Wed, Jan 27, 2021 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  AUTOMAKERS

  Hyundai Q4 profit spikes

  South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co defied the COVID-19 pandemic by yesterday posting a surprise 78 percent surge in fourth-quarter profit, as robust domestic sales offset weak overseas demand. Net profit in the October-to-December period jumped to 1.38 trillion won (US$1.25 billion) from 772 billion won a year earlier, Hyundai said in a statement. Domestic sales in the final three months rose 5 percent, driven by its luxury Genesis line, while foreign sales dropped 6.6 percent, said the company, which along with its affiliate Kia Motors Corp is among the world’s top 10 automakers. Full-year profits came to 2.12 trillion won, down 33.5 percent from 2019.

  PHARMACEUTICALS

  Novartis net profit up 13%

  Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Novartis AG yesterday said that its net profit for last year jumped 13 percent to US$8.1 billion after a restructuring saw it hive off its Alcon business. Sales edged up 3 percent to US$48.7 billion, the company said in a statement. Sales at its generic medicines unit Sandoz were down 1 percent on the year, while the main pharmaceuticals division posted a gain of 3 percent, helped by demand for its new cardiac treatments such as Entresto. Novartis said that it expects sales to rise this year in the bottom to the middle of a 1 to 5 percent range.

  HOSPITALITY

  Spanish stays plummet

  Overnight stays at Spanish hotels plunged last year, even as room rates dropped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced half of the country’s lodgings to close their doors, official data showed on Monday. Spain, the world’s second-most visited country after France before the pandemic, recorded 91.6 million overnight hotel stays, a 73 percent drop from 2019, the INE national statistics office said. About 55 percent of those stays were by Spanish residents. As of the end of last month, 48.2 percent of all hotels in Spain were open, and the average cost of hotel rooms had fallen by 6 percent, the INE said.

  AVIATION

  Rolls-Royce cuts forecast

  Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC projected free-cash outflows of about ￡2 billion (US$2.73 billion) this year, saying that new curbs on travel would delay a recovery in long-distance flights. The UK jet-engine maker now expects flying hours for wide-body aircraft to reach 55 percent of 2019 levels, versus an earlier assumption of 70 percent, it said in a statement yesterday. Rolls-Royce generates service revenue based on the amount of time planes equipped with its engines are in the air. The forecast marks another sign that renewed curbs on travel are postponing a recovery in aviation, after planemaker Airbus SE last week slowed a ramp-up in production, including the twin-aisle jets that carry Rolls-Royce engines.

  REAL ESTATE

  EQT to acquire Exeter

  Sweden’s EQT AB, one of Europe’s biggest private equity firms, has agreed to take over Exeter Property Group in a US$1.9 billion deal that gives it access to real-estate assets across the US and Europe. EQT is to pay about US$800 million in new shares and the rest in cash for closely held Exeter, the Stockholm-based firm said yesterday. EQT chief executive officer Christian Sinding said that the transaction feeds into his firm’s “strategy of building a globally scaled real-estate platform.” The takeover gives EQT control over a US-based property business with more than US$10 billion under management.
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