BANKING
Central banks cut Fed swaps
From Monday next week, the world’s top central banks will reduce the frequency of their US dollar operations with the US Federal Reserve after volatility in financial markets receded, the banks said in a joint statement yesterday. The European Central Bank (ECB) the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank have been conducting daily US dollar swaps with the Fed for the past month, but will revert to weekly tenders, given improvements in US dollar funding conditions, they said. The daily tenders were made available after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and the sale of Credit Suisse sent jitters across financial markets, raising the risk of liquidity shortages in case confidence falls further. However, the facility was barely used and the takeup was at or near zero on most days since the facility was announced on March 19. “These central banks stand ready to re-adjust the provision of US dollar liquidity as warranted by market conditions,” the ECB said in a statement.
FOOD
Price hikes lift Nestle sales
Nestle SA’s sales growth unexpectedly accelerated, bolstered by Purina and Friskies petfood and as the maker of Nescafe coffee raised prices further. Sales rose 9.3 percent on an organic basis in the first quarter, Nestle said yesterday. Demand was more resilient than expected, as the maker of KitKat bars kept boosting prices near the highest rate in decades. Nestle said pet owners helped drive an increase of 16 percent in petcare revenue. The next biggest gains were in confectionery and coffee, it said. Despite very strong headline numbers, individual units betrayed some weaknesses: Sales declined at Nespresso and Nestle’s vitamins, supplements and minerals business. Capacity constrains also weighed on the water brand Perrier, the company said.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Novartis raises profit outlook
Parmaceutical giant Novartis AG yesterday said it was increasing its full-year sales and profits outlook after strong earnings in the first quarter on the back of a handful of new drugs. The Swiss drugmaker said that its medicines for heart disease, cancer and multiple sclerosis had buoyed earnings in the quarter. The group reported a 3 percent increase in net profit in the first quarter to nearly US$2.3 billion, while sales also rose 3 percent compared with the previous three months to almost US$13 billion. Novartis said that its operating profit would likely increase in the high single-digits this year on the back of strong momentum at the start of the year, while group sales are expected to grow in mid-single digits.
INDUSTRIALS
ABB raises sales forecast
ABB Ltd yesterday raised its guidance for the year after a surge of new orders added to its backlog and higher prices drove better-than-expected results. The Swiss industrial manufacturer now expects comparable revenue to increase more than 10 percent this year, after estimating about 5 percent in February, it said in a statement. New customer orders reached US$9.5 billion in the first quarter, an increase of 1 percent from a year earlier and exceeding an average analyst estimate of US$8.3 billion, it said. ABB added that it plans to delist its American depositary receipts from the New York Stock Exchange, saying it is no longer necessary that investors can trade digitally on multiple platforms. The delisting is expected to take effect on or around May 23.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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