FRANCE
Protests to weigh on growth
Growth is set to slow close to a standstill in the final quarter as waves of anti-government protests hit business activity, the central bank said yesterday, downgrading its outlook. The Bank of France forecast that the economy would eke out growth of only 0.2 percent in the quarter from the previous three months, down from 0.4 percent in a previous estimate and from that rate in the third quarter. Executives surveyed for the central bank’s monthly business climate indicator said that the protests had weighed on activity last month.
TELECOMS
Softbank sets US$23bn goal
Telecoms giant and technology investor Softbank Group Corp aims to raise more than US$23 billion by listing its Japanese mobile unit next week in one of the biggest tech initial public offerings (IPOs) in years. The group in a statement yesterday confirmed that it had formally decided to offer 1.76 billion shares, more than a one-third stake, in the Softbank Corp mobile unit, with shares priced at ￥1,500 each. The offering includes 160 million shares added on strong demand. The IPO is to help raise funds for the company as it increasingly transforms into an investment firm.
TURKEY
Currency crisis hits growth
Economic growth dwindled to 1.6 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, official data showed yesterday, falling short of forecasts as a currency crisis and soaring inflation took its toll on the economy. Third-quarter GDP shrank a seasonally and calendar-adjusted 1.1 percent from the previous quarter, Turkish Statistical Institute data showed. The lira eased to 5.3047 against the US dollar after the data, from 5.2950 beforehand.
PHILIPPINES
Manila to seek Chinese help
The country is to seek China’s help in halting the proliferation of counterfeit cigarettes, the Department of Finance said. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez ordered the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs to work with their Chinese counterparts to stop illegal cigarette-making machines from making their way into the nation, the department said. A raid of several warehouses this year yielded unlicensed machines from China along with counterfeit cigarettes and fake stamps, the department said.
CLEANERS
ISS to fire 100,000 people
ISS A/S of Denmark, the world’s largest cleaning company, is planning to cut about 100,000 jobs — representing a fifth of its global workforce — as it exits 13 countries in an effort to refocus its strategy and generate higher profits. The Copenhagen-based company expects organic growth to accelerate to 4 to 6 percent a year “in the medium term,” from 1.5 to 3.5 percent expected for this year, chief executive officer Jeff Gravenhorst said.
BANKING
Credit Suisse to buy shares
Credit Suisse Group AG is to announce a share buyback program worth “billions” and increase its dividend at an investor day this week, newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported. There is pressure on chief executive officer Tidjane Thiam to follow in the footsteps of Sergio Ermotti, head of rival UBS Group AG, and use his own money to buy back shares, SonntagsZeitung said, citing unidentified sources. It also said the share buyback would be for just more than 3 billion francs (US$3 billion) in line with the company’s guidance.
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
TikTok abounds with viral videos accusing prestigious brands of secretly manufacturing luxury goods in China so they can be sold at cut prices. However, while these “revelations” are spurious, behind them lurks a well-oiled machine for selling counterfeit goods that is making the most of the confusion surrounding trade tariffs. Chinese content creators who portray themselves as workers or subcontractors in the luxury goods business claim that Beijing has lifted confidentiality clauses on local subcontractors as a way to respond to the huge hike in customs duties imposed on China by US President Donald Trump. They say this Chinese decision, of which Agence
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