■IRELAND
Government helps bank
Struggling lender Bank of Ireland said yesterday it intends to raise 3.4 billion euros (US$4.6 billion) in fresh capital with the help of the government. The government’s 34 percent stake in the bailed-out bank will rise to 36 percent after the exercise, which will also see a private placement worth 500 million euros to institutional investors. The state will contribute 1.04 billion euros and existing shareholders another 1.89 billion euros, the Bank of Ireland said. The plan to raise extra funds was announced last month, aiming to strengthen the bank after its near-collapse during the global financial crisis.
■ELECTRONICS
Canon Q1 profit soars
Canon’s first quarter net profit more than tripled from a year earlier as a recovering global economy drove demand for cameras and office equipment. The Tokyo-based company said yesterday its net profit for the January-March quarter totaled ¥56.8 billion (US$602 million), up from ¥17.7 billion a year earlier. Operating profit more than quadrupled to ¥86.8 billion, while sales rose 10 percent to ¥755.5 billion. Canon credited its results to a turnaround in US and Japanese consumer spending, as well as expanding markets in China, India and elsewhere in Asia.
■ELECTRONICS
TomTom makes small profit
TomTom NV reported a small profit for the first quarter as more drivers bought its personal navigation devices, but selling prices continued to fall. Net profit was 3 million euros, or 0.01 euro per share, in what is usually its weakest quarter, from a loss of 37 million euros in the same period a year ago. Revenues rose 26 percent to 268 million euros. The company has forecast sales for this year at about the same level as last year, at 1.48 billion euros. It says it expects earnings per share of 0.47 euros. TomTom said it sold 1.6 million devices, up 15 percent from a year ago. Its average selling price was 89 euros, down 10 percent from a year ago.
■JAPAN
Fiscal problems growing
A senior IMF official warned of the country’s growing fiscal problems in an interview published yesterday, describing the pace of deterioration as “pretty high.” IMF deputy managing director Naoyuki Shinohara made the comments in an interview with Kyodo news agency in Washington. “Although Japan’s problem should not be treated in the same way as the Greece debt crisis, its fiscal vulnerability is rising fairly high,” he said. While the fiscal deficit has been financed by high levels of saving, the pace of deterioration is now “pretty high” and the country must implement consolidation plans, he said.
■OIL
Minister defends prices
Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah al-Sabah said yesterday that current oil prices of between US$75 and US$85 dollars a barrel did not hamper the global economic recovery. “This price will not create hurdles for the world economic recovery,” the minister told the opening session of the 18th Middle East Petroleum and Gas Conference. Oil prices extended gains in Asian trade yesterday after a rise in US home sales stoked optimism for a firmer rebound in the world’s biggest economy, analysts said. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, rose US$0.41 to US$85.53 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for June was up US$0.35 to US$87.60.
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
‘RELATIVELY STRONG LANGUAGE’: An expert said the state department has not softened its language on China and was ‘probably a little more Taiwan supportive’ China’s latest drills near Taiwan on Monday were “brazen and irresponsible threats,” a US Department of State spokesperson said on Tuesday, while reiterating Washington’s decades-long support of Taipei. “China cannot credibly claim to be a ‘force for stability in a turbulent world’ while issuing brazen and irresponsible threats toward Taiwan,” the unnamed spokesperson said in an e-mailed response to media queries. Washington’s enduring commitment to Taiwan will continue as it has for 45 years and the US “will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s military, economic, informational and diplomatic pressure campaign,” the e-mail said. “Alongside our international partners, we firmly
KAOHSIUNG CEREMONY: The contract chipmaker is planning to build 5 fabs in the southern city to gradually expand its 2-nanometer chip capacity Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday confirmed that it plans to hold a ceremony on March 31 to unveil a capacity expansion plan for its most advanced 2-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung, demonstrating its commitment to further investment at home. The ceremony is to be hosted by TSMC cochief operating officer Y.P. Chyn (秦永沛). It did not disclose whether Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and high-ranking government officials would attend the ceremony. More details are to be released next week, it said. The chipmaker’s latest move came after its announcement earlier this month of an additional US$100 billion
RSS