GERMANY
EU raises GDP forecast
The German economy is forecast to grow slightly this year, the European Commission said yesterday, revising up its forecast for Europe’s biggest economy, which it had previously expected to contract by 0.6 percent. In its winter forecasts, the European Commission envisages 0.2 percent GDP growth for Germany, more than it expected in autumn, due to the easing of energy prices and policy support to households and companies. German GDP decreased 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter in adjusted terms in the fourth quarter of last year. Despite a recent improvement in confidence, the economy is expected to suffer another mild decline early this year, as energy prices for households are still increasing and government support for last month and this month would only be disbursed next month, the European Commission said.
AUTOMAKERS
Toyota adds new leaders
Toyota Motor Corp announced several changes to its senior management as Koji Sato prepares to take over as president and chief executive officer, including new heads of technology and finance. Hiroki Nakajima is to become chief technology officer and Yoichi Miyazaki is to be chief financial officer from April 1, when Sato is scheduled to take over from Akio Toyoda, the Japanese automaker said in a statement yesterday. Both executives are to join the board of directors, along with newly appointed chief branding officer Simon Humphries. “The notion that Toyota’s efforts to electrify are lagging — I think half of that comes down to communication,” Sato said at a news conference in Tokyo to announce the management changes. Regarding the company’s new electric vehicle platform slated for 2026, he said further details would be announced in April.
AUTOMOBILES
License plate costs US$3.2m
A personalized license plate on Sunday sold for HK$25.5 million (US$3.25 million) at an auction in Hong Kong, the second-highest bid on record in the territory, where eye-catching and sometimes bewildering car plates are a common sight. Sunday’s bid was for a license plate with the letter “R” and came at a Lunar New Year auction organized by the Hong Kong Transport Department. It was just short of a record HK$26 million bid for the letter “W” in 2021, rankings published by Hong Kong Secretary for Transport Lam Sai-hung (林世雄) showed. The winning bid for “R” was 5,100 times the reserve price and represented more than 80 percent of the total raised at Sunday’s auction, the government said in a statement.
BANKING
DBS profit beats estimates
DBS Group Holdings Ltd’s fourth-quarter profit topped estimates, helped by lending gains as a strong capital base allowed the bank to deliver a special dividend. Net income increased 69 percent to S$2.34 billion (US$1.76 billion) in the three months ended Dec. 31, Southeast Asia’s biggest lender said in a statement yesterday. That beat an average estimate of S$2.17 billion from four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. A special dividend of S$0.50 a share for the period would take the year’s total payout to S$2 a share, the statement said. DBS, led by CEO Piyush Gupta, joins lenders getting a lift from rising global interest rates after stock market volatility led to a leaner period for dealmaking and fees from advising rich clients “Our business pipelines are healthy and asset quality robust,” Gupta said in the statement. “We expect confidence to return to markets in the coming year as interest rate increases ease and China reopens.”
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Taiwan’s property market is entering a freeze, with mortgage activity across the nation’s six largest cities plummeting in the first quarter, H&B Realty Co (住商不動產) said yesterday, citing mounting pressure on housing demand amid tighter lending rules and regulatory curbs. Mortgage applications in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung totaled 28,078 from January to March, a sharp 36.3 percent decline from 44,082 in the same period last year, the nation’s largest real-estate brokerage by franchise said, citing data from the Joint Credit Information Center (JCIC, 聯徵中心). “The simultaneous decline across all six cities reflects just how drastically the market
Ashton Hall’s morning routine involves dunking his head in iced Saratoga Spring Water. For the company that sells the bottled water — Hall’s brand of choice for drinking, brushing his teeth and submerging himself — that is fantastic news. “We’re so thankful to this incredible fitness influencer called Ashton Hall,” Saratoga owner Primo Brands Corp’s CEO Robbert Rietbroek said on an earnings call after Hall’s morning routine video went viral. “He really helped put our brand on the map.” Primo Brands, which was not affiliated with Hall when he made his video, is among the increasing number of companies benefiting from influencer
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