus
Japan yesterday said it had logged a surplus of ￥113.6 billion (US$1 billion) last month as exports rose 18 percent year-on-year on brisk shipments of automobiles and electronic parts. The figure was much lower than market expectations of a ￥356.7 billion surplus. Exports rose for the ninth consecutive month on robust shipments of automobiles and electronic parts, including semiconductors. Imports grew 15.2 percent for an eighth monthly rise, boosted mainly by higher bills for coal, liquefied natural gas and crude oil.
UNITED KINGDOM
Business optimism tumbles
A lobby group for small businesses said rising prices and a stuttering domestic economy are driving confidence down and prompting an increase in the number of entrepreneurs considering selling their firms. In a quarterly survey of its members, the Federation of Small Businesses yesterday said it found that optimism has tumbled to its lowest since the immediate aftermath of last year’s vote to leave the EU. Mike Cherry, the federation’s national chairman, said one bright spot is that exporters remain “bullish.” Exports have been helped by the pound’s post-Brexit fall. According to the organization, 22 percent of small businesses export.
LOGISTICS
FedEx cuts profit forecast
FedEx Corp on Tuesday cut its annual profit forecast, citing the US$300 million cost of a June cyberattack on its TNT Express unit. It now expects to earn no more than US$12.80 a share in the fiscal year ending in May next year after excluding certain items, it said in a statement. That is down from an original projection of as much as US$14 and less than the US$13.10 average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. FedEx also said results at its ground-shipment unit weighed on results, as did Hurricane Harvey.
CREDIT DATA
Canadians at risk from leak
Equifax Ltd said on Tuesday that about 100,000 Canadian consumers might have had their personal data compromised in the massive cyberattack on the credit data company that was revealed this month. It said the information that might have been compromised included names, addresses, social insurance numbers and in some cases credit card numbers.
BEVERAGES
Diageo maintains forecast
Britain’s Diageo PLC, the maker of Johnnie Walker whisky and Smirnoff vodka, said it expects its organic first-half sales growth to be impacted by the timing of Lunar New Year and a ban on selling alcohol along highways in India. However, it stood by its target for sales growth at a mid-single digit rate and its organic operating margin improvement objective of 175 basis points over the three years to June 2019.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Sunac loans on hold
China Huarong Asset Management Co (中國華融資產管理) is temporarily suspending new loans to Sunac China Holdings Ltd (融創中國控股) as debt and leverage in the financial system comes under regulatory scrutiny, according to people familiar with the matter. Huarong’s risk department ordered a suspension of any new loans to Sunac as of Monday that have not been signed, according to an internal e-mail. The e-mail also called for heightened risk monitoring and attention to existing loans, and said any projects deemed necessary would need approval from Huarong’s headquarters.
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
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