■MEXICO
Economy may shrink 4%
The economy will contract by 4 percent this year, largely because of the global recession and weak internal demand, private analysts said in a central bank report released on Monday. The previous bank survey of analysts, issued last month, had predicted a 3.3 percent contraction. Mexico’s economy grew by 1.3 percent last year. Monday’s figures do not account for the impact of the H1N1 virus scare. Authorities ordered most businesses closed to contain the spread of the virus, and trade and commercial flights have been disrupted. Treasury Secretary Agustin Carstens said the flu could cost the economy an additional 0.3 percent to 0.5 percent of GDP.
■MANAGEMENT
CFOs at top firms lose pay
Chief financial officers (CFOs) at more than 300 companies in Standard and Poor’s 500 Index took a median compensation cut of 4 percent last year as cash bonuses plunged, a study showed. The total compensation of the finance directors dropped to US$2.73 million from US$2.84 million the previous year, according to Equilar Inc. Base salaries increased 6.6 percent, while cash bonuses slid 22.6 percent and incentive plan payouts linked to company performance fell 18.4 percent, the study showed. The CFOs had to have held the job for at least two years to participate in the survey.
■RETAIL
Adidas profits plunge
German sports equipment and clothing maker Adidas yesterday posted a 97 percent drop in first-quarter net profit to 5 million euros (US$6.7 million). A company statement also said sales had fallen by a much more modest 2 percent to 2.58 billion euros in the first three months of the year. Company chairman and chief executive Herbert Hainer said the group’s results had been “materially affected by higher input prices, currency devaluation effects and restructuring costs.” Adidas also announced a major restructuring of its operations that would include the elimination of regional headquarters in Europe and Asia. Employee reductions were planned at the group’s Reebok, Rockport and TaylorMade-Adidas Golf divisions, the statement said. Looking ahead, it said Adidas’ operating margin was expected to decline, but earnings per share would “be around break-even in the first six months of 2009” before getting well back into the black later this year.
■RETAIL
Metro reports quarterly loss
Giant German retailer Metro AG reported widening quarterly losses yesterday as the global recession hit consumer demand. Metro, which has a global business empire said its net loss in the first three months of the year widened to 100 million euros from 15 million euros in the same period last year. But Germany’s biggest retailer also pointed to signs of improvement in business conditions, saying it had experienced a “positive development of business” last month. The company said first first-quarter sales dropped 2.5 percent to 15.2 billion euros.
■FINANCE
Resignation boosts RBS
Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) shares rose as much as 17 percent yesterday, or £0.074, to £0.514 in London trading after the company said that Guy Whittaker, its finance director, would step down from the board, leaving the company by the end of the year.
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
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