Business

SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) -Huawei Technologies has identified helping businesses to use 5G technology, cloud computing and to improve their energy efficiency as ways to bolster the company in the face of mounting challenges, its rotating chairman said on Tuesday.

In 2019 the U.S. Trump Administration put Huawei on an export blacklist, putting its once mighty handset business under immense pressure. The United States says Huawei is a security risk, which the company has denied.

Rotating chairman Ken Hu said on Tuesday the company faced an even more daunting year than in 2021 as geopolitics, the COVID-19 pandemic, rising commodity prices and fluctuating exchange rates add to the sanctioned-hit company’s difficulties.

Addressing Huawei’s annual analyst summit on Tuesday, Hu echoed comments the company made a year ago that developing new and more resilient business areas was essential to survival.

“We know in our hearts, Huawei still faces a lot of challenges and we need to redouble our efforts,” he said, citing 5G, cloud computing and energy efficiency as growth areas for Huawei.

“Huawei has been unfairly suppressed and sanctioned and we can’t source some advanced components,” he added.

Huawei’s revenue fell 29% last year to 636.8 billion yuan ($97.36 billion), while net profit rose 76% to 113.7 billion yuan, buoyed by the sale of budget smartphone unit Honor.

The company is under scrutiny over whether it plans to stay in Russia, as many Western firms have pulled out following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine that began on Feb. 24.

It has also faced internal pressure, as two of its British board members resigned in March after it did not condemn the war. The company did not take any questions on Russia on Tuesday.

($1 = 6.5409 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by David Kirton, Editing by Louise Heavens and Barbara Lewis)

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By Bernadette Christina

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesian government officials told palm oil companies on Monday that an export ban announced late last week would cover shipments of refined, bleached, deodorized (RBD) palm olein but not crude palm oil, two industry sources told Reuters.

Officials at the trade ministry and coordinating ministry of economic affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Traders were caught by surprise by Friday’s announcement by President Joko Widodo that Indonesia, the world’s biggest palm oil producer, was halting exports of the edible oil from April 28, to ensure domestic food product availability.

Though an exemption of crude palm oil from the export curbs will be positive for global markets, the majority of Indonesia’s palm exports are in the form of processed oils and remain affected by the ban.

Global edible oil supplies were already choked by adverse weather and Russia’s invasion of major crop producer Ukraine, and now global consumers have no option but to pay top dollar for supplies at a time when global food inflation has soared to a record high.

Malaysian benchmark crude palm futures fell 2.09% after news that ban only cover RBD olein, having jumped nearly 7% to their highest in six weeks.

“The massive short covering fizzled out after hearing news that the ban only encompasses olein both bulk and packed from Indonesia,” said Paramalingam Supramaniam, director at Selangor-based brokerage Pelindung Bestari.

He said there were still concerns that crude palm oil would also be added to the list of banned products as it is raw material for RBD palm olein.

According to Refinitiv Eikon, Indonesia exported an average of roughly 620,000 tonnes per month of RBD in 2021, compared to an average of around 100,000 tonnes of crude palm oil. Top destinations included India and Pakistan and Spain.

The government’s move to control stubbornly high cooking oil prices caused a slump in shares of its biggest palm oil companies on Monday, while the rupiah headed currency falls in Asia. Dollar-denominated bonds issued by Indonesia’s government fell more than 1 cent to their lowest since the Spring 2020 COVID market rout.

According to data from Indonesia’s palm oil association (GAPKI) exports of processed CPO in 2021 stood at 25.7 million tonnes, or 75% of total exports of palm products. CPO exports were 2.74 million tonnes in 2021, or 7.98% of the shipments.

In January and February this year, processed CPO exports were 3.38 million tonnes or 79% of exports, while CPO exports were 90,000 tonnes, 2% of the total shipped.

Global prices of crude palm oil, which Indonesia uses for cooking oil, have surged to historic highs this year amid rising demand and weak output from top producers Indonesia and Malaysia, plus a move by Indonesia to restrict palm oil exports in January that was lifted in March.

(Reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe; Additional reporting by Mei Mei Chu in Kuala Lumpur; Writing by Gayatri Suroyo and Martin Petty; Editing by Louise Heavens)

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(Reuters) -Videogame publisher Activision Blizzard Inc missed estimates for first-quarter adjusted sales on Monday, hurt by low demand for its latest title “Call of Duty: Vanguard”.

Activision’s performance has taken a hit from lower premium sales for “Call of Duty: Vanguard” and weaker engagement in “Call of Duty: Warzone”, with a return to pre-pandemic habits pressing gamers to spend less time on their consoles.

The company, which is being taken over by Microsoft Corp, has also been facing backlash over its response to allegations of internal sexual harassment and discrimination against female employees.

