RETAILERS
M&S plans job cuts
Marks & Spencer Group PLC (M&S) yesterday said that it plans to eliminate about 7,000 jobs as it streamlines management and store operations after sales plunged amid the COVID-19 pandemic. London-based Marks & Spencer said that the job cuts would take place over the next three months in its central offices, regional management and UK stores. The reductions represent about 9 percent of the company’s workforce. Group revenue fell 13.2 percent in the quarter that ended on Aug. 8, driven by a 38 percent drop in in-store sales of clothing and housewares, while 68 percent of its orders were delivered online to customers’ homes during the quarter, compared with 29 percent in the previous year, it said.
COMMUNICATIONS
Zoom opens data center
Zoom Video Communications Inc has opened a data center in Singapore, diversifying its network and expanding into Southeast Asia for the first time. The San Jose, California-based company worked with Singapore’s Economic Development Board to set up the center, bringing the total to 18 sites globally. Zoom plans to hire an unspecified number of engineers and sales staff and offer new services such as Zoom Phone to scale the business in the region, Abe Smith, Zoom’s head of international, told a virtual briefing yesterday.
INVESTMENT
Norway fund posts loss
Norway’s US$1.15 trillion sovereign wealth fund posted a loss of 188 billion kroner (US$21.27 billion) in the first half of this year as stocks and real-estate holdings declined in value during the pandemic, it said yesterday. The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund holds stakes in about 9,200 companies globally, owning 1.5 percent of all listed stocks. It also invests in bonds and real estate. The overall portfolio had a negative return of 3.4 percent, with a decline of 6.8 percent for equities and minus-1.6 percent for unlisted real estate, while the value of fixed-income holdings rose 5.1 percent as interest rates plunged, it said.
FINANCE
Ant Group plans new firm
Jack Ma’s (馬雲) Ant Group (螞蟻集團) is planning to create a new consumer finance company to bolster its market share in China’s fast-growing online lending industry. Ant is working with other companies to build a consumer finance platform that will focus on doling out loans to individuals in China, people familiar with the situation said, asking not to be named because the matter is private. The Chongqing incorporated company would have registered capital of 8 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion). Ant is still in the process of seeking a consumer license for the company and could start operations in weeks, the people said.
BANKING
Westpac scraps dividend
Westpac Banking Corp has scrapped its first-half dividend, citing the desire to maintain a strong balance sheet in an uncertain operating environment. Westpac is the first of Australia’s four largest banks to cancel its dividend as the pandemic wreaks havoc on balance sheets. Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Australia Bank Ltd cut their payouts. Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd might give an update on its decision to defer payouts when it releases quarterly results today. The moves are a blow to legions of retail shareholders, particularly retirees, who rely on the steady stream of payments.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
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