SeaPRwire

Wall Street opens Q4 trading with gains

elean
2 minutes

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US stock indices rose at the end of Friday's (Oct 1) trading to end a rocky week that saw the third quarter end on a sour note. Traders began the first session of the month and the fourth quarter pleased with news of a possible Covid-19 treatment, although the drama in Washington over raising the US debt limit was viewed as curbing some enthusiasm. The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 1.4 per cent higher at 34,326.46. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 1.2 per cent to hit 4,357.04. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.8 per cent to 14,566.70. September is both the last month for the third quarter and a notoriously rocky stretch for trading, and the combination of inflation and Covid-19 fears as well as Washington gridlock caused the Dow and Nasdaq indices to post losses for the quarter and the S&P 500 to see only a small gain. October's first session began with government data showing inflation creeping higher in August, but also very welcome news from Merck and partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics that a clinical trial of their oral antiviral prospect showed about a 50 per cent reduction in the risk of hospitalisation or death from Covid-19. "T...

SeaPRwire

US stocks tumble to end the third quarter with a thud

elean
2 minutes

NEW YORK (AFP) - Wall Street stocks endured another round of selling on Thursday (Sept 30), finishing the third quarter on a sour note amid worries over political uncertainty in Washington. Congress managed to avert a government shutdown, with the House and Senate approving in a bipartisan fashion a stopgap Bill to fund the government several hours before the end of the fiscal year, when the government would have shut down without an agreement. But yawning differences over raising the debt ceiling and President Joe Biden's sweeping infrastructure and social spending agenda remain unresolved. "There are a lot of things that still need to be worked out," said Tom Cahill, a portfolio strategist at Ventura Wealth Management, who said the array of unknowns "is definitely weighing on the market." The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.6 per cent to 33,843.33. The broad-based S&P 500 shed 1.2 per cent to 4,307.44, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.4 per cent to 14,448.58. The S&P 500 mustered a 0.2 per cent gain for the quarter, but both the Dow and Nasdaq fell modestly. The losses - which were not as steep as those suffered in Tuesday's rout of a session - followe...

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Leon Fuat Berhad Posts 1,110% Jump in Net Profit

pandora
3 minutes

Group records RM32.12 million in PAT supported by strong gross profit margin growth SHAH ALAM, Malaysia, Sept 9, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – LEON FUAT BERHAD (“Leon Fuat” or the “Group”), a manufacturer and trader of steel products, specialising in rolled long and flat products, today announced that the Group registered a 1,110.1% growth in profit after tax (“PAT”) to RM32.12 million for the quarter ended 30 June 2021 (“2Q 2021”) compared with the RM2.65 million recorded for the quarter ended 30 June 2020 (“2Q 2020”). Calvin Ooi Shang How, Executive Director of Leon Fuat The strong gain in PAT was due to the 322.5% increase in gross profit (“GP”) to RM53.46 million in 2Q 2021 boosted by higher overall gross profit margin of 17.0 percentage points compared with the RM12.65 million in GP recorded for 2Q 2020. The Group recorded 73.1% growth in revenue to RM184.78 million for the quarter under review compared with RM106.76 million recorded in 2Q 2020. On a segmental basis, revenue from trading of steel products increased 74.0% to RM73.88 million while revenue from processing of steel products increased by 72.7% to RM110.85 million. The share of revenue from the trading segment stood at ap...

SeaPRwire

Personal debt soars among young S’pore adults during pandemic

elean
4 minutes

SINGAPORE - Personal debt among young adults here has been rising during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the situation could worsen once interest rates start to rise. Credit Bureau Singapore data showed that while credit card borrowing showed no significant variation, people in their 20s have been taking on increasing amounts of other debt since the second quarter of last year. The data showed that the average personal loans and overdraft balances for those under 30 rose by about 23 per cent in the first quarter of this year over the last three months of last year. The average personal loan and overdraft balances for borrowers from 21 to 29 years old shot up to $49,689 in the first quarter of this year, about 42 per cent higher than the average of $34,941 in the first quarter of last year. Borrowing limits in Singapore were capped in 2015, helping to keep unsecured debt in check. The higher debts of late could have been fuelled by low interest rates, said experts. Associate Professor Yu Yinghui, head of the Master of Finance programme at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, noted that the Government had capped the annual effective interest rate of unsecured personal loans at 8 p...

