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
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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