■BANKING
SocGen sets profit target
French bank Societe Generale said yesterday it aimed to double net profits by 2012 to 6 billion euros (US$7.3 billion) from a target of 3 billion euros this year. Revenues are also expected to grow revenues 4 percent annually by then, the bank said, outlining a new strategy focusing on its French networks, international retail banking and corporate and investment banking. The bank addded that losses on hard-to-sell toxic assets in its portfolio would not exceed 700 million to 1 billion euros this year, in line with previous expectations. Such assets are to be reduced by 60 percent by 2015, it said.
■FOOD
Hershey to upgrade plants
Chocolate maker Hershey Co said it would spend US$250 million to US$300 million modernizing some facilities in its home town in Pennsylvania to cut annual costs by US$80 million a year. Hershey said on Monday that its board had approved the plan. Union members paved the way 10 days earlier by approving a contract that will lead to hundreds of layoffs and move production out of the century-old factory built by company founder Milton Hershey. The company will spend US$200 million to US$225 million to modernize and expand the newer of its two West Hershey factories. It will also spend US$50 million to US$75 million upgrading distribution and administrative facilities in Hershey. The company expects the project to save it US$80 million a year by 2014.
■RETAIL
Tesco Q1 sales up 8.2%
Tesco, the world’s No. 3 retailer, said the global economic recovery was building and growth in its main UK market would pick up after quarterly sales were hit by lower food price inflation and higher fuel costs. The supermarket group, which runs more than 4,800 stores in 14 countries, said yesterday sales rose 8.2 percent in the 13 weeks to May 30, the first quarter of its fiscal year, as growth overseas offset a flat underlying performance in Britain. Finance director Laurie McIlwee urged the government to keep VAT sales tax steady for now, even as it looks to rein in a record deficit in an emergency June 22 budget.
■CHINA
Bad debts growing
Beijing yesterday said domestic banks were under pressure from growing bad debts after rampant lending to government investment units, the property sector and other industries last year. The China Banking Regulatory Commission issued the warning in its annual report for last year, when banks lent 9.6 trillion yuan (US1.4 trillion), fanning inflationary pressures and raising fears of economic overheating. Outstanding non-performing loans reached 426.5 billion yuan at the end of last year, down from 486.5 billion yuan a year earlier, the report showed. But loans classified as losses rose to 55.8 billion yuan from 49.5 billion yuan a year earlier.
■SOUTH KOREA
Economy recovering: OECD
The economy is recovering fast from the global downturn but faces problems such as a rapidly aging population, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said yesterday. The OECD said in a six-monthly report that Asia’s fourth-largest economy is projected to grow 5.75 percent this year and 4.75 percent next year. But over the medium term, sustaining growth and a rise in living standards depends on raising labor productivity and increasing participation in the work force to offset a graying population, it said.
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS: The suspects formed spy networks and paramilitary groups to kill government officials during a possible Chinese invasion, prosecutors said Prosecutors have indicted seven retired military officers, members of the Rehabilitation Alliance Party, for allegedly obtaining funds from China, and forming paramilitary groups and assassination squads in Taiwan to collaborate with Chinese troops in a possible war. The suspects contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法) by taking photos and drawing maps of key radar stations, missile installations and the American Institute in Taiwan’s headquarters in Taipei, prosecutors said. They allegedly prepared to collaborate with China during a possible invasion of Taiwan, prosecutors said. Retired military officer Chu Hung-i (屈宏義), 62, a Republic of China Army Academy graduate, went to China
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
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