PHARMACEUTICALS
Pfizer profits from vaccines
Selling vaccines during a pandemic has boosted Pfizer Inc’s bottom line and proven that a strategy it embarked upon more than a decade ago is now paying off handsomely. The New York-based pharmaceutical giant on Tuesday reported that it earned US$4.9 billion in the first three months of this year and it dramatically raised its profit forecast for the full year, thanks to strong demand for its COVID-19 vaccine. Pfizer almost doubled its sales projections for the vaccine this year, from US$15 billion to about US$26 billion. The company, along with its German partner BioNTech AG, anticipate strong revenue from the vaccine and booster shots for the next three years. The partners expect to deliver about 2.5 billion vaccine doses this year, including 300 million doses for the US, and are prepping for what could become annual booster shots.
LOGISTICS
Maersk upbeat for this year
Maersk A/S yesterday said that it expects an “exceptionally strong” performance in the first quarter to continue for the rest of the year, driven by high demand for shipping containers from China to the US. “Strong demand led to bottlenecks, as well as lack of capacity and equipment, which drove up freight rates to record high levels,” CEO Soren Skou said in a statement. Those factors prompted Maersk last week to raise its outlook for full-year underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization to between US$13 billion and US$15 billion from US$8.5 billion and US$10.5 billion. It also lifted its forecast for global container demand growth to 5 to 7 percent from 3 to 5 percent. Maersk, the world’s biggest container shipper, confirmed the 30 percent rise in first-quarter revenue announced in a preliminary trading statement last week and reiterated its upbeat profit outlook for this year.
SEMICONDUCTORS
NXP sells US$2bn of bonds
NXP Semiconductors NV sold US$2 billion of bonds to help finance the development of semiconductors that reduce energy consumption in products like power adapters and electric vehicles. The chipmaker issued bonds in two parts, said a person with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified as the details are private. The longer portion of the deal, a 20-year security, yields 1.15 percentage points above US Treasuries, down from the initially targeted 1.5 percent premium, the person said. That equates to about 3.3 percent. The money would partly fund research and development for innovation in green chips, battery control and energy management for electric and hybrid vehicles, smart-building technologies, as well as energy-efficiency measures at its facilities, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
CRYPTOCURRENCY
Dogecoin surge crashes app
Investors are piling back into some of the fringe corners of the cryptocurrency world, with the frenzy sending dogecoin surging more than 50 percent again and crashing Robinhood Markets Inc’s trading app. Other so-called altcoins also took off, with dash spiking 18 percent over a 24-hour period through yesterday morning in Europe and ethereum classic rising almost 45 percent. In the world of decentralized finance, tokens such as force DAO and tierion surged more than 1,000 percent on Tuesday, CoinMarketCap.com data showed. Robinhood said it resolved earlier issues with crypto trading on its platform. The rallies defied easy explanation and continued a trend that has seen the value of all digital tokens surge past US$2.3 trillion.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
‘IMMENSE SWAY’: The top 50 companies, based on market cap, shape everything from technology to consumer trends, advisory firm Visual Capitalist said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the 10th-most valuable company globally this year, market information advisory firm Visual Capitalist said. TSMC sat on a market cap of about US$915 billion as of Monday last week, making it the 10th-most valuable company in the world and No. 1 in Asia, the publisher said in its “50 Most Valuable Companies in the World” list. Visual Capitalist described TSMC as the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry operator that rolls out chips for major tech names such as US consumer electronics brand Apple Inc, and artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers Nvidia Corp and Advanced
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