Manufacturing

Geely’s export success warns global rivals

19 Aug 2022

The $21 bln Chinese carmaker is growing overseas, despite political headwinds and consumer skepticism. Electric vehicles are targeted to make up half its sales by 2023. Boss Li Shufu is best known for acquiring Volvo, but now his own brands can compete in Europe and beyond.

Capital Calls: Illumina, Peloton

12 Aug 2022

Concise views on global finance: Growth is stagnating at the $30 bln DNA sequencing company, and regulatory problems with its Grail deal are also coming into view; a class action lawsuit against the virtual fitness outfit provides an unlikely reminder of its former glory days.

Carmakers’ China decline is global warning

5 Aug 2022

Even as the People’s Republic loosens ownership restrictions on foreign manufacturers, Stellantis is closing its local Jeep factory. Domestic rivals took over 50% of the world’s largest car market in 2021. The worry for Western giants is that competition accelerates elsewhere.

Chinese chip IPO is bet on double self-sufficiency

3 Aug 2022

Hygon is launching a $1.6 bln Shanghai float. Its joint venture blacklisted by Washington with U.S.-based AMD gave it a boost in microprocessors, an area Beijing wants to cut foreign reliance on. The huge valuation premium spotlights its hope for success as it goes alone.

China’s economic plight ups Pelosi visit risks

2 Aug 2022

Despite Beijing’s warnings, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed in Taiwan on Tuesday. Slowing growth and supply chain constraints make it hard for China to retaliate against American or Taiwanese firms. Oddly, that makes a military showdown more likely.

CATL can pull off its risky reshuffle

2 Aug 2022

A director and second-largest shareholder at the $194 bln battery maker has quit and founder Robin Zeng is now both chair and general manager. Such moves can be red flags for investors. But as CATL goes global, a familiar face at the top is for now more reassuring than not.

GM and Ford are now juggling three crises

27 Jul 2022

The U.S. automakers are starting to figure out Covid-driven shortages – that was the first pickle. But long-term risks to both pricing and lithium supplies will make it more difficult to efficiently grow EVs. Plus pent-up demand only covers for a weakening consumer for so long.

Russia is giving German industry a slow puncture

27 Jul 2022

Industrial users of gas are in the firing line as Moscow halts supply. Companies like BASF face a hit from higher input costs and energy rationing, rather than a Uniper-style bailout. The problem for Berlin is that sustained high prices could make production head elsewhere.

VW’s CEO ouster heralds less noise, more muddle

25 Jul 2022

The $86 bln carmaker replaced Herbert Diess with Oliver Blume. It loses a bold champion of electric vehicles, but also one prone to gaffes and weakened by union battles. The decision to keep Blume in charge of both VW and Porsche, meanwhile, muddies the latter’s looming IPO.

Capital Calls: Royal Mail, Europe’s chip champion

20 Jul 2022

Concise views on global finance: Britain’s postal provider is eyeing a potentially messy separation, but a nationalisation would make more sense; shares of ASML, which provides cutting-edge machines for chipmaking, look more appealing despite inflation and geopolitical worries.

Kraft has secret sauce in UK grocer food fight

4 Jul 2022

Supermarkets like Tesco are dropping the U.S. food giant’s wares after “unjustifiable” price hikes. That earns brownie points from shoppers and shunts politicians’ gaze to Kraft’s beefier margins. But less choice on the shelves may push business to cut-price rivals like Aldi.

Capital Calls: Fed faces inflation divergence

30 Jun 2022

Concise views on global finance: The central bank’s preferred measure of rising prices, the U.S. personal consumption index, rose 6.3% in May. That’s more subdued than the surging consumer price index. But the latter offers a better read on household spending.

Toshiba ballot tees up a fresh Japan litmus test

27 Jun 2022

The $18 bln conglomerate backed board candidates from pushy investors Elliott and Farallon to rebuild shareholder trust. Then it helped broadcast another director’s opposition to them, undermining the effort. How domestic funds vote will gauge corporate governance progress.

Capital Calls: Hydrogen IPO, Call centre M&A

20 Jun 2022

Concise views on global finance: Despite Thyssenkrupp postponing its clean energy listing, De Nora is still pressing on with its own one at a lower 3 bln euro valuation; customer-service group Sitel agrees to buy 2.6 bln euro rival Majorel in a cash-and-stock deal.

Tesla’s pole position is a blessing, then a curse

3 Jun 2022

Boss Elon Musk wants to cut 10% of the $735 bln automaker’s workforce, even as peers ramp investments. Tesla, unencumbered by a gas-guzzler business, outmaneuvered older rivals to dominate EVs. But not having a legacy business to fall back on means it is more vulnerable, too.

GM draws target on Tesla with EV price cut

2 Jun 2022

Elon Musk’s carmaker stepped back from an ultra-low cost vehicle. But with GM slashing the price on its Bolt, the Detroit automaker has made a big move. Now GM can use its low sticker price to grab market share. It has little to lose – except for cash, which eventually runs out.

Boeing’s chief pilot has risky path out of dive

20 May 2022

A blizzard of bad news has pushed the $75 bln U.S. plane-maker’s market value below rival Airbus for the first time. Customers are fuming about delayed orders. Assuming it can actually deliver jets, the risk is CEO Dave Calhoun keeping buyers sweet with ever bigger discounts.

Rising costs put U.S. auto revamp in a jam

29 Apr 2022

Prices of cars from makers like Ford and GM are up by 13% in a year. But higher costs have caused profits to stagnate. Revamping businesses away from combustion engines is expensive, and adds pressure. They have few levers to pull, and little cushion to fund change.

Capital Calls: U.S. GDP fall masks solid economy

28 Apr 2022

Concise views on global finance: Consumer spending and business investment are resilient amid price hikes.

GE braves cost inflation and confidence deflation

26 Apr 2022

The $99 bln machinery maker has weathered a slump in demand, only to be thwacked by supply chain and inflationary problems. Boss Larry Culp is ruthlessly cutting waste to offset things he can’t control. A 9% drop in shares suggests the market is losing patience.