BANIKING
ADB shares climate program
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced a new program aimed at financing efforts to counter climate change, stepping up its attempt to back one of its main focuses in the region. The Innovative Finance Facility for Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific (IF-CAP) could create up to US$15 billion in new loans, through a goal of US$3 billion in guarantees, ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa told a news conference in Incheon, South Korea. “The region needs trillions in investment to combat climate change,” Asakawa said. “To help reach that level, we need to maximize our capital in new ways — the IF-CAP will multiply ADB’s lending capacity through leverage,” making it possible to take climate action across sectors and regions, he said.Partner countries including the US and Japan would guarantee a portfolio of ADB’s sovereign loans, helping shoulder some of the losses in case of a credit event in one of its borrowers, the bank said.
ENERGY
BP profits after record loss
British energy giant BP PLC yesterday posted net profit of US$8.2 billion for the first quarter, compared with a record loss a year earlier as it ended operations in Russia. In the first three months of this year, BP recorded its biggest quarterly loss after tax, at US$20.4 billion, as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine caused its exit from Russian business. A year ago, BP had booked a pre-tax charge of $25.5 billion after abandoning its 19.75 percent stake in energy group Rosneft PJSC, ending more than three decades of investment in Russia. BP CEO Bernard Looney called this year’s first-quarter performance “strong” as the group focuses “on safe and reliable operations.” The company added that it would return US$1.75 billion to shareholders.
AVIATION
JAL recovers from pandemic
Japan Airlines Co (JAL) yesterday logged an annual net profit for the first time in three years, buoyed by soaring domestic and international demand for travel after COVID-19 restrictions were eased. The carrier, Japan’s second-largest by market share, said that net profit for the year to March was ￥34.4 billion (US$250.4 million) — a turnaround from a net loss of ￥177 billion in the previous financial year. “Air passenger demand recovered steadily as the shift toward balancing the COVID-19 pandemic’s prevention and socioeconomic activities gained momentum,” a company statement said. Japan Airlines said that its return to profitability was in part because of “comprehensive cost-cutting efforts and maximizing sales in the cargo business domain.” Last week, rival ANA Holdings Inc reported profitability for the first time in three years, logging a full-year net profit of ￥89 billion.
BANKING
Morgan Stanley to cut staff
Morgan Stanley is planning to cut more jobs after reporting a decline in profit during the first three months of the year, US media reported on Monday. The bank aims to trim its headcount by nearly 4 percent this quarter after ending March with more than 82,000 employees, the reports said. The US investment and financial services giant said in a recent earnings report that its profit dropped 20 percent in the first three months of this year amid a slowdown in mergers and acquisition advising. The global financial institution at the end of last year trimmed about 2 percent of its staff or about 1,600 positions, CNBC reported at the time. Morgan Stanley’s next round of cuts is expected to involve about 3,000 jobs.
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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