Posts by Mark Darwin
Can B Corps save the world?
THE “shareholder primacy” doctrine that promoted profit maximisation as the purpose of business is fading. The increasing wealth gap, widening social inequality and environmental degradation are a blemish on our report card. We stand at the crossroads of this identity crisis, which offers extraordinary opportunities. Businesses are now called to create value for employees, customers,…
Read MoreHSBC’s Roberts says first round of job losses coming in weeks
THE head of HSBC Holdings’s new global wholesale banking division said the lender will seek to wrap up an ongoing restructuring “very quickly” and could announce the first round of job cuts within weeks. Michael Roberts, chief executive officer of the British lender’s corporate and institutional banking and head of Western markets, told Bloomberg Television…
Read MoreWarner Bros Discovery posts surprise profit as Olympics boost streaming
WARNER Bros Discovery reported a surprise quarterly profit on Thursday (Nov 7) as cost controls and an Olympics-driven record jump in streaming subscribers helped make up for a lack of major box office hits from its studio. Shares of the company rose nearly 10 per cent in premarket trading. The stock has lost about a…
Read MoreSats Q2 profit trebles to S$69.7 million, declares S$0.015 dividend per share
The group also reports a half-year profit of S$134.7 million, reversing from the red IN-FLIGHT caterer Sats on Thursday (Nov 7) announced a second-quarter profit of S$69.7 million, soaring 214 per cent from S$22.2 million in the corresponding year-ago period. Revenue for the three months ended Sep 30 increased 14.1 per cent to S$1.5 billion,…
Read MoreAttika Group’s Catalist IPO fully snapped up, shares to begin trading on Nov 8
Group has raised around S$4.6 million from the initial public offering of 21 million placement shares, with each share priced at S$0.22 COMMERCIAL interior decoration and engineering company Attika Group on Thursday (Nov 7) said that the placement shares from its listing on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange have been fully subscribed. The…
Read MoreSMIC reports profit jump, revenue growth as chip sector recovers
CHINA’S largest chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) reported on Thursday (Nov 7) a 58.3 per cent jump in third quarter net profit as the sector showed signs of recovery following a prolonged downturn since late 2022. Net income totalled US$148.8 million for July-to-September quarter but fell short of analysts’ estimates of US$199.71 million, according…
Read MoreUS farmers back Trump but face pain from China tariff threats
US FARMERS want something from President-elect Donald Trump that his trade policies mean he is unlikely to deliver: increased access to the market of top soy-importer China. Trump’s Republican party enjoys wide support across the US farm belt, where he won most states in Nov 5’s election. Farmers typically back him even though the US…
Read MoreSweden central bank makes biggest rate cut since 2014
SWEDEN’S central bank made its biggest interest rate cut since 2014 on Thursday (Nov 7) and signalled more reductions were forthcoming to kickstart the Nordic country’s economy. The Riksbank lowered its policy rate by 0.5 percentage points – twice the usual size of a cut – to 2.75 per cent. It was the central bank’s…
Read MoreChina’s central bank pauses gold purchases for sixth straight month
CHINA’S central bank refrained from purchasing gold for its reserves for the sixth consecutive month in October, according to official data released on Thursday (Nov 7). China’s gold holdings stood at 72.8 million troy ounces at the end of last month. The value of the gold reserves, however, rose to US$199.06 billion from US$191.47 billion…
Read MoreAstraZeneca’s US$1.5 billion manufacturing plant to create over 800 jobs in Singapore
ASTRAZENECA plans to hire more than 800 employees in Singapore including engineering, technical services and global supply chain roles at its upcoming US$1.5 billion Singapore manufacturing facility in Tuas South. This was disclosed as the biopharmaceutical multinational broke ground for the site on Thursday (Nov 7) in the presence of the event’s guest of honour,…
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