Business

PARIS (Reuters) – French food group Danone kept its financial goals for the 2022 full year after it delivered stronger-than-expected 7.1% sales growth in the first quarter amid a challenging environment marked by inflation, higher input costs and uncertainties linked to the war in Ukraine.

The robust start to the year reflected favourable year-ago comparables, price increases, stronger demand for China baby products formula, and a post-COVID improvement regarding the consumption of its water products outside of the home environment.

Danone, which is the world’s largest yoghurt maker, said its like-for-like sales rose 7.1% to 6.236 billion euros ($6.74 billion) in the first quarter, compared with expectations for a 5.5% rise in a company-compiled consensus of 19 analysts.

Danone’s new chief Antoine de Saint-Affrique is conducting a revival plan amid mounting input costs, coupled with further uncertainties caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has forced Danone to suspend investments in Russia.

The group reiterated it expected its operating profit margin to decline to no more than 12% of sales in 2022 from 13.7% in 2021, with price-led like-for-like sales growth in a range of 3% to 5% against 3.4% in 2021.

($1 = 0.9246 euros)

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Reuters Paris)

source

TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan firms making chip and electronic components reported a mixed picture on Wednesday on work resumption in the eastern Chinese city of Kunshan after COVID-19 curbs, with some warning deliveries would be postponed until next month.

China has put Shanghai under a tight lockdown since late March and neighbouring Kunshan has also tightened curbs to control the country’s biggest COVID-19 outbreak since the coronavirus was discovered in late 2019 in the city of Wuhan.

That had caused dozens of Taiwanese firms, many making parts for the semiconductor and electronics industries, to suspend operations.

Global companies, from makers of mobile phones to chips, are highly dependent on China and Southeast Asia for production and have been diversifying their supply chains after the pandemic caused havoc.

Chip substrate and printed circuit board maker Unimicron Technology Corp said its Kunshan plant was gradually resuming operations from Wednesday.

Unimicron, which supplies Apple Inc and Intel Corp, said in a statement to the Taipei stock exchange that the factory had suspended production from April 2 to 19.

It added it was “gradually resuming work depending on local personnel and logistics conditions”.

However, Asia Electronic Material Co Ltd, which makes parts for laptops, mobile phones and digital cameras, said its plant in Kunshan would continue to be closed, having originally reported the suspension would last until Tuesday.

It added it had applied for government permission to be allowed to resume work and that it had been given permission to deliver goods and would do so from current stocks.

“It is estimated that some orders will be postponed until May,” the company added in its stock exchange statement.

Flexible printed circuit maker Complex Micro Interconnection Co Ltd said it too saw some deliveries not happening until next month, adding it would look at the “detailed rules” and apply to resume production.

Bike maker Giant Manufacturing Co Ltd said its Kunshan electric bike operations remained closed, adding its workers would put in overtime to catch up once it’s allowed to re-open.

Speaking to reporters in Taipei, Taiwan Economy Minister Wang Mei-hua said Taiwanese companies were slowly resuming production in China, but there were still logistics problems.

“Certainly on the impact for supply chains there is a lot of uncertainty,” she added.

Cheng Ping, CEO of Delta Electronics Inc, a supplier of power components to companies such as Apple and Tesla Inc, was quoted in Taiwan media on Wednesday as saying 20% of April production had been affected by the China lockdowns.

“At present the orders are all in hand, and customers are in a hurry, pressing us every day,” he was quoted as saying.

Still, the production resumption news cheered Unimicron’s shares, which ended the day up 4.51%, outperforming the broader index which closed up 0.91%.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Sarah Wu; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Christopher Cushing)

source

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday asked the Legislature to repeal a law allowing Walt Disney World to operate a private government over its properties in the state, the latest salvo in a feud between the Republican and the media giant.

DeSantis, an ascendant GOP governor and potential 2024 presidential candidate, has battled with Disney over the company’s opposition to a new law barring instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.

On Tuesday, DeSantis raised the stakes.

As lawmakers returned to the Capitol for a special legislative session on congressional redistricting, the governor announced he issued a proclamation that allows the Republican-controlled statehouse to take up bills eliminating Disney’s self-governing district.