SeaPRwire

AMC posts upbeat results as people return to theatres

elean
2 minutes

BENGALURU (REUTERS) - Cinema operator AMC Entertainment beat second-quarter revenue estimates on Monday, lifted by the return of movie-goers to its theaters after a year of closures and restrictions, sending its shares up 4 per cent in extended trading. F9: The Fast Saga - the latest instalment of the Fast and Furious series - and Godzilla Vs Kong gave AMC much-needed relief from the blows it has taken from the pandemic over the past year due to theatre closures. "In short, AMC crushed it in Q2," chief executive Adam Aron said on a conference call. Aron added that AMC will have the technology in place to receive payment in Bitcoin by the end of the year as payment for movie tickets and concessions. Nearly all of AMC's theatres reopened during the quarter as more people got vaccinated and pandemic-related curbs were eased. Mr Aron said that US ticket revenue so far in the third quarter was on track to reach 45 per cent of the same quarter in 2019 and was up from 29 per cent for the second quarter. "That trend line is pointing up. We certainly have a way to go but the progress is clear." Ticket sales at the world's largest theatre chain are still far off what it was raking in two yea...

SeaPRwire

US economy recovers, but faces fresh challenges

elean
6 minutes

(NYTIMES) - The US economy climbed out of its coronavirus-induced hole in the spring as vaccinations and federal aid fuelled a surge in consumer spending at restaurants, resorts and retail stores. The revival brought gross domestic product (GDP) back to its pre-pandemic level in the second quarter, adjusted for inflation - a remarkable achievement, exactly a year after the economy's worst quarterly contraction on record. After the last recession ended in 2009, GDP took two years to rebound fully. But the rise of the Delta variant of the coronavirus could threaten those gains, just as the federal aid programmes that helped bolster the recovery are coming to an end. GDP, the broadest measure of economic output, grew 1.6 per cent in the second quarter of the year, up from 1.5 per cent in the first three months of the year. On an annualised basis, second-quarter growth was 6.5 per cent Robust investment in the quarter signalled that businesses were betting on continued growth. But the recovery is far from complete. Output is significantly below where it would be had growth continued on its pre-pandemic path, and other economic measures remain deeply depressed, particularly for certain ...

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DENSO Announces First Quarter Financial Results

ruth
3 minutes

KARIYA, JAPAN, Jul 30, 2021 - (JCN Newswire via SEAPRWire.com) - DENSO, a leading mobility supplier, today announced its global financial results for its first quarter, ending June 30, 2021, for its 2022 fiscal year, ending March 31, 2022:- Consolidated revenue totaled 1,356.9 billion yen (US$12.3 billion), a 77.3 percent increase from the previous year.- Consolidated operating profit totaled 107.2 billion yen (US$969.3 million).- Consolidated profit attributable to owners of the parent company totaled 89.3 billion yen (US$808.0 million). "Revenue increased due to recovery of vehicle sales and production against COVID-19 from the previous year. Operating income increased due to higher production volume and profit improvements created by corporate reform from the previous year," said Yasushi Matsui, senior executive officer and member of the Board of Directors of DENSO Corporation."Although it is difficult to project how the business environment might change due to factors like COVID-19 and semiconductor supply, we have achieved a favorable result in our first quarter and raised our full-year forecast," said Yasushi Matsui, senior executive officer and member of the Board of Directo...

SeaPRwire

Singapore economy grows 14.3% in Q2: Flash data

elean
2 minutes

SINGAPORE - The Singapore economy grew in the second quarter at a record pace due to a low year-ago base effect when the Covid-19 pandemic plunged the economy into its worst recession. Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 14.3 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the second quarter of 2021, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said on Wednesday (July 14). The strong growth was largely due to the low base in the second quarter of 2020 when GDP plunged by 13.3 per cent due to the circuit breaker measures implemented from April 7 to June 1 last year, MTI said. However, on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted basis, the Singapore economy contracted by 2 per cent in the second quarter of 2021, a reversal from the 3.1 per cent growth in the preceding quarter. The quarter-on-quarter dip in GDP was expected because of tightened Covid-19 restrictions during Singapore's phase two (heightened alert), which stretched from May 16 to June 13. The flash figures for the second quarter however are lower than the forecasts of economists polled by Bloomberg who predicted year-on-year growth of 14.8 per cent and a quarter-on-quarter decline of 1.8 per cent. In absolute terms, GDP in the second...

