BMW-Volkswagen executives warn the EU not to raise tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. ZEEKR was listed on the New York Stock Exchange on May 10. All three major Japanese automakers saw their new vehicle sales in China decline in April compared with the same period last year. Chip design company ARM released a bleak revenue forecast. SMIC, ARM, Panasonic, Nissan Motor, Nippon Steel, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Takeda and Teva Pharmaceuticals announced their results. Philip Zipzer, the chief executive of Germany's BMW Group, said on May 8 that the EU's possible measures to impose additional tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China would only "shoot itself in the foot," arguing that "Europe's auto industry does not need trade protection." Zipzer also warned that tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles could also jeopardize the EU's plans to reduce emissions. The head of the Volkswagen brand also warned that Brussels should not raise tariffs on imported Chinese electric vehicles. The European Commission is investigating Chinese imports of electric vehicles, and it is widely expected to raise tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in the coming months.
Zeekr will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange on May 10, and the company has been oversubscribed nearly 5 times and closed a day earlier than originally planned. According to the plan, ZEEKR will issue 17.5 million ADS shares in this IPO, with an issue range of $18-21 per share. Based on the upper limit of the issuance range, Zeekr's IPO valuation is $5.13 billion. This figure is much lower than the $13 billion in the previous round of financing, and it is also a certain gap from the current market value of Li Auto, NIO and Xpeng Motors. From 2021 to 2023, ZEEKR's total revenue will be 6.527 billion yuan, 31.899 billion yuan and 51.673 billion yuan respectively.
Chinese auto dealers are moving away from foreign brands that have been slow to respond to the transition to electrification and are embracing local EV makers that are rapidly expanding their market share. Cars from Infiniti, Nissan's Japanese luxury car brand, disappeared from its showroom after a months-long renovation at a car dealership in the suburbs of Shanghai this year. The beautiful new showroom is replaced by sedans and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) made by Zeekr, a premium electric vehicle sub-brand of the Chinese automobile manufacturing group Geely.
Toyota expects its annual profit to fall by 20% by the end of March 2025. Although driven by strong sales of gasoline-electric hybrids and a weaker yen, Toyota had a stellar year with record profits. The world's largest automaker has increased its spending on electric vehicles and artificial intelligence in an effort to create a "game-changer" to compete with Chinese rivals.
All three major Japanese automakers saw their new vehicle sales in China decline in April compared with the same period last year. Toyota was down 27.3% year over year to 118,200. Honda was down 22.2% to 73,831 units and Nissan was down 10.4% to 54,921 units. Among Toyota's two joint ventures, FAW Toyota fell 31.2% and GAC Toyota fell 32.1%. Among Honda's two joint ventures, Guangqi Honda Motor fell by 44.6%, while Dongfeng Honda Motor increased by 17.3%.
SK hynix, a foundry subsidiary of South Korean chip giant SK Hynix, will transfer nearly half of its Wuxi subsidiary to a Chinese company. SK hynix System IC decided to sell a 21.33% stake in its Wuxi subsidiary to Wuxi Industrial Development Group Co., Ltd. for 205.4 billion won (about 1.1 billion yuan). Wuxi Industrial Group will also secure an additional 28.6% stake in the Wuxi subsidiary by participating in a paid capital increase, resulting in a 49.9% and 50.1% stake in SK hynix System Integrated Circuits, respectively. SK hynix System IC Wuxi Branch was established in 2018 and currently operates a foundry in Wuxi.
Intel said its current quarterly revenue will be lower than previously expected due to new restrictions on chipmakers selling chips to Huawei. The U.S. Commerce Department revoked some of its licenses to export chips to the Chinese telecommunications equipment company.
British chip designer ARM has released bleak revenue estimates for the year, raising concerns that tech companies may be slowing their spending on AI hardware. Since listing on the Nasdaq last September, the SoftBank-backed group has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI spending boom. The group forecasts revenue to be between $3.8 billion and $4.1 billion in the year ending March 2025. Analysts had forecast revenue of $4.01 billion.
