TELECOMS
Vodafone back in the black
British giant Vodafone yesterday announced a return to annual profit, as it revealed that long-serving chief executive Vittorio Colao would step down later this year. Chief financial officer Nick Read is to succeed Colao from October, with the announcement coming less than a week after Vodafone unveiled a deal to turn it into Europe’s largest cable and broadband operator by buying assets from US peer Liberty Global. Vodafone posted a net profit of 2.4 billion euros (US$2.9 billion) in the 12 months to the end of March, which compared with a loss after tax of 6.3 billion euros the previous year, the group said in a statement. The turnaround pointed to a “year of significant operational and strategic achievement, and strong financial performance,” Colao said.
VIETNAM
Fitch upgrades rating
The nation won a sovereign rating upgrade from Fitch Ratings on strong economic growth and rising foreign-exchange reserves and. The rating on the nation’s long-term, foreign currency-denominated debt was raised one level to “BB,” with a stable outlook, Fitch said in a statement yesterday. The upgrade puts Vietnam at the second-highest speculative grade and on a par with Costa Rica. The government has committed to containing debt and reforming its state-owned enterprises, boosting its track record of policymaking. Reserves are forecast to climb to about US$66 billion by the end of this year from US$49 billion last year, while general government debt is likely to decline to below 50 percent of GDP by next year, according to Fitch calculations.
CHINA
Investment, sales weak
The government reported weaker-than-expected investment and retail sales last month, and a drop in home sales, clouding its economic outlook. Fixed asset investment grew the slowest since 1999 and the pace of retail sales softened to a four-month low, data showed yesterday, suggesting a loss of momentum in the world’s second-largest economy following generally soft readings in March. The lone bright spot was industrial output, which jumped more than expected as the automobile sector rebounded and steel production surged. Industrial output rose 7 percent last month, the National Bureau of Statistics said, from a seven-month low of 6 percent in March. The statistics bureau said Sino-US trade frictions have yet to make an impact on the economy.
AUTOMAKERS
Tesla unveils reorganization
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk on Monday told employees that the electric automaker is being reorganized to speed up production of Model 3 vehicles — a key to profitability at the fast-growing firm. “We are flattening the management structure to improve communication, combining functions where sensible and trimming activities that are not vital to the success of our mission,” Musk said in an internal note. Musk said Tesla is on the road to hitting goals in coming months for the more affordable Model 3 and achieving profitability by the end of this year.
INSURANCE
Allianz profit up 6.8%
Allianz SE’s first-quarter profit rose 6.8 percent, boosted by US President Donald Trump’s changes to US corporate tax and lower restructuring charges. Income from property and casualty premiums rose as customers opted for more coverage after last year’s US hurricanes and California wildfires contributed to a record year for losses.
Agencies
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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