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S’pore’s labour market continues recovery into 1st quarter; total employment grows by 12,200

aseanpr
5 minutes

SINGAPORE - Singapore's labour market continued its recovery in the first quarter, with total employment growing for the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. A report by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Thursday (June 17) showed that the total employment, excluding foreign domestic workers, rose by 12,200 in the first three months of the year, after four consecutive quarters of decline. This far surpassed the preliminary estimate of 4,800 released in April. Resident hires continued to rise, outpacing the decline in non-resident employment, which is partly due to restrictions on the inflow of foreign workers. This increase was driven by the broad hiring of residents in the service sectors, such as information and communications, food and beverage, health and social services, and administrative and support services. More retrenched residents here have also found jobs within six months, while job vacancies have risen to nearly match the unemployed population, according to the report. But the labour market is still not fully back to its pre-pandemic state, said MOM. Moreover, uncertainties in the economy and the recent tightened measures during phase two (heightened al...

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Leon Fuat Berhad Records Stellar Quarter due to Rising Global Demand, Profit Up 3,297%

indie
3 minutes

SHAH ALAM, Malaysia, May 28, 2021 - (ACN Newswire via SEAPRWire.com) - Leon Fuat Berhad ("Leon Fuat"), a manufacturer and trader of steel products, specialising in rolled long and flat products, today announced that the Group recorded a 3,297.0% rise in profit after tax ("PAT") to RM36.11 million for the quarter ended 31 March 2021 ("1Q 2021") compared to the RM1.06 million registered in the same quarter of the previous financial year.Calvin Ooi Shang How, Executive Director of Leon FuatImproved Revenue and Profit MarginsThe gross profit recorded a 296.0% increase to RM53.34 million for 1Q2021 compared to the RM13.47 million in gross profit for the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year due to the 9.4 percentage points rise in gross profit margin for trading of steel products to 22.2% while gross profit margin for processing and/or manufacturing (collectively referred to as "processing") of steel products increased by 16.4 percentage points to 26.8%.Overall revenue increased by 76.2% to RM211.48 million in 1Q2021 compared to the RM120.04 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. On a segmental basis, revenue from trading of steel products in...

ACN Newswire
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Central Global Berhad Posts 25% Rise in Revenue

indie
3 minutes

KUALA LUMPUR, May 25, 2021 - (ACN Newswire via SEAPRWire.com) - Main Market-listed Central Global Berhad ("CGB") recorded a 25.42% increase in revenue to RM37.56 million for the first quarter ended 31 March 2021 ("1Q2021") compared to RM29.95 million recorded in the same quarter of the previous year.CGB executive chairman Dato' Faisal ZelmanThe Group registered a loss before tax ("LBT") of RM1.03 million for 1Q2021 compared to a profit before tax ("PBT") of RM760,000 in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. On a segmental basis, CGB's manufacturing arm recorded a 48.3% increase in revenue to RM17.36 million compared to the RM11.7 million recorded in the same quarter of the previous year while the construction arm registered a 10.7% increase in revenue to RM20.2 million compared to the RM18.24 million recorded in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.For 1Q2021, CGB's manufacturing arm registered RM510,000 in PBT from LBT of RM139,000 in the corresponding quarter of the previous year due mainly to higher revenue contribution from trading of industrial tapes and label stocks. For the quarter under review, the construction arm recorded LBT of RM938,000 compared to P...

SeaPRwire

Singapore’s key trade and export forecasts raised after better-than-expected growth in Q1

elean
3 minutes

SINGAPORE - Official forecasts for Singapore's key exports and overall merchandise trade have been raised, amid better-than-expected growth seen in the first quarter of 2021. Non-oil domestic exports (Nodx) are now expected to expand between 1 per cent and 3 per cent for the year, up from 0 per cent to 2 per cent. Total trade is predicted to increase 5 per cent to 7 per cent, higher than the 2 per cent to 4 per cent forecast in February. This comes after Nodx rose 9.7 per cent year on year in the first quarter, driven by increases in both electronics and non-electronics shipments and reversing the 0.5 per cent decline seen the previous quarter, according to data released by Enterprise Singapore (ESG) on Tuesday (May 25). The agency said that both total trade and Nodx grew better than expected in the first quarter, with robust semiconductor demand, electronics exports and related specialised machinery driving the bulk of Nodx increases. Key electronics shipments increased 14.8 per cent for the first quarter, building on the 2.6 per cent growth from the previous quarter, due to higher demand for products like telecommunications equipment. Non-electronics exports also grew 8.3 per cen...

