■MINING
Rio Tinto doubles stake
Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto doubled its stake in Canada’s Ivanhoe to nearly 20 percent yesterday, just weeks after the two companies signed off on a landmark Mongolian copper-gold project. Rio spent some US$388 million on the new investment, raising its share of ownership by 9.8 percent to 19.7 percent, a statement said. The company said it would own 43.1 percent of Ivanhoe if it converted all of its warrants and securities, adding that it had “no present intention” of increasing its stake further.
■ELECTRONICS
Fujitsu earnings surge
Japanese electronics maker Fujitsu Ltd yesterday said quarterly earnings surged as gains on the sale of investment securities offset continued weak demand for its products. Fujitsu posted a bigger-than-expected profit of ¥72.4 billion (US$794 million) for the fiscal second quarter through September, against a year-earlier profit of ¥4.2 billion. Operating profit tumbled 42 percent to ¥18.9 billion and revenue fell 10.5 percent to ¥1.14 trillion. The company said it was on course to meet its forecast for a net profit of ¥95 billion in the year to next March, after a loss of ¥112.4 billion the previous year.
■SOFTWARE
SAP earnings fall short
German software group SAP warned yesterday that sales this year will be less than previously expected after its third-quarter earnings fell short of forecasts. SAP said its third-quarter net profit rose 12 percent from a year earlier to 435 million euros (US$645 million) but this compared with analyst forecasts compiled by Dow Jones Newswires for 443 million euros. The German group said software revenues shed 31 percent to 525 million euros, below analyst estimates for 570 million euros. Total sales fell 9 percent to 2.5 billion euros in the third quarter.
■SOFTWARE
HCL quarterly profit drops
Indian software services firm HCL Technologies Ltd said quarterly profit fell 12.3 percent as foreign exchange losses dented rebounding revenues from the US and from media and financial services clients. “Though there are signs of an early recovery in sectors like financial services, we continue to be cautious,” chairman Shiv Nadar said in a statement yesterday. “We continue to see sustained recovery only by next year.” HCL’s profit, however, beat expectations with earnings of 3.2 billion rupees (US$66.5 million) in the July-September quarter, 12.3 percent less than the same period last year. Revenue was 30.31 billion rupees, a 25.8 percent increase over the year-earlier period.
■SECURITIES
Nomura declares ‘success’
Japan’s top securities firm, Nomura, declared its purchase of large parts of failed US bank Lehman Brothers “a resounding success” yesterday as it posted a second straight quarterly profit. Nomura Holdings posted net earnings of ¥27.7 billion for the fiscal second quarter through September, against a year-earlier loss of ¥72.9 billion. “After one year of combined operations, the acquisitions have been a resounding success,” Nomura chief executive Kenichi Watanabe said in a statement. Nomura plunged to a record net loss of ¥709.4 billion in the year to last March, battered by the global economic crisis. It returned to profit in April-June of this year for the first time in six quarters.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS