RETAIL
Asos scoops Arcadia brands
Asos PLC has bought the Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands from the administrators of Philip Green’s collapsed Arcadia Group for ￡265 million (US$364 million), the British online fashion retailer said yesterday. The deal for Arcadia’s prized brands, which are to be fully funded from cash reserves, does not include its stores, putting thousands of jobs at risk. The Arcadia empire in November last year fell into administration owing creditors hundreds of millions of pounds and threatening more than 13,000 jobs. Its collapse was the biggest corporate failure of the COVID-19 pandemic so far. Asos said incremental core earnings from the deal in its 2020-2021 year would be offset by initial ramp-up costs.
MACAU
Gambling revenue falls
Gambling revenue in the territory last month dropped 63.7 percent from a year earlier as the world’s biggest casino hub struggled to boost visitors from its key market of mainland China because of a rise in COVID-19 cases across the border. The figure was 8 billion patacas (US$1 billion) for last month, according to figures released by the government yesterday. Gaming revenues have slumped for the past year because of coronavirus travel restrictions.
ENERGY
Exxon, Chevron held talks
The chief executives of ExxonMobil Corp and Chevron Corp early last year held preliminary talks to explore combining the two largest US oil producers in what would have been the biggest merger of all time, people familiar with the matter said. The discussions, which are no longer active, are indicative of the pressure the energy sector’s most dominant companies faced as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold and crude prices plunged. The talks between Exxon chief executive Darren Woods and Chevron chief executive officer Mike Wirth were serious enough for legal documents involving certain aspects of the merger discussions to be drafted, one of the sources said.
ENERGY
GCL-Poly unit defaults
A unit of GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd (保利協鑫能源) defaulted on a US$500 million bond after ending an exchange offer with existing bondholders. GCL New Energy Holdings Ltd (協鑫新能源控股) announced the default in an exchange filing yesterday. The firm, which operates solar power plants, said the default on the three-year, 7.1 percent note due Saturday would trigger a cross default after the offer was terminated. The cross default would have “a material negative impact” on the company’s business and financial position, GCL New Energy said in a statement.
UNITED KINGDOM
At-risk companies double
The number of listed companies at risk of insolvency has doubled as restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 continue to ravage the economy. A record 35 percent of companies issued profit warnings last year, according to a report by the consulting firm EY. There was also a surge in the number of companies issuing three or more profit warnings in a 12-month period, a warning sign for insolvency. Sixty-two companies issued at least their third profit warning, double the total in 2019, according to the report. A total of 583 profit warnings were announced by listed companies last year, the highest number in 21 years of EY research and 15 percent higher than the previous record set in 2001.
MARKET LEADERSHIP: Investors are flocking to Nvidia, drawn by the company’s long-term fundamntals, dominant position in the AI sector, and pricing and margin power Two years after Nvidia Corp made history by becoming the first chipmaker to achieve a US$1 trillion market capitalization, an even more remarkable milestone is within its grasp: becoming the first company to reach US$4 trillion. After the emergence of China’s DeepSeek (深度求索) sent the stock plunging earlier this year and stoked concerns that outlays on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure were set to slow, Nvidia shares have rallied back to a record. The company’s biggest customers remain full steam ahead on spending, much of which is flowing to its computing systems. Microsoft Corp, Meta Platforms Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc are
Luxury fashion powerhouse Prada SpA has acknowledged the ancient Indian roots of its new sandal design after the debut of the open-toe footwear sparked a furor among Indian artisans and politicians thousands of miles from the catwalk in Italy. Images from Prada’s fashion show in Milan last weekend showed models wearing leather sandals with a braided design that resembled handmade Kolhapuri slippers with designs dating back to the 12th century. A wave of criticism in the media and from lawmakers followed over the Italian brand’s lack of public acknowledgement of the Indian sandal design, which is named after a city in the
The US overtaking China as Taiwan’s top export destination could boost industrial development and wage growth, given the US is a high-income economy, an economist said yesterday. However, Taiwan still needs to diversify its export markets due to the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump’s administration, said Chiou Jiunn-rong (邱俊榮), an economics professor at National Central University. Taiwan’s exports soared to a record US$51.74 billion last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products and continued orders, with information and communication technology (ICT) and audio/video products leading all sectors. The US reclaimed its position as Taiwan’s top export market, accounting for
INVESTOR RESILIENCE? An analyst said that despite near-term pressures, foreign investors tend to view NT dollar strength as a positive signal for valuation multiples Morgan Stanley has flagged a potential 10 percent revenue decline for Taiwan’s tech hardware sector this year, as a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar begins to dent the earnings power of major exporters. In what appears to be the first such warning from a major foreign brokerage, the US investment bank said the currency’s strength — fueled by foreign capital inflows and expectations of US interest rate cuts — is compressing profit margins for manufacturers with heavy exposure to US dollar-denominated revenues. The local currency has surged about 10 percent against the greenback over the past quarter and yesterday breached
RSS