SeaPRwire

WeWork reports quarterly loss of $2.7b ahead of public listing

elean
2 minutes

BENGALURU (REUTERS) - SoftBank-backed office-sharing startup WeWork on Thursday (May 20) reported a first-quarter net loss of US$2.06 billion (S$2.74 billion), as it was hit by restructuring charges while it prepares to go public through a merger with a blank-check firm. WeWork said its business was recovering as more people returned to offices due to easing of Covid-19 curbs, after work-from-home arrangements last year weighed heavily on the company by reducing occupancy and increasing operating costs. Total occupancy ticked up to 50 per cent in the first quarter compared to 47 per cent in the fourth quarter, the company said. WeWork in March agreed to go public through a merger with BowX Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company, in a deal that valued it at US$9 billion. SoftBank Group said it would retain a majority stake in the company after the merger. The company, whose attempt at an initial public offering in 2019 spectacularly imploded due to investor concerns over its business model and co-founder Adam Neumann's management style, said first-quarter revenue nearly halved to US$598 million from a year ago. WeWork said it had 490,000 members in the first quarter, com...

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Showa Denko Announces 2021 First Quarter Financial Results

ruth
1 minute

TOKYO, May 13, 2021 - (JCN Newswire via SEAPRWire.com) - Showa Denko K.K. (SDK; TSE:4004) today announced its 2021 first quarter financial results.- 2021 First Quarter Consolidated Financial Statements and Summaryhttps://www.sdk.co.jp/assets/files/english/ir/library/fss2021-1q.pdfAbout Showa Denko K.K.Showa Denko K.K. (SDK; TSE:4004, ADR:SHWDY) is a major manufacturer of chemical products serving from heavy industry to computers and electronics. The Petrochemicals Sector provides cracker products such as ethylene and propylene, the Chemicals Sector provides industrial, high-performance and high-purity gases and chemicals for semicon and other industries, the Inorganics Sector provides ceramic products, such as alumina, abrasives, refractory/graphite electrodes and fine carbon products. The Aluminum Sector provides aluminum materials and high-value-added fabricated aluminum, the Electronics Sector provides HD media, compound semiconductors such as ultra high bright LEDs, and rare earth magnetic alloys, and the Advanced Battery Materials Department (ABM) provides lithium-ion battery components. For more information, please visit www.sdk.co.jp/english/.Media contact:Showa Denko K.K., ...

SeaPRwire

HDB resale prices climb for 4th straight quarter amid Covid-19 vaccine optimism

aseanpr
4 minutes

SINGAPORE - The Housing Board resale market remained steadily robust in the first quarter of this year amid Covid-19 vaccine optimism, with prices of resale flats rising for the fourth consecutive quarter even as fewer flats changed hands. The resale price index for the first three months of the year was logged at 142.2, an increase of 3 per cent over that in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to figures released by HDB on Friday (April 23). Prices rose 8.1 per cent year on year. Last quarter's HDB resale prices were just 4.8 per cent lower than their peak in the second quarter of 2013, said Ms Christine Sun, OrangeTee & Tie's senior vice-president of research and analytics. She noted that the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines around the world and anticipated global economic recovery stoked a frenzy of property-buying activity worldwide, which in turn lifted market sentiment for the HDB resale market. The supply and demand imbalance of flats has also caused prices of HDB resale flats to climb in many locations, said Ms Sun. Prices for resale flats rose in 22 of the 26 HDB towns, with those in the central area clocking the highest median resale price at $910,000 for a four-room flat....

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Uber’s pandemic food delivery boom fails to offset ride-hailing drop

elean
3 minutes

NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - Uber Technologies reported declining revenue in the fourth quarter, showing that demand for food delivery isn't making up for a falloff in ridership. Sales dropped 16 per cent to US$3.17 billion (S$4.2 billion), short of an average of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Performance in Canada, Latin America and the US was particularly dismal. The stock was down about 4 per cent in extended trading. Despite the shortfall, Uber narrowed its loss in the quarter that ended in December, riding a wave of deals that shed some of its more fanciful pursuits. It turns out that autonomous vehicles and flying cars weren't helping Uber achieve its goal of a quarterly profit before interest, taxes and other expenses by the end of this year. In the fourth quarter, when it sold those two business units to star-ups in exchange for equity, Uber posted an adjusted loss of US$454 million, beating analysts' estimates. In its quarterly results released on Wednesday (Feb 10), Uber said it's still on track to turn an adjusted profit some time this year. And it disclosed yet another asset sale, confirming a Bloomberg report in September that it was selling part of its stake in th...

