AUSTRALIA
Retail sales edge up 0.6%
Retail sales climbed for an eighth straight month last month, indicating that the nation’s cashed-up households are coping well with rapid interest rate increases to tackle inflation. Sales advanced 0.6 percent from July, Bureau of Statistics data showed yesterday. The rise was driven by “the combined increase in food related industries, with cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services up,” said Ben Dorber, head of retail statistics at the bureau. Department store sales rose to a new record, while household goods retailing had its largest increase since March.
THAILAND
BOT raises rate again
The Bank of Thailand (BOT) yesterday increased the benchmark policy rate for the second straight meeting to tame the fastest inflation in 14 years and shore up the battered baht. The bank’s monetary policy committee voted to unanimously raise the one-day repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 1 percent, as forecast by 18 of 23 economists in a Bloomberg survey, with the rest predicting a hike of 50 basis points. Even after yesterday’s move, the BOT continues to be among the least hawkish in Asia, where many counterparts — including India and the Philippines — moved early and aggressively to tighten policy amid high inflation and weakening currencies.
GERMANY
Consumer confidence dips
Consumer confidence remains on a record downward slide, as Europe’s largest economy faces soaring inflation and an energy crisis heading into winter, a key survey showed yesterday. GfK’s forward-looking barometer fell to minus-42.5 points for next month, hitting a record low for the fourth month in a row, following a revised reading for this month of minus-36.8 points. “The currently very high inflation rates of almost 8 percent are leading to large real income losses among consumers and thus to a significant reduction in purchasing power,” GfK consumer expert Rolf Buerkl said.
TOYS
Lego sales rise 17%
Lego A/S yesterday posted double-digit sales growth in the first half of the year, driven by new openings and robust demand for its colorful plastic bricks, despite rising costs and inflation hitting consumers. The family-owned company said it had outpaced the toy industry in all major markets during the first six months of the year, when revenue increased 17 percent to 27 billion Danish kroner (US$3.47 billion). Operating profit for the period was steady from last year at 7.9 billion kroner. The Danish company opened 66 new stores in the six-month period, of which 43 were in China, bringing the total number of Lego branded stores to 833 worldwide.
AVIATION
SATS to acquire WFS
SATS Ltd, a catering and gateway services provider, has agreed to acquire air cargo handler Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) at an enterprise value of 2.25 billion euros (US$2.15 billion). The Singapore-listed firm is to pay about 1.2 billion euros in cash for WFS, it said in a statement yesterday. The deal is to be financed with a S$1.7 billion (US$1.17 billion) equity fund raising, with the balance coming from internal cash resources, SATS said. The acquisition is expected to close in March next year. Temasek Holdings Pte, which owns about a 39.7 percent stake in SATS, has agreed to vote in favor of the acquisition.
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
coverage expansion: The industrial PC maker has proposed to acquire 3.938 million Aures shares to strengthen its global smart retail presence Leading industrial PC maker Advantech Co (研華) plans to acquire Aures Technologies SA, a French company known for its point-of-sale (POS) and kiosk equipment, to expand its global coverage in smart retail products and services. Advantech proposed to acquire 3.938 million Aures shares from the French firm’s major shareholder and through a public tender offer at up to 6.7 euros per share, the PC maker said in a statement after announcing the deal at the Taiwan Stock Exchange late on Friday. The company aims to acquire up to 100 percent equity of Aures, a well-known brand in the western market with a
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI