Company news in brief
Tesla reports productive 3Q
Tesla delivered 139 300 autos in the third quarter, topping analyst estimates, according to figures released Friday by the electric car company.
Deliveries, a proxy for car sales at Elon Musk's high-flying company, marked an increase of 43% from the year-ago period following the production ramp-up of the Model 3 vehicle.
Tesla produced 128 044 of the Model 3, an increase of 60% from the year-ago level. Overall production was 145 036.
Automakers have seen surprisingly strong demand for vehicles, fuelled by low interest rates and a trend among wealthier consumers shifting funds from vacation and other discretionary items to autos.
But analysts say there are risks to the partial auto industry recovery. These include a limited inventory of vehicles and economic weakness with Washington's failure thus far to enact another round of stimulus to support households hit by the pandemic. – Nampa/AFP
Walmart sells UK supermarket
US retail giant Walmart has agreed to sell its British supermarket chain Asda to two UK firms for £6.8 billion (US$8.7 billion, they announced Friday.
The billionaire Issa brothers, who run petrol stations and food outlets worldwide, have joined with private equity firm TDR Capital to purchase Asda, which last year regulators blocked from merging with British supermarket group Sainsbury's.
While the UK groups are acquiring a majority stake in Asda, Walmart will retain an investment and have a seat on the new board, the statement added.
While the UK has shed tens of thousands of jobs during the coronavirus pandemic, the country's supermarket sector has embarked on a huge recruitment drive to meet surging demand for online food shopping.
Founded in 1965, Asda has the third biggest market share among supermarket chains in the UK, behind Sainsbury's and the UK's largest retailer Tesco. – Nampa/AFP
Honda to withdraw from Formula One
Honda said Friday it will withdraw from Formula One at the end of the 2021 season as part of the car industry's move away from internal combustion engines.
The Red Bull and Alpha Tauri teams use power units made by the Japanese manufacturer.
Honda said its industry was undergoing a "once-in-one-hundred-years period of great transformation" and it was pursuing "carbon neutrality by 2050" using "future power-unit and energy technologies, including fuel-cell vehicle and battery technologies".
Honda's decision leaves Formula One reliant on three engine companies - Renault, Mercedes and Ferrari.
The Japanese giant's commitment to new technology also underlines the dilemma faced by the sport as it seeks to deal with the challenge of the evolution of the wider auto industry towards greener solutions. – Nampa/AFP
Boeing to consolidate US production
Boeing will consolidate manufacturing of the 787 Dreamliner plane to one plant in the US, ending production of the wide-body jet in Washington state, the company announced Thursday.
The move follows earlier announcements by Boeing that it would slash production of the jets to six per month in 2021 from 14 due to weak demand for airline travel because of the coronavirus.
The company needs to "look at every opportunity to adapt, preserve our liquidity and be more competitive in a very different commercial market," Stan Deal, head of Boeing's commercial plane division, said in an email to staff.
Boeing said it had not yet determined how the shift would affect staffing in Everett, Washington and North Charleston, South Carolina.
In July, Boeing reported a loss of US$2.4 billion through the first half of 2020, the result of an airline industry downturn and the hit from the grounding of its 737 MAX following two deadly crashes. – Nampa/AFP
Bayer’s new savings plan alarms investors
Shares in German pharmaceutical and agrochemicals giant Bayer plunged on Thursday after the company announced huge writedowns over a demand slump and a new savings plan partly to alleviate the impact of the coronavirus.
The slump came hours after the group said it would have to take an impairment charge in the "mid-to high single-digit billion euros range" because of poorer than expected demand in its crop science division.
It would also accelerate a cost-cutting programme that may lead to further job cuts, it said, without revealing how many posts would be affected.
The new measures "will help mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on our business," the company's chief executive Werner Baumann said.
The company expects to save 1.5 billion euro by 2024, on top of the 2.6 billion euro of annual savings it expects to make from 2022, Bayer said in a press release. – Nampa/AFP
Tesla delivered 139 300 autos in the third quarter, topping analyst estimates, according to figures released Friday by the electric car company.
