AUTOMAKERS
Honda expects profit
Honda Motor Co forecast profit for the current fiscal year, slightly exceeding analysts’ projections, thanks to a recovery in automobile production, drops in some material prices, as well as robust sales of motorcycles. Honda also said it plans to buy back as much as ￥200 billion (US$1.5 billion) of its own shares. Operating profit for the period through March next year would be ￥1 trillion, the company said in a statement yesterday. That compares with analysts’ average projection for ￥996 billion. Honda said net sales are on track to reach ￥18.2 trillion, in line with the ￥18.1 trillion the market is looking for.
CHEMICALS
Bayer looks at low profit
Bayer AG expects profit this year would probably be at the lower end of its forecast amid falling prices for glyphosate, the key ingredient in its controversial weedkiller Roundup. The German conglomerate had anticipated core earnings per share for the year in the range of 7.20 euros to 7.40 euros. It now expects to hit the lower end of its targets, chief executive officer Werner Baumann said in a statement. In the first quarter, the company’s core earnings dropped 16 percent to 2.95 euros per share, a little above the 2.75 euros analysts had anticipated. Revenue fell to 14.4 billion euros (US$15.74 billion), roughly in line with estimates.
AVIATION
Emirates posts record profit
Long-haul carrier Emirates last year saw its most-profitable year ever, earning US$2.9 billion, the carrier said yesterday. Emirates’ annual report put revenue for the carrier at US$29 billion last year, up 81 percent from 2021’s figures of US$16 billion. That drastic swing came after the airline reported a US$1.1 billion loss in 2021. Earlier yesterday, Emirates announced that it would create a US$200 million fund for research and development projects aimed at reducing the use of fossil fuels in commercial aviation. The airline said the funding would be distributed over three years.
AUTOMAKERS
Nissan profit tops estimates
Nissan Motor Co yesterday said that its full-year net profit slightly topped estimates and offered an upbeat forecast for the current fiscal year, despite warning of “challenging” conditions ahead. The Japanese automaker said it logged net profit of ￥221 billion for the year to March, just beating its prediction of ￥220 billion, and projected ￥315 billion for the coming year. The company said the gains were the result of sales improvements and cost-cutting, as well as favorable foreign exchange rate fluctuations. These helped offset the effects of an increase in raw material prices and inflation.
ITALY
Probe opened into Apple
The country’s antitrust regulator yesterday said that it has opened an investigation into tech giant Apple Inc for allegedly abusing a dominant position in the apps market. The Silicon Valley titan “has adopted a more restrictive privacy policy for third-party app developers than it applies to itself,” the competition watchdog said in a statement. The “alleged discriminatory conduct” could cause a drop in advertising revenues of third-party advertisers and prevent competitors from entering or remaining in the app development and distribution market, benefiting Apple’s own apps, it added.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
PRECEDENTED TIMES: In news that surely does not shock, AI and tech exports drove a banner for exports last year as Taiwan’s economic growth experienced a flood tide Taiwan’s exports delivered a blockbuster finish to last year with last month’s shipments rising at the second-highest pace on record as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware and advanced computing remained strong, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Exports surged 43.4 percent from a year earlier to US$62.48 billion last month, extending growth to 26 consecutive months. Imports climbed 14.9 percent to US$43.04 billion, the second-highest monthly level historically, resulting in a trade surplus of US$19.43 billion — more than double that of the year before. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) described the performance as “surprisingly outstanding,” forecasting export growth
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