Sat, Jan 23, 2021 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  COSMETICS

  Shiseido discusses sale

  Shiseido Co is in advanced talks to sell its shampoo and affordable skincare business to CVC Capital Partners for ￥150 billion to ￥200 billion (US$1.45 billion to US$1.93 billion), as the Japanese cosmetics maker shifts its focus to premium beauty products, people with knowledge of the matter said. The board of Shiseido is preparing to vote on the divestment soon, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is not public. The operations targeted for sale includes the company’s Tsubaki haircare products. The unit is mainly active in Japan, China and other parts of Asia. The lifestyle and personal care business represented about a 10th of Shiseido’s revenue in 2019, with annual sales of about ￥100 billion.

  UNITED KINGDOM

  Retail misses expectations

  Retail sales rose less than expected last month, adding to evidence that a succession of lockdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic is dragging down the economy. Sales in shops and online edged up 0.3 percent after declining in November last year, the Office for National Statistics said yesterday. That is a percentage point less than economists had expected. Sales rose 2.9 percent from a year earlier. The report casts doubt about the resilience of the economy during a third round of restrictions that started this month. While the lockdowns might be distorting the seasonal adjustment of the figures, last month and the holiday shopping season are nevertheless crucial for retailers. Clothing sales rose sharply last month, while supermarkets and department stores declined. The drop in retail sales would knock 0.02 percentage point off overall output in the fourth quarter, the office said.

  CRYPTOCURRENCIES

  Cryptos won’t work: UBS

  Cryptocurrencies might never be able to work as actual currencies, UBS Global Wealth Management (GWM) said. The “fundamental flaw” inherent in cryptocurrencies is that supply cannot be reduced when demand is slumping in most cases, UBS GWM chief economist Paul Donovan said in a video this week. That means they cannot be considered currencies, he said. A “proper currency,” as Donovan termed it, can be a stable store of value, providing certainty that it will be able to buy the same basket of goods tomorrow as it buys today. That confidence is derived from central banks’ ability to reduce supply when demand is falling. There is no such mechanism for switching off supply on most cryptocurrencies, and therefore their value can slide — leading to a collapse in spending power, he said.

  AUTOMAKERS

  Batteries give Nissan edge

  Nissan Motor Co has emerged from Brexit with an edge over rivals that lack a UK battery supply chain, a big relief for the nation’s largest auto manufacturing plant. The maker of packs that power the Leaf electric vehicles built at Nissan’s massive factory in Sunderland, England, is to add production of a longer-range battery in the coming months, Nissan chief operating officer Ashwani Gupta said on Thursday. The supplier investment is the latest development for the Nissan facility, which employs about 6,000 people and faced existential risks without a Brexit trade agreement. However, CEO Carlos Tavares said that while good sense had prevailed with regard to Brexit, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s move to ban gasoline and diesel cars from 2030 could be problematic.
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