The Santa Monica, California-based company’s quarterly adjusted sales stood at $1.48 billion, compared with analysts’ estimates of $1.80 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

Net income for the quarter ended March 31 fell to $395 million, or 50 cents per share, from $619 million, or 79 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, Activision earned 64 cents per share.

(Reporting by Tiyashi Datta and Richard Rohan Francis in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ‘ deepening feud with Walt Disney World is testing the limits of his combative leadership style while sending an unmistakable message to his rivals that virtually nothing is off limits as he plots his political future.

The 43-year-old Republican has repeatedly demonstrated an acute willingness to fight over the course of his decadelong political career. He has turned against former aides and rejected the GOP Legislature’s rewrite of congressional maps, forcing lawmakers to accept a version more to his liking, though voting rights group have sued. And he’s leaned into simmering tensions with Donald Trump, which is notable for someone seeking to lead a party where loyalty to the former president is a requirement.

But DeSantis’ decision to punish Disney World, one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations and one of Florida’s biggest private employers, took his fighter mentality to a new level. In retribution for Disney’s criticism of a new state law condemned by critics as “Don’t Say Gay,” DeSantis signed legislation on Friday stripping the theme park of a decades-old special agreement that allowed it to govern itself.

To critics, including some in his own party, such a raw exercise of power suggests DeSantis is operating with a sense of invincibility that could come back to haunt him. Others see an ambitious politician emboldened by strong support in his state and a mountain of campaign cash grabbing an opportunity to further stoke the nation’s culture wars, turning himself into a hero among Republican voters in the process.

“When you listen to Ron DeSantis, it’s righteous indignation: ‘Here’s why you’re wrong and here’s why I’m right,”” said Florida Rep. Blaise Ingoglia, a former state GOP chairman. “And it is that righteous indignation and that willingness to fight back that endears people to Ron DeSantis’ message. As long as he keeps on showing that he’s willing to fight, people are going to continue to keep flocking to him.”

DeSantis is up for reelection in November. But in the wake of his scrape with Disney, he will introduce himself to a key group of presidential primary voters this coming week when he campaigns for Nevada Senate candidate Adam Laxalt. The appearance marks his first of the year in a state featured prominently on the presidential calendar, although DeSantis aides insist it is simply a trip to help out a longtime friend.

Disney drew DeSantis’ wrath for opposing a new state law that bars instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. The DeSantis-backed bill has been condemned by LGBTQ activists nationwide as homophobic, although the measure, like others dealing with transgender athletes and racial history in schools, has emerged as a core piece of the GOP’s political strategy.

The Disney legislation, which does not take effect until June 2023, could cause massive economic fallout for the company, the surrounding communities and the millions who visit the Orlando amusement park every year.

There are risks to DeSantis’ embrace of the legislation, particularly if his antagonism towards Disney threatens the GOP’s standing with independents and women, who could play crucial roles in the fall campaign. Jenna Ellis, a former Trump administration attorney, called the DeSantis-backed legislation “vengeful.”

Democrats who are facing a tough election year are eager to highlight DeSantis’ moves as a way to portray the GOP as a party of extremists. In an interview, Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison described DeSantis’ attack on Disney as a continuation of a “divisive agenda” geared toward booking interviews on conservative media at the expense of his constituents.

“The people of Florida deserve a governor whose first priority is them, not his own political ambition,” Harrison said.

President Joe Biden said at party fundraiser this past week in Oregon that this “is not your father’s Republican Party.”

“I respect conservatives,” Biden said at a DNC fundraiser in Seattle on Thursday. “There’s nothing conservative about deciding you’re going to throw Disney out of its present posture because … you think we should be not be able to say, ‘gay.’”

In a statement, DeSantis’ spokesperson Taryn Fenske, called the governor a “principled and driven leader who accomplishes exactly what he says he will do.”

Indeed, DeSantis’ friends and foes in the GOP agree that his crackdown on Disney is a major political victory among Republican base voters already enamored by his pushback against pandemic-related public health measures over the past two years. They suggest it also taps into a growing Republican embrace of anti-corporate populism and parental control of education that resonates with a wider swath of voters.

Republicans pollsters have been privately testing DeSantis’ political strength beyond Florida for several months, finding that the only Republican consistently with more support than DeSantis among GOP voters is Trump himself. At the same time, DeSantis is sitting on more than $100 million in campaign funds.

“He’s a very smart guy in what he’s doing and how he’s doing it,” Republican strategist David Urban, a close Trump ally, said of DeSantis.

Those close to the Florida governor say there is one message above all to take away from the Disney fight: that DeSantis, one of the few high-profile Republicans who has not ruled out running against Trump in a 2024 presidential primary, is not afraid of anybody, anything or any fight.

Tensions between the two men have been building for months.

In a Washington Post interview last month, Trump took credit for DeSantis rise. And last weekend, longtime Trump loyalist Roger Stone released a video clip in which Stone calls DeSantis an expletive while greeting Trump at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida club.