Deliveries, a proxy for car sales at Elon Musk's high-flying company, marked an increase of 43% from the year-ago period following the production ramp-up of the Model 3 vehicle.
Tesla produced 128 044 of the Model 3, an increase of 60% from the year-ago level. Overall production was 145 036.
Automakers have seen surprisingly strong demand for vehicles, fuelled by low interest rates and a trend among wealthier consumers shifting funds from vacation and other discretionary items to autos.
But analysts say there are risks to the partial auto industry recovery. These include a limited inventory of vehicles and economic weakness with Washington's failure thus far to enact another round of stimulus to support households hit by the pandemic. – Nampa/AFP
Walmart sells UK supermarket
US retail giant Walmart has agreed to sell its British supermarket chain Asda to two UK firms for £6.8 billion (US$8.7 billion, they announced Friday.
The billionaire Issa brothers, who run petrol stations and food outlets worldwide, have joined with private equity firm TDR Capital to purchase Asda, which last year regulators blocked from merging with British supermarket group Sainsbury's.
While the UK groups are acquiring a majority stake in Asda, Walmart will retain an investment and have a seat on the new board, the statement added.
While the UK has shed tens of thousands of jobs during the coronavirus pandemic, the country's supermarket sector has embarked on a huge recruitment drive to meet surging demand for online food shopping.
Founded in 1965, Asda has the third biggest market share among supermarket chains in the UK, behind Sainsbury's and the UK's largest retailer Tesco. – Nampa/AFP
Honda to withdraw from Formula One
Honda said Friday it will withdraw from Formula One at the end of the 2021 season as part of the car industry's move away from internal combustion engines.
The Red Bull and Alpha Tauri teams use power units made by the Japanese manufacturer.
Honda said its industry was undergoing a "once-in-one-hundred-years period of great transformation" and it was pursuing "carbon neutrality by 2050" using "future power-unit and energy technologies, including fuel-cell vehicle and battery technologies".
Honda's decision leaves Formula One reliant on three engine companies - Renault, Mercedes and Ferrari.
The Japanese giant's commitment to new technology also underlines the dilemma faced by the sport as it seeks to deal with the challenge of the evolution of the wider auto industry towards greener solutions. – Nampa/AFP
Boeing to consolidate US production
Boeing will consolidate manufacturing of the 787 Dreamliner plane to one plant in the US, ending production of the wide-body jet in Washington state, the company announced Thursday.
The move follows earlier announcements by Boeing that it would slash production of the jets to six per month in 2021 from 14 due to weak demand for airline travel because of the coronavirus.
The company needs to "look at every opportunity to adapt, preserve our liquidity and be more competitive in a very different commercial market," Stan Deal, head of Boeing's commercial plane division, said in an email to staff.
Boeing said it had not yet determined how the shift would affect staffing in Everett, Washington and North Charleston, South Carolina.
In July, Boeing reported a loss of US$2.4 billion through the first half of 2020, the result of an airline industry downturn and the hit from the grounding of its 737 MAX following two deadly crashes. – Nampa/AFP
Bayer’s new savings plan alarms investors
Shares in German pharmaceutical and agrochemicals giant Bayer plunged on Thursday after the company announced huge writedowns over a demand slump and a new savings plan partly to alleviate the impact of the coronavirus.
The slump came hours after the group said it would have to take an impairment charge in the "mid-to high single-digit billion euros range" because of poorer than expected demand in its crop science division.
It would also accelerate a cost-cutting programme that may lead to further job cuts, it said, without revealing how many posts would be affected.
The new measures "will help mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on our business," the company's chief executive Werner Baumann said.
The company expects to save 1.5 billion euro by 2024, on top of the 2.6 billion euro of annual savings it expects to make from 2022, Bayer said in a press release. – Nampa/AFP
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