An Apple ad that has been widely criticized on social media was the idea of a creative tool being squashed in favor of a new iPad. After Apple unveiled its new iPad on Tuesday, CEO Tim Cook posted the ad on X, which depicted a studio scene stacked with various musical instruments, a record player, brightly colored paint jars and other items being crushed by what looked like a giant hydraulic press.
Microsoft will invest $3.3 billion to build a new data center in Wisconsin and conduct a training program to train locals on manufacturing AI jobs. It's the latest stop in the tech giant's global investment in AI infrastructure to quell concerns about the powerful technology.
French AI startup Mistral AI is on the verge of striking a funding deal of about $600 million, nearly tripling its valuation to $6 billion. Current investors in Mistral AI, including General Catalyst and Lightfast Venture Partners, among others, are likely to be major investors in the new round of funding. In February, Microsoft invested $16 million in Mistral AI and partnered with it to deliver Mistral AI's AI models through the Azure cloud computing platform. In a funding round last December, Mistral AI was valued at 2 billion euros. At the time, Mistral AI raised $415 million from investors including SAFTSE and Nvidia.
If the bid between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo Global Management is successful, Paramount Global's vast entertainment empire will be torn apart. The plan will include the sale of CBS's broadcast network, Paramount's cable channel and its streaming service, Paramount+. Paramount Pictures will merge with Sony's existing film production business, while Sony and Apollo will retain Paramount's television and film libraries and intellectual property.
As lockdown trends subside, the top 50 stocks that were the biggest gainers in the early stages of the pandemic have experienced painful declines since late 2020. The market capitalization of the 50 companies that benefited the most from the pandemic has shrunk by about $1.5 trillion since late 2020 as investors abandoned many stocks that had soared during the early lockdowns. According to S&P Global, technology groups dominate the list of the 50 companies with a market capitalization of more than $10 billion and the biggest gainers in 2020.
BBVA has launched a hostile takeover offer worth €12.23 billion to smaller rival Banco de Sabadell, although the Sabadell bank's board of directors had rejected the offer on the same terms earlier this week. BBVA's vision is to create a bank with more than 100 million customers worldwide and assets of more than 1 trillion euros, which will make it second only to Santander in the Spanish banking sector. The combined bank will also overtake Caixabank as the largest domestic bank in Spain.
Novo Nordisk has announced a new research agreement with biotechnology company Metaphor Biotechnologies. The collaboration is backed by Flagship Pioneering, the venture capital firm behind U.S. vaccine maker Moderna. Under the agreement, Novo Nordisk agreed to pay up to $600 million to develop the next generation of obesity treatments. The collaboration will focus on the early-stage research phase and aims to bring new hope to obese patients who have not yet been effectively treated.
Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda has announced that it will launch a multi-year program under which Takeda will optimize its workforce and invest in technology and data to improve core operating margins by more than 30%. The move will enable Takeda to "create more long-term value for patients". Takeda said it will bear a one-time restructuring cost of 140 billion yen in fiscal 2024.
The flagship store of Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) in Yuehui Plaza, Nanjing East Road, Shanghai, officially opened on May 9, marking a new milestone for H&M to officially enter the fashion upgrade of its stores in China. Saed El-Achkar, President of H&M Group Retail Greater China, said, "China has always been a very important market for H&M, and we will continue to expand our retail footprint in China, upgrade our offline stores, and provide Chinese consumers with a seamless omni-channel shopping experience and high-quality and diverse fashion products. Since 2024, H&M has also renovated many stores such as Beijing Yuehui Plaza Store, Chengdu Heshenghui Store, and Shaoxing Intime City.
A Boeing 737-800 of Turkey's Corendon Airlines landed at Alanya-Gazipasa Airport in Turkey's Antalya province on May 9 when its nose gear tires blew. Turkey's transport ministry said the airliner took off from Cologne, Germany. The 184 passengers and six crew members on board have been safely evacuated with no casualties. The runway was also undamaged.
Financial Reporting Information
SMIC announced its results for the first quarter of 2024. The company's sales revenue was US$1.75 billion, compared with US$1.462 billion in the same period last year, and the profit for the period was US$63.515 million, a year-on-year decrease of 76.2%. shipped 1.79 million pieces of 8-inch equivalent wafers, an increase of 7% month-on-month; The capacity utilization rate was 80.8%, an increase of four percentage points from the previous quarter.
