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.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
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