■ COSMETICS
L'Oreal Q4 revenues rise
French cosmetics giant L'Oreal SA said on Thursday that its fourth-quarter revenues rose 6.6 percent amid strong growth in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Revenues for the fourth quarter were 4.42 billion euros (US$6.48 billion). L'Oreal did not provide last year's figure in its revenue statement, but previous releases show it was 4.15 billion euros. The latest revenue figure met analyst expectations of 4.4 billion euros, according to a Dow Jones Newswires poll of five analysts. For all of last year, revenues rose 8 percent to 17.1 billion euros, the company said.
■ TECHNOLOGY
Broadcom founders probed
Federal prosecutors identified Broadcom Corp co-founders Henry Nicholas and Henry Samueli as "unindicted potential co-conspirators" in an investigation into the illegal backdating of stock options. The revelation came as former human resources executive Nancy Tullos pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of justice as part of the probe. Tullos struck a deal with prosecutors late last year and agreed to the plea in exchange for her cooperation in the case. Nicholas and Samueli were identified as "Executive A" and "Executive B" in the plea agreement, but US District Judge Cormac Carney told prosecutors not identifying them would undermine the factual basis of the plea deal and violate the principles of open court hearings.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Porsche sales up 14.2%
German luxury sports car maker Porsche said yesterday that sales in the first half of its 2007-2008 fiscal year grew by 14.2 percent to 3.5 billion euros (US$5.2 billion). Unit sales gained 18.7 percent to 46,600 between Aug. 1 and Jan. 31, the company said in a statement which cited provisional figures. For the full year, Porsche was confident of continuing on its growth path, company chief Wendelin Wiedeking was quoted as saying. The group did not release an estimation of net profit, and would wait until March and the release of fourth-quarter results of Volkswagen, in which it has a 31 percent stake.
■ TECHNOLOGY
Sun's profit nearly doubles
Sun Microsystems Inc's fiscal second-quarter profit nearly doubled to edge past Wall Street's estimates on Thursday, reflecting the server and software maker's cost-cutting efforts and maneuvers to shore up demand amid fierce competition. Sun's net profit leaped 95 percent to US$260 million, or US$0.31 per share, for the three months ended Dec. 30. That was a penny higher than the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, and nearly twice as high as Sun's profit during the same period a year earlier.
■ SOFTWARE
IBM acquisition approved
IBM Corp on Thursday won EU approval for its largest acquisition ever, the US$5 billion cash purchase of business intelligence specialist Cognos Inc. EU antitrust officials said the deal would not cause competition problems in Europe because the combined market share for business analytics would be moderate with several strong rivals that could offer alternatives to customers. Business-intelligence software helps large organizations gather data that can be used to model such things as the financial impact of staffing changes or marketing moves.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
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