So far, Florida voters seem to be on DeSantis’ side.

Nearly 6 in 10 Florida voters approved of DeSantis’ job performance in a February poll conducted by the University of North Florida. The poll also asked registered Republicans about a hypothetical presidential primary between Trump and DeSantis. The result? Trump and DeSantis were statistically tied.

Brian Ballard, a Florida lobbyist and a major Republican fundraiser, said DeSantis has “a combination of popularity and instincts” that is shaping the modern-day GOP.

“No other elected official, maybe in the country, has the Republican base support that Ron DeSantis has. So he’s incredibly powerful, not only a powerful politician, but a powerful government leader,” Ballard said. “The guy really has the reins of power in his hands.”

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Peoples reported from New York. Associated Press writer Anthony Izaguirre contributed to this report.

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By Aditya Kalra and Swati Bhat

MUMBAI (Reuters) -India’s top retailer Reliance on Saturday called off its $3.4 billion deal with Future Group, saying it “cannot be implemented” after Future’s secured creditors rejected it.

The deal was at the centre of legal battles since 2020 after Future’s partner Amazon.com Inc legally blocked it, citing violation of certain contracts. Future denied any wrongdoing.

In a stock exchange filing on Saturday, Reliance said the deal now cannot go through as “the secured creditors of FRL (Future Retail) have voted against” it.

Future Retail and Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Future’s secured lenders on Friday rejected the deal, and the company, once India’s second-largest retailer with more than 1,500 outlets, now faces the prospect of a bankruptcy process.

Future’s fall is “an unfortunate event”, one of the sources with direct knowledge of the dispute said on Saturday.

Amazon had obtained legal injunctions that stalled Future’s deal with Reliance, sparking a series of legal battles in various forums, including an arbitration panel in Singapore.

In February, Reliance stunned the retail industry by suddenly seizing control of hundreds of Future stores, citing non-payment of rent, after assuming many of the leases held by cash-strapped Future.

That spooked bankers, some of whom have already initiated debt recovery proceedings against Future.

(Reporting by Swati Bhat and Aditya Kalra; editing by Jason Neely)

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SHANGHAI/MILAN (Reuters) -Luxury sports car maker Ferrari will recall 2,222 cars in China due to a potential fault in its braking systems, China’s market regulator said in a statement on Friday.

The recall covers the 458 Italia, 458 Speciale, 458 Speciale A, 458 Spider, 488 GTB and 488 Spider series models, the State Administration for Market Regulation said, and is for cars imported between March 2010 and March 2019.

The recall will begin on May 30.

A source close to the matter said that the recall is part of a wider action Ferrari is undertaking globally over the same issue for models produced over the period, which also saw the carmaker agreeing to a recall campaign in the United States in November last year.

In the car industry, recalls and their timings are normally decided by each individual national authority after issues emerge or are flagged by the constructor.

Ferrari said that, after investigating the matter together with its supplier Bosch, they had identified the cause of the defect in affected vehicles in a brake reservoir fluid cap that may not vent properly, thereby potentially creating a vacuum inside the brake fluid reservoir.

“The safety and wellbeing of our clients is our priority. We operate according to stringent safety and security guidelines to ensure the right systems and procedures are in place at all times” Ferrari said.

Based on data available on the company’s website, which date back until 2014 when it was still part of Fiat group, Ferrari has sold a total of around 5,400 cars in its ‘Greater China’ region, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan, between 2014 and last year.

By 1145 GMT Milan-listed shares in Ferrari were down 3.1%, underperforming a 1.7% fall for Italy’s blue chip index.

(Reporting by Zhang Yan, Brenda Goh in Shanghai and Giulio Piovaccari in Milan; editing by John Stonestreet and Keith Weir)

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BOSTON (Reuters) – Proxy advisory firms Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholders Services urged investors in healthcare real estate trust Ventas Inc to back management’s director candidates and reject activist investment firm Land & Buildings’ effort to win one board seat.

Land & Buildings’ founder Jonathan Litt nominated himself as a director candidate, arguing that poor investor communications, capital allocation issues and a lack of board oversight led to significant underperformance at the company.

The investment firm owns a 0.2% stake in Ventas which is valued at $24 billion.

The proxy advisory firms, whose recommendations often guide investor voting to settle boardroom battles, backed all 11 of Ventas’s candidates saying they do not believe Land & Buildings made a compelling case to join the board.

Glass Lewis on Wednesday wrote that Land & Buildings’ concerns about Ventas’s stock performance are valid but that its concerns about capital allocation and governance “fall flat.”

The company has shifted its portfolio toward the most attractive areas of healthcare real estate and has refreshed its board with the “experience, skills and perspective” that it needs, the Glass Lewis report said.

A representative for Land & Buildings declined to comment.

Investors will vote on the matter on April 27 at Ventas’s annual meeting.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Stephen Coates)

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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)

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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)

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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.

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