SHIPPING
Moller-Maersk cuts forecast
AP Moller-Maersk A/S, a bellwether for global trade, cut its forecast for the global container market, saying demand would shrink 2 to 4 percent this year and could also contract next year as an economic slowdown weighs on bookings. “With the war in Ukraine, an energy crisis in Europe, high inflation, and a looming global recession there are plenty of dark clouds on the horizon,” the company said in its third-quarter earnings report published yesterday. “This weighs on consumer purchasing power which in turn impacts global transportation and logistics demand,” it said. Earnings before interest and tax rose to US$9.48 billion in the third quarter of this year, the Copenhagen-based company said.
PHARMACEUTICALS
GSK raises outlook
GSK PLC raised its outlook for the fiscal year for a second time amid strong demand for its vaccines. The British drugmaker said operating profit excluding some costs could rise as much as 17 percent and sales growth might be as high as 10 percent, up from prior expectations of 15 percent and 8 percent respectively. The upgrade comes as the maker of the blockbuster shingles vaccine Shingrix reported £7.8 billion (US$9 billion) in revenue and £0.47 earnings per share, excluding some costs, in the third quarter of this year.
HOSPITALITY
Airbnb posts record profit
Airbnb Inc on Tuesday reported its highest quarterly profits ever, as the home rental platform saw its net profit climb 46 percent year-on-year to US$1.2 billion in the third quarter, the California-based company said. The firm said that the number of new “hosts” — people listing properties on its site — is also rising. In the third quarter, Airbnb recorded nearly 100 million overnight stays and experience bookings — such as guided tours — 25 percent more than in the same period last year. Its quarterly revenue jumped 29 percent to US$2.9 billion.
NEW ZEALAND
BNPL requirements planned
The government plans to require providers of buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) products to conduct an affordability check on customers before agreeing to a loan. The government is proposing the checks should apply for loans above NZ$600 (US$353), meaning borrowers would receive the same kind of protections as those who seek credit cards and personal loans, Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs David Clark said yesterday. Smaller loans would not have to go through the same process, but credit reporting would need to occur, he said. The amount of money spent with BNPL grew to NZ$1.7 billion last year from NZ$755 million in 2020, government data showed.
CHEMICALS
DuPont calls off Rogers deal
DuPont de Nemours Inc called off its planned US$5.2 billion acquisition of engineering materials maker Rogers Corp, saying it was unable to get timely clearance from regulators. DuPont said it would pay a breakup fee of US$162.5 million to Chandler, Arizona-based Rogers, whose shares plunged as much as 46 percent after the close of regular trading on Tuesday. DuPont’s brief statement was issued a day short of the one-year anniversary of the deal’s announcement. While the statement did not specify which “required regulators” had not cleared the transaction, DuPont previously identified the Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation as the last remaining hurdle for deal approval.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day