Hua Hong Semiconductor announced its results for the first quarter of 2024. revenue was US$460 million, down 27.1% year-on-year; Net profit was US$31.8 million, down 79.1% year-on-year.
Panasonic Holdings announced its results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024. Net sales for the fiscal year were 8,496.4 billion yen, compared to 8,378.9 billion yen in the previous year. Operating profit for the full year was 361 billion yen, compared to 288.6 billion yen in the previous year, a year-on-year increase of 25.1%. Net profit attributable to shareholders of the Company for the full year was 444.0 billion yen, compared to 265.5 billion yen in the previous year, a year-on-year increase of 67.2%. Among them, sales of the lifestyle business were 3,494.4 billion yen, sales of the automobile business were 1,491.9 billion yen, sales of the energy business including automotive batteries were 915.9 billion yen, sales of the industrial business were 1,042.6 billion yen, and sales of the connection business were 1,202.8 billion yen.
Nissan Motor announced its results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024. Revenue for the fiscal year was 126857 billion yen, compared to 105967 billion yen in the previous year. Operating profit for the full year was 568.7 billion yen, compared to 377.1 billion yen in the previous year. Net profit for the full year was 426.6 billion yen, compared to 221.9 billion yen in the previous year. Among them, the revenue in the fourth quarter was 3,514.3 billion yen, the operating profit was 90.3 billion yen, and the net profit was 101.3 billion yen.
NIPPON STEEL, JAPAN'S LARGEST STEELMAKER, ANNOUNCED ITS RESULTS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED MARCH 31, 2024. Revenue for the fiscal year was 8,868.1 billion yen, compared with 7,975.6 billion yen in the previous year, a year-on-year increase of 11.2%. Operating profit for the full year was 778.7 billion yen, compared to 883.6 billion yen in the previous year, down 11.9% year-on-year. Net profit attributable to owners of the parent company for the full year was 549.4 billion yen, compared to 694.0 billion yen in the previous year, down 20.8% year-on-year.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) announced its results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024. Revenue for the fiscal year was 4,657.1 billion yen (about 100 million US dollars), compared to 4,202.7 billion yen in the previous year. Net income attributable to owners of the parent company for the full year was 222.0 billion yen, compared to 130.4 billion yen in the previous year. Among them, the power system business revenue was 1,761.5 billion yen, the industrial and infrastructure business revenue was 795.2 billion yen, the logistics, heat and transmission system business revenue was 1,314.5 billion yen, and the aerospace and defense business revenue was 791.5 billion yen.
Takeda Pharmaceutical announced its results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024. Revenue for the fiscal year was 4,263.8 billion yen, compared to 4,027.5 billion yen in the previous year. Operating profit for the full year was 214.1 billion yen, compared to 490.5 billion yen in the previous year. Net income attributable to owners of the company for the full year was 144.1 billion yen, compared to 317.0 billion yen in the previous year.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries announced its first quarter 2024 results. Net revenue for the quarter was $3,819 million, compared to $3,661 million in the year-ago quarter. Net loss attributable to the Company for the quarter was $139 million, compared with a loss of $220 million in the year-ago quarter.
Semiconductor design and software company ARM announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended March 31, 2024. Total revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter was $928 million, up 47% from $633 million in the year-ago quarter. Net income was $224 million, compared to $3 million in the year-ago quarter, a significant year-on-year increase. Total revenue for fiscal year 2024 was $3,233 million, an increase of 21% compared to $2,679 million in fiscal year 2023. Full-year royalty revenue was $1,802 million, an increase of 8% compared to fiscal 2023; Licensing revenue was $1,431 million, up 43% compared to fiscal 2023.
Instacart, the largest fresh food delivery platform in the United States, released its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2024. Quarterly revenue was $759 million, compared to $820 million in the year-ago quarter. Net income for the quarter was $128 million, compared to $130 million in the year-ago quarter.
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