Wed, Apr 22, 2020 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  MACROECONOMICS

  UK employment slows

  Growth in the number of people on British companies’ payrolls last month slowed to 0.8 percent from 1.1 percent in February, preliminary tax data that have been released earlier than usual to give a clearer sense of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic showed. “These experimental statistics show a softening picture in March, but cover the month as a whole, including the period before the coronavirus restrictions were in place,” Office for National Statistics official David Freeman said. The agency also reported a 12,100 monthly increase in the number of unemployment benefit claims last month, far below the median forecast of 172,500 in a Reuters poll of economists.

  AUTOMAKERS

  PSA vehicle sales fall 30%

  French automaker PSA Group — owner of the Peugeot, Citroen and Opel brands — yesterday said it sold nearly 30 percent fewer vehicles during the first quarter of this year, as lockdowns due to the pandemic kept consumers away. The group suffered a less severe drop in revenue, which fell 15.6 percent to 15.2 billion euros (US$16.5 billion). The automaker sold 627,000 vehicles in the first quarter, compared with nearly 886,000 vehicles a year earlier. The second quarter is likely to be much more difficult for the automaker as lockdowns across Europe, its major market, have hobbled production and sales across the region this month. PSA now expects Europe’s auto market to shrink 25 percent this year.

  BANKING

  BOJ expects rising bad loans

  Japanese lenders must brace for rising bad-loan costs and investment losses even as the financial system shows resilience to the COVID-19-fueled economic slump, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) said yesterday. If the downturn is prolonged, more companies at home and abroad could face solvency problems, raising credit costs, it said in its semi-annual Financial System Report. Losses on banks’ securities investment “could deteriorate” due to financial market moves, and foreign currency funding might become destabilized, it said.

  GAMING

  Components limit Switch

  Nintendo Co has asked its partners to increase Switch production to sate a surge in global demand during the pandemic, but a lack of key components, such as memory, might curtail efforts to boost output. The Kyoto-based company has instructed suppliers to meet a revised forecast for 22 million units in the fiscal year ending March 2021, people familiar with the matter said. That is about the same level as the previous year, but up from expectations of a slight decrease in production of the three-year-old console.

  SOFTWARE

  SAP co-CEO stepping down

  German software giant SAP AG co-CEO Jennifer Morgan is stepping down after just six months in the job, as the company switches back to a solo boss to steer it through the pandemic. Morgan, 48, became the first woman to head a company listed on Frankfurt’s DAX 30 index when she was appointed co-CEO, alongside Christian Klein, in October last year. “More than ever, the current environment requires companies to take swift, determined action which is best supported by a very clear leadership structure,” SAP said in a statement on Monday. In a decision it said was “mutually agreed” with the supervisory board, Morgan is to leave on Thursday next week, while Klein stays on as sole CEO.
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