JAPAN
Export decline slows
Exports declined at a slower pace last month in a sign that trade damage from the COVID-19 pandemic is easing, Ministry of Finance data released yesterday showed. The report showed that exports dropped 4.9 percent from the same month a year earlier, better than the nearly 15 percent drop in August. Imports declined 17.2 percent overall, compared with 20.8 percent in August. Exports to China jumped 14 percent, while shipments to the US inched up 0.7 percent, in another possible sign of a gradual rebound. By sector, computer exports to the world surged nearly 45 percent.
FINANCE
Ant wins China approval
Ant Group Co (螞蟻集團) has received approval from China’s securities regulator for the Hong Kong leg of its estimated US$35 billion dual listing, two people with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The Chinese financial technology firm plans to list in Hong Kong and on Shanghai’s STAR Market simultaneously in what could be the world’s largest initial public offering, surpassing Saudi Arabian Oil Co’s US$29.4 billion record set in December last year. The firm planned to seek listing approval from Hong Kong’s stock exchange yesterday, said one of the people, who declined to be identified as the matter was not yet public.
FOOD
Danone mulls asset sale
Danone SA chief executive officer Emmanuel Faber is reviewing the French yogurt maker’s entire portfolio for underperforming assets as the shares languish near a six-year low. The company is studying a sale of the Vega protein powder brand as well as a unit in Argentina, potentially getting rid of businesses that contribute 500 million euros (US$588 million) to revenue. Faber yesterday said some divisions could cut 20 to 30 percent of the products they make. The company is shifting to a system of management focused on geography rather than product groups, Danone said, as it reported a 2.5 percent drop in third-quarter revenue, on a like-for-like basis.
TELECOMS
Cogeco rejects takeover bid
Canadian telecom giant Cogeco Inc on Sunday definitively turned down an increased takeover bid from Altice USA Inc, citing the company’s “enviable” market position and continued profitability under current ownership. Just hours after Altice USA announced it had upped its purchase offer, Cogeco’s controlling shareholder — Montreal’s Audet family — released a statement saying they “unanimously reject this further proposal.” “We are not interested in selling our shares,” said Gestion Audem president Louis Audet in the statement. “This is not a negotiating strategy, but a definitive refusal.”
FINANCE
IMF calls to address debt
IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva on Sunday called for significant steps to address the increasingly unsustainable debt burdens of some countries, urging creditors and debtors to start restructuring processes sooner rather than later. Georgieva told an online event hosted by the G30 group of former policymakers and academics that a six-month extension of a freeze in official bilateral payments agreed by the G20 major economies last week would help, but said more urgent action was needed. “We are buying some time, but we have to face reality that there are much more decisive actions ahead of us,” she said, urging creditors and debtors to start restructuring debts of countries with unsustainable debt levels without delay.
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday signed a letter of intent with Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC), expressing an interest to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) and invest in the latter’s Alaska LNG project, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. Under the agreement, CPC is to participate in the project’s upstream gas investment to secure stable energy resources for Taiwan, the ministry said. The Alaska LNG project is jointly promoted by AGDC and major developer Glenfarne Group LLC, as Alaska plans to export up to 20 million tonnes of LNG annually from 2031. It involves constructing an 1,290km
NEXT GENERATION: The company also showcased automated machines, including a nursing robot called Nurabot, which is to enter service at a Taichung hospital this year Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) expects server revenue to exceed its iPhone revenue within two years, with the possibility of achieving this goal as early as this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said on Tuesday at Nvidia Corp’s annual technology conference in San Jose, California. AI would be the primary focus this year for the company, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), as rapidly advancing AI applications are driving up demand for AI servers, Liu said. The production and shipment of Nvidia’s GB200 chips and the anticipated launch of GB300 chips in the second half of the year would propel
RSS