“I am announcing today that we are expanding the call of what they are going to be considering this week. And so, yes they will be considering the congressional map, but they also will be considering termination of all special districts that were enacted in Florida prior to 1968, and that includes the Reedy Creek Improvement District,” DeSantis said at a news conference, referencing the company’s governing district without mentioning Disney by name.

The Reedy Creek Improvement District is a private government controlled by Disney World and set up by the state Legislature in 1967 that allows it to provide government services such as zoning, fire protection, utilities and infrastructure.

The move comes after Disney announced it would suspend political donations in the state over the new Parental Rights in Education law, which opponents dubbed “Don’t Say Gay,” over criticism that barring lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades would marginalize LGTBQ people. Disney is one of Florida’s biggest private employers.

Disney representatives did not immediately return an emailed request for comment.

source

WASHINGTON (AP) — Global finance leaders are putting the growing crisis over food insecurity and skyrocketing food prices at center stage as members of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meet in Washington and grapple with the brutal effects of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was convening a Tuesday morning meeting with leaders from the IMF, World Bank, Group of Seven and Group of 20 global organizations to “call on international financial institutions to accelerate and deepen their response” to countries affected by food issues exacerbated by Russia’s aggression, the Treasury Department said.

Russia and Ukraine produce 14% of the world’s wheat supply, according to the United Nations, and the loss of commodities due to the war has resulted in soaring food prices and uncertainty about the future of food security globally, especially in impoverished countries.

The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization Food Price Index has made its biggest jump since its inception in 1990, reflecting an all-time high in the cost of vegetable oils, cereals and meat, according to the organization.

A late March report from the organization stated that the global number of undernourished people could increase by 8 million to 13 million people into 2023, “with the most pronounced increases taking place in Asia-Pacific, followed by sub-Saharan Africa, and the Near East and North Africa. If the war lasts, impacts will go well beyond 2022/23.”

Anna Nagurney, a crisis management specialist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said Tuesday’s meeting of global leaders was significant and “speaks to the growing fear and the increasing understanding that the world may be on the verge of a hunger catastrophe.”

Nagurney predicted that countries that have not yet provided clear support for Ukraine — such as China and India — will come to realize that the food insecurity from a prolonged war in Ukraine will affect their own national stability and the welfare of their citizens.

“This may help to further isolate Russia both morally and economically,” she said.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said Monday that the international coalition of countries imposing sanctions on Russia and its allies takes the food security threat seriously.

“One of the things we have to do is take practical steps to demonstrate that this system is helping the people who need it the most“ he said, which includes a “focus on those countries that are struggling to pay for things like bread for their people in light of the increase in commodities prices.”

Russia is a member of the G-20, which is made up of representatives of industrial and emerging-market nations, but Treasury said that Russians would not be participating in the session on food security.

source

By Isabel Kua

(Reuters) – A Rolls-Royce design for a small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) will likely receive UK regulatory approval by mid-2024 and be able to produce grid power by 2029, Paul Stein, chairman of Rolls-Royce Small Modular Reactors, told Reuters.

The British government asked its nuclear regulator to start the approval process in March, having backed Rolls-Royce’s $546 million funding round in November to develop the country’s first SMR reactor.

Policymakers hope SMRs will help cut dependence on fossil fuels and lower carbon emissions.

Speaking to Reuters in an interview conducted virtually, Stein said the regulatory “process has been kicked off, and will likely be complete in the middle of 2024.

“We are trying to work with the UK Government, and others to get going now placing orders, so we can get power on grid by 2029.”

In the meantime, Rolls-Royce will start manufacturing parts of the design that are most unlikely to change, Stein added.

Each 470 megawatt (MW) SMR unit costs 1.8 billion pounds ($2.34 billion) and would be built on a 10-acre site, the size of around 10 football fields.

Unlike traditional reactors, SMRs are cheaper and quicker to build and can also be deployed on ships and aircraft. Their “modular” format means they can be shipped by container from the factory and installed relatively quickly on any proposed site.

($1 = 0.7676 pounds)

(Reporting by Isabel Kua and Florence Tan in SINGAPORE; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

source