INVESTMENT
Companies curb Italy travel
Investment banks including Citigroup Inc, Credit Suisse Group AG and Nomura Holdings Inc have curbed trips to Italy over fears that an outbreak of COVID-19 in the country’s north could quickly spread across Europe, four sources said. Milan, Italy-based Mediobanca SpA and UniCredit SpA have also banned all nonessential trips inside and outside of Italy, two sources said. Other banks including Barclays PLC and Morgan Stanley have told their Milan staff to avoid traveling to their offices in the city, two other sources said.
GERMANY
Firms reduced Q4 spending
Companies cut spending in the fourth quarter of last year, leaving the economy struggling and vulnerable even before the coronavirus outbreak created a fresh threat for global growth. Business investment fell 0.2 percent and household spending stagnated, the Federal Statistical Office said yesterday. The economy flatlined, a weak end to the country’s worst full-year performance since 2013. An Ifo survey unexpectedly rose this month, but the measure of business confidence did not capture the latest escalation in Europe, which sent global stock markets tumbling.
TRAVEL
Expedia to cut staff by 3,000
Online travel giant Expedia Inc is to cut 3,000 jobs worldwide after what the company called a “disappointing” performance last year, US media reported on Monday. The firm operates its flagship travel site, as well as Hotels.com, Hotwire, Travelocity, Cheaptickets, Egencia and CarRentals.com. Over the course of last year, sales increased by 8 percent, net income by 4 percent and earnings per share by 6 percent. By the end of December last year, the company had 25,400 employees worldwide. The job cuts would eliminate about 12 percent of its workforce.
TRANSPORTATION
Gojek denies Grab merger
Indonesia’s Gojek yesterday denied a report that it is discussing a merger with rival Grab Holdings Inc, a deal that would combine the leading ride-hailing businesses in Southeast Asia. “There are no plans for any sort of merger and recent media reports regarding discussions of this nature are not accurate,” Gojek said in an e-mailed statement. The Information reported that talks are believed to be ongoing, but a big roadblock to a deal is agreeing on control of the combined entity.
RETAIL
Tesco sells share in venture
Britain’s biggest retailer, Tesco PLC, has sold its 20 percent share of a joint venture in China to a unit of its partner China Resources Holdings Co (CRH, 華潤集團), raising ￡275 million (US$356.9 million) and completing its exit from the country. Tesco had established the Gain Land Ltd joint venture with CRH in 2014, when it started its retreat from China.
AUTOMAKERS
Renault files Ghosn claim
French car giant Renault SA on Monday said that it was filing a civil claim for damages against former CEO Carlos Ghosn over alleged financial misconduct. The company said in a statement that it reserved the right “to solicit damages with interest” from an investigation into numerous claims of financial misconduct in France. Ghosn faces a French inquiry into two parties he threw at the Palace of Versailles. He is also under investigation by France’s tax fraud office over suspicious financial transactions.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
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