PHARMACEUTICALS
Novartis sees strong growth
Novartis AG said that its net profit rose 3 percent in the second quarter amid strong growth for some of its top products, as the Swiss pharmaceuticals giant moves to spin off its Alcon eye-care business. New chief executive officer Vas Narasimhan touted Novartis’ plans to create a “focused medicines company.” Second-quarter core net profit rose to US$3.01 billion from US$2.87 billion a year earlier. Novartis’ overall net profit was skewed by a US$5.7 billion net gain from the sale of its stake in the GSK consumer healthcare joint venture. Sales climbed 5 percent to US$13.16 billion.
ELECTRONICS
ASML profits up by 25%
Dutch global high-tech bellwether ASML Holding NV yesterday reported its profits rose 25 percent year-on-year to 584 million euros (US$679 million) in the second quarter, up from 466 million euros in the same quarter last year. “Our second-quarter sales were above expectations, including higher-than-forecasted EUV sales,” said chief executive officer Peter Wennink, referring to the company’s cutting-edge extreme ultraviolet light lithography machines. Second-quarter sales rose to 2.7 billion euros from 2.1 billion euros in the same period last year.
WATCHMAKERS
Swatch thanks millenials
Swatch, the world’s top watchmaker, yesterday announced an all-time record in half-year sales, saying it has millennials to thank for bringing wristwatches back. Group net sales increased by 14.7 percent at current exchange rates in the first half of this year to 4.27 billion Swiss francs (US$4.26 billion). Net profit rose by 66.5 percent to SF468 million, with operating profit soaring 69.5 percent to SF629 million, the statement said.
ENERGY
Carlyle plans oil, gas fund
Carlyle Group LP is trying to raise a US$4 billion fund that is to invest in oil and gas assets outside North America, a person familiar with the matter said. The fund plans to buy companies active in the energy supply chain and use them to acquire assets in exploration and production, refining, marketing and oilfield services. A representative for the private equity firm declined to comment. The Financial Times reported on the fund earlier on Tuesday.
EUROZONE
Bank program vindicated
New research published by the European Central Bank pushes back against criticism leveled at its 2.4 trillion euro stimulus program, indicating it did not increase inequality and helped boost poorer households’ income by putting people back to work. The arguments in the paper released yesterday help counter accusations, particularly from German politicians and news media, that the stimulus program hurt savers by depressing returns and benefited financially wobbly southern European governments such as Italy’s through lower borrowing costs.
CHINA
Buybacks aim to stem rout
More companies are pledging to buy back their shares as authorities seek to stem a US$2 trillion rout in the equity market. At least 109 firms have announced repurchase plans or bought back shares this year, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. Home appliances maker Midea Group Co (美的集團) is one of the latest, with plans to spend up to 4 billion yuan (US$595.18 million) buying its shares after they slid 19 percent from January to early this month.
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
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).
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
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