Thu, Nov 23, 2017 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  TELECOMS

  Ooredoo eyes Turkish bid

  Qatari phone carrier Ooredoo QSC decided to bid for the insolvent owner of Turkey’s biggest telecommunications company to rival an offer from Saudi Telecom Co, three people with knowledge of the matter said. Ooredoo will seek to acquire Ojer Telekomunikasyon AS (Otas), which owns 55 percent of Turk Telekomunikasyon AS, said the people, who asked not to be identified. The Saudi proposal remains on the table, they said. A purchase by Ooredoo would extend its record of expanding to serve about 150 million customers from Algeria to Myanmar, largely through acquisitions. The plan by Saudi Telecom, which owns 35 percent of Otas’ parent, Oger Telecom, involves buying the company via a US$750 million cash injection and committing to restructure US$4 billion of debt.

  LUXURY GOODS

  Chow Tai Fook income up

  Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd (周大福珠寶)’s profit increased for a second consecutive six-month period as demand for gold products lifted sales at the world’s leading jewelry retailer. Shares jumped after the company on Tuesday reported net income rose 46 percent to HK$1.78 billion (US$228 million) in the six months through September. The stock rose 4.4 percent to HK$9.19 as of 11:03am yesterday in Hong Kong, heading for its biggest two-day gain in a year. The results mirror the continued recovery in demand for luxury goods in China after a two-year slump.

  CAMBODIA

  Bank sees 6.9% growth

  The nation’s economy is forecast to grow 6.9 percent next year, compared with a projected 6.8 percent pace this year, despite risks including uncertainties over next year’s election, the World Bank said yesterday. The bank said textile exports had moderated and the construction sector showed signs of slowing, but other manufacturing exports had increased and the country was also drawing more tourists — particularly from China. “The outlook remains positive,” it said in a report. “A possible slowdown of the regional economy, especially China, and potential election related uncertainties, however, pose downside risks to the outlook.”

  INVESTMENT

  Strong forecast for Asia

  Strong corporate earnings and favorable stock valuations will help one of the world’s top-performing regions extend its runaway success next year, Goldman Sachs Group Inc said yesterday. It said stocks in Asia excluding Japan should outperform next year after staging a 33 percent rally this year — twice the gain achieved by the S&P 500. A report by Goldman raised its 12-month target for the MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan Index by 9.7 percent to 620, and favors China, India and South Korea stocks. Corporate profits and the total return on the index are expected to surge 14 percent next year, with earnings growth especially strong in the technology, materials and insurance sectors, analysts wrote in the report. Markets could advance further if earnings growth is good and starting valuations are moderate, they added.

  PAINTS

  AkzoNobel ends talks

  Dutch chemicals and paints maker AkzoNobel yesterday said it had ended talks on a possible merger of its paints and coatings business with Pennsylvania-based Axalta Coating Systems. It it would focus on increasing profitability independently instead. Axalta CEO Charles Shave said discussions ended when his firm realized it “could not negotiate a transaction on terms that meet our criteria.”
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