OIL
Price dip benefits output: IEA
An oil market rally might ease off as prices that last month hit a three-year high help push up global production, particularly in the US, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said yesterday. “The world oil market remains tight by all measures, but a reprieve from the price rally could be on the horizon ... due to rising oil supplies,” the Paris-based agency said in its monthly oil report. “Current prices provide a strong incentive to boost [US] activity even as operators stick to capital discipline pledges,” it said. The IEA said that US production would not return to levels before the COVID-19 pandemic until the end of next year.
WINE AND SPIRITS
Diageo expects sales growth
Diageo PLC expects organic sales growth to be between 5 and 7 percent for fiscal year 2023-2025, up from 4 to 6 percent growth during fiscal year 2017-2019, the world’s largest spirits maker said yesterday as it laid out its medium-term targets. The Johnnie Walker whisky maker expects organic net sales growth of at least 16 percent in the first half of this fiscal year and organic operating profit growth to be ahead of sales growth. “While we expect inflationary pressures to increase, we also expect to benefit from operating leverage, premiumization, revenue growth management and productivity gains,” chief financial officer Lavanya Chandrashekar said.
TOBACCO
Imperial sales edge up
Tobacco group Imperial Brands PLC yesterday reported a slight uptick in its full-year sales, aided by higher cigarette prices that more than offset a decline in volumes. The maker of Gauloises and West cigarettes reported organic adjusted group revenue of ￡7.59 billion (US$10.22 billion), up 1.4 percent in constant currencies, for the full year ended on Sept. 30. The company said it raised tobacco prices by 4.4 percent during the year, which helped offset a 2.9 percent decline in overall volumes. Sales of next-generation products, such as e-cigarettes and tobacco-heating products, fell 3.9 percent during the year, in part due to the company’s exit from some markets.
ENGINEERING
Thyssenkrupp unit eyes IPO
Thyssenkrupp AG is pushing ahead with plans for an initial public offering (IPO) of a unit that helps to build hydrogen plants, people familiar with the matter said. The German engineering group is looking to list Uhde Chlorine Engineers as soon as the first quarter of next year to capitalize on surging interest in hydrogen-based technologies, the people said. An IPO could value the business at as much as 5 billion euros (US$5.68 billion), they said on condition of anonymity. Thyssenkrupp has been working with Citigroup Inc to explore options for Uhde.
SINGAPORE
Temasek unloads shares
State-owned investor Temasek Holdings Pte sold shares of US-listed Chinese tech firms amid regulatory crackdowns. Temasek cut 16 percent of its stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) and 11 percent of its shares in ride-hailing service Didi Global Inc (滴滴), a 13F filing for the three months ended on Sept. 30 showed. It exited Chinese search engine operator Baidu Inc (百度), TAL Education Group (好未來教育集團), New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc (新東方教育科技集團) and jobs service provider Kanzhun Ltd (看准). Temasek rebalances its portfolio from time to time in the usual course of business, a company representative said.
JITTERS: Nexperia has a 20 percent market share for chips powering simpler features such as window controls, and changing supply chains could take years European carmakers are looking into ways to scratch components made with parts from China, spooked by deepening geopolitical spats playing out through chipmaker Nexperia BV and Beijing’s export controls on rare earths. To protect operations from trade ructions, several automakers are pushing major suppliers to find permanent alternatives to Chinese semiconductors, people familiar with the matter said. The industry is considering broader changes to its supply chain to adapt to shifting geopolitics, Europe’s main suppliers lobby CLEPA head Matthias Zink said. “We had some indications already — questions like: ‘How can you supply me without this dependency on China?’” Zink, who also
At least US$50 million for the freedom of an Emirati sheikh: That is the king’s ransom paid two weeks ago to militants linked to al-Qaeda who are pushing to topple the Malian government and impose Islamic law. Alongside a crippling fuel blockade, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) has made kidnapping wealthy foreigners for a ransom a pillar of its strategy of “economic jihad.” Its goal: Oust the junta, which has struggled to contain Mali’s decade-long insurgency since taking power following back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, by scaring away investors and paralyzing the west African country’s economy.
Tax revenue from securities transactions last month increased 41.9 percent from a year earlier to NT$30.3 billion (US$975.8 million), rising on an annual basis for the third consecutive month and marking the highest for the month of October as Taiwanese stocks continued to perform strongly, data released by the Ministry of Finance showed yesterday. Last month, the TAIEX surged 2,412.81 points, or 9.34 percent, marking its largest-ever monthly rise for October as market sentiment was buoyed by a nearly 15 percent gain in contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which accounts for more than 40 percent of the
BUST FEARS: While a KMT legislator asked if an AI bubble could affect Taiwan, the DGBAS minister said the sector appears on track to continue growing The local property market has cooled down moderately following a series of credit control measures designed to contain speculation, the central bank said yesterday, while remaining tight-lipped about potential rule relaxations. Lawmakers in a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee voiced concerns to central bank officials that the credit control measures have adversely affected the government’s tax income and small and medium-sized property developers, with limited positive effects. Housing prices have been climbing since 2016, even when the central bank imposed its first set of control measures in 2020, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) said. “Since the second half of
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