APPAREL
Puma sales, profit soar
German sportswear maker Puma AG yesterday reported rising sales and profit in the second quarter. Net profit rose 59.7 percent year-on-year from April to June, to 49.7 million euros (US$55.5 million). Sales rose 16.9 percent to 1.2 billion euros, with Asian markets, especially China, and the Americas the main drivers with growth of more than 20 percent. Puma’s Europe, Middle East and North Africa region grew more slowly, at 8 percent. Gross profit margin added 0.7 percentage points to reach 49.3, it said.
AVIATION
Airbus sees profit take off
European aerospace giant Airbus SE yesterday reported that profit more than doubled in the first half of the year, a strong result it attributed mainly to increased production of its A320 family of aircraft. Net profit reached 1.197 billion euros, up from 496 million euros in the same period last year. The group delivered a total of 389 commercial aircraft during in the first half, up from 303 a year earlier. It aims to make 880 to 890 deliveries this year.
BANKING
BNP gains from debt trading
BNP Paribas SA posted a second straight gain at its fixed-income trading business, outshining Wall Street and European peers in what is shaping up to be the worst first half for securities trading in a decade. Debt trading revenue rose almost 9 percent to 793 million euros in the three months through June, beating competitors, including JPMorgan Chase & Co and Citigroup Inc, though falling short of a 29 percent rebound in the first quarter. Equities trading also did better than expected.
ELECTRONICS
Panasonic hurt by China sales
Japanese electronics giant Panasonic Corp yesterday said that its quarterly net profit fell more than 10 percent, partly due to weak sales in the Chinese market. The firm reported net profit of ￥50 billion (US$460 million) in the April-to-June period, down 13.2 percent from a year before, despite sales growth in automotive batteries overseas and housing-related businesses in Japan. Sales dipped 5.9 percent to ￥1.9 trillion, while operating profit plunged 43.6 percent to ￥56.4 billion.
CANADA
Huawei 5G role to be decided
Canadians will not find out until after this fall’s federal election whether Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co (華為) can provide equipment for the country’s next-generation 5G wireless network, Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale said on Tuesday. Ottawa needs more information from the US about the nature of the potential security threat posed by the company, Goodale said. The election is to be held on Oct. 21.
TURKEY
Inflation forecast lowered
The central bank lowered its projection for inflation as it gears up for what might be the biggest easing push in emerging markets led by new Governor Murat Uysal. Under the central bank’s base-case scenario released yesterday, inflation would end this year at 13.9 percent, down from its previous forecast for 14.6 percent. It left next year’s estimate unchanged at 8.2 percent. Price growth slowed in June to an annual 15.7 percent thanks to a stronger lira and a moderation in food and energy costs.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that its research institute has launched its first advanced artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) using traditional Chinese, with technology assistance from Nvidia Corp. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said the LLM, FoxBrain, is expected to improve its data analysis capabilities for smart manufacturing, and electric vehicle and smart city development. An LLM is a type of AI trained on vast amounts of text data and uses deep learning techniques, particularly neural networks, to process and generate language. They are essential for building and improving AI-powered servers. Nvidia provided assistance
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
‘DECENT RESULTS’: The company said it is confident thanks to an improving world economy and uptakes in new wireless and AI technologies, despite US uncertainty Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it plans to build a new server manufacturing factory in the US this year to address US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy. That would be the second server production base for Pegatron in addition to the existing facilities in Taoyuan, the iPhone assembler said. Servers are one of the new businesses Pegatron has explored in recent years to develop a more balanced product lineup. “We aim to provide our services from a location in the vicinity of our customers,” Pegatron president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng (鄭光治) told an online earnings conference yesterday. “We
LEAK SOURCE? There would be concern over the possibility of tech leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday stayed mum after a report said that the chipmaker has pitched chip designers Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Broadcom Inc about taking a stake in a joint venture to operate Intel Corp’s factories. Industry sources told the Central News Agency (CNA) that the possibility of TSMC proposing to operate Intel’s wafer fabs is low, as the Taiwanese chipmaker has always focused on its core business. There is also concern over possible technology leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺)
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