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DENSO Announces Third-Quarter Financial

ruth
3 minutes

KARIYA, JAPAN, Feb 2, 2021 - (JCN Newswire) - DENSO, a leading mobility supplier, today announced its global financial results for the third quarter, beginning Oct. 1 and ending Dec. 31, 2020, for its 2021 fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2021:- Consolidated revenue totaled 3,508.6 billion yen (US$33.9 billion), a 9.9 percent decrease from the previous year.- Consolidated operating profit totaled 66.6 billion yen (US$643.8 million).- Consolidated profit attributable to owners of the parent company totaled 43.1 billion yen (US$416.3 million)."Revenue is recovering steadily due to increased vehicle sales in the second and third quarters, but sales for fiscal year 2021 are still down compared to last fiscal year due to the significant decline in the first quarter. Revenue for the third quarter (3 months) increased to 1,433.9 billion yen (US$13.9 billion). Operating income was also in the black for all of the third quarter due to an increase in revenue and the effects of measures. Operating income for the third quarter (3 months) increased to 136.3 billion yen (US$1.3 billion). Our full-year forecast reflects the strong performance in the third quarter, with revenues projected at 4,74...

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US Q1 budget deficit surges to record US$573 billion amid pandemic

elean
2 minutes

WASHINGTON (AFP) - As spending remained high amid the coronavirus pandemic, the US budget deficit surged by 61 per cent in the first three months of the 2021 fiscal year, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday (Jan 13). Spending compared to the prior year grew by US$213 billion (S$282.6 billion) from October to December, driving the budget gap to US$573 billion and setting quarterly records, a senior Treasury official told reporters. The deficit for the 2020 fiscal year exploded, jumping more than 200 per cent to an all-time high of US$3.1 trillion, which was more than double the prior record. The first quarter pace will keep the deficit well below that level in the future, but President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to push for trillions of dollars in new measures to help struggling families and boost the economy. US government expenditures increased last year due to the mammoth programs Congress approved to help workers and businesses hit by the Covid-19 shutdowns. However, spending tapered later in the year as some programs lapsed while lawmakers worked to pass a new relief package, and the Treasury official said the impact of a US$900 billion measure approved December 27 will ...

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Singapore economy shrinks 5.8% in 2020 after contraction eases to 3.8% in Q4: Flash data

elean
3 minutes

SINGAPORE - Singapore's economy contracted by 5.8 per cent for the whole of 2020, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry's (MTI) advanced estimates released on Monday (Jan 4). For the fourth quarter of last year, the economy shrank by 3.8 per cent year on year, an improvement from a revised 5.6 per cent drop in the third quarter, as more coronavirus related curbs on economic activity were lifted. The economy's fourth quarter performance was also better than the 4.5 per cent year- on-year drop by economists in a Reuters poll. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted basis, the economy grew by 2.1 per cent, following the 9.5 per cent expansion in the third quarter. The strong GDP growth seen in the third quarter was due to the phased resumption of activities following the circuit breaker period stretching from April 7 to June 1, as well as the rebound in activity in major economies during the quarter as they emerged from their own lockdowns, MTI said. The full-year 2020 MTI estimate tops earlier forecasts of a contraction of 6.5 per cent to 6 per cent made last month and is much lower than a previous estimate of a 7 per cent to 5 per cent shrinkage. In its maiden forecast...

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More revenue for Singapore’s service sector in Q3 than Q2

elean
3 minutes

Singapore's service sector reported a 9.5 per cent year-on-year drop in receipts in the third quarter, although receipts improved on a quarterly basis compared with the second quarter - the Republic's circuit breaker period - according to the Singapore Department of Statistics (SingStat) yesterday. The third-quarter performance marks a smaller contraction than that seen during the second quarter's year-on-year decline of 13.4 per cent. All industries except information and communications services registered lower business receipts year on year, said SingStat. The figures exclude wholesale and retail trade and accommodation and food services. On a quarter-on-quarter non-seasonally adjusted basis, however, overall business receipts grew 5.4 per cent in the third quarter, compared with the low base of activities due to circuit breaker measures imposed during Singapore's partial economic shutdown in April and May. All industries except financial and insurance reported higher revenue quarter on quarter, SingStat said. Among all the categories, recreation and personal services saw the largest drop of 41.3 per cent in revenue, attributed mainly to companies in the attractions segment. On ...