TOBACCO
P&H enters administration
Britain’s biggest cigarette wholesaler, Palmer & Harvey (P&H), on Tuesday collapsed into administration, with about 2,500 staff facing redundancy, its administrator PwC announced. The 90-year-old company, which also provides alcohol, groceries and frozen food to 90,000 retail accounts failed in attempts to secure a buyer. The firm, which employs about 3,400 people, last month held exclusive takeover talks with Carlyle Group, but the US private equity fund’s offer of a significant capital investment in exchange for a controlling stake did not progress. PwC confirmed P&H would immediately shed 2,500 jobs at the firm’s head office in Hove, England, and branch network, with the 900 remaining staff still at risk.
MEXICO
Bank deputy gets top job
President Enrique Pena Nieto on Tuesday named Bank of Mexico Deputy Governor Alejandro Diaz de Leon to head the bank. Analysts said the US-trained policymaker would likely continue the hawkish policies of Agustin Carstens, who is leaving tomorrow to head the Bank for International Settlements in Switzerland. Diaz de Leon, 47, has a master’s degree in public policy from Yale University and joined the central bank in 1991. He has also worked at the Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit and the nation’s Development Bank for International Trade, the presidential office said in a statement.
AUTOMAKERS
Hyundai production resumes
Hyundai Motor’s workers at a plant in Ulsan, South Korea, have resumed production after a walkout on two assembly lines, the company and the union said yesterday. Workers late on Tuesday returned to the plant after nearly 2,000 workers, or 4 percent of the company’s 51,000 union members, stopped work on Monday after talks collapsed over the terms for producing the Kona compact sports utility vehicle. The talks have resumed, Hyundai said. The walkout delayed production of about 1,200 vehicles, it added. The Kona is due to launch in the US early next year. The union is concerned that workers might lose jobs because the assembly process for the Kona is more automated than for the Accent, a sedan also manufactured at the Ulsan plant.
CHIPMAKERS
Marvell posts strong results
Chipmaker Marvell Technology Group Ltd forecast strong results for the current quarter while delivering higher-than-expected earnings and revenue for the third quarter, boosted by robust demand for its networking and connectivity chips. Shares of Bermuda-domiciled Marvell rose 2 percent in after-market trading to US$23.75. The results come days after Marvell said it would buy Cavium Inc for about US$6 billion, seeking to expand its wireless connectivity chip business. Marvell expects adjusted earnings of US$0.29 to US$0.33 per share and revenue of US$595 million to US$625 million in the quarter ending in January.
TECHNOLOGY
Microsoft to revamp HQ
Microsoft Corp is planning a multibillion-US dollar overhaul of its main campus in Redmond, Washington, adding space for 8,000 workers and creating areas for collaboration and recreation as it tries to keep up with growth in hiring and trends toward more open office spaces. The five to seven-year plan is to knock down 12 low-rise buildings and replace them with 18 new buildings, many of them double the height, president Brad Smith said.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
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