Japan
Internet
- Toppan Printing initiated a service that provides companies with product information databases that they can access online. The company maintains servers where the information is stored, and client companies can connect to the servers and access the information that can come in the form of images or prices. Toppan intends to market this service to small and midsize customers by pointing out its ability to eliminate the burden of having to purchase the software and maintaining equipment. About 100 companies have already purchased the software but these are large companies able to afford the minimum 10 million yen ($95,000). Under the new service, companies can have the software for an initial cost of 500,000 yen ($4,800) and a monthly charge of 140,000 yen ($1,300). Toppan expects annual sales of 200 million yen ($1.9 million).
- The four publicly traded online brokerage houses posted for their fiscal 2004 net profits increases to record levels; results have been boosted significantly by the increased assets under their custody. Matsui Securities had a 73.7 percent increase in group net profit to 12.6 billion yen ($120 million). E*Trade Securities Co. registered a net profit of 6.1 billion yen ($58.1 million). Monex Beans Holdings Inc.'s fiscal 2004 profit went up 47.7 percent to 7 billion yen ($66.7 million). Kabu.com Securities Co. saw its profit grow 32.2 percent to 4 billion yen ($38.1 million).
- E*Trade Securities is going to be the first online brokerage in Japan to offer trading of South Korean stocks. The firm is going to do this by linking its system to that of local subsidiary E*Trade Korea. Initially, the firm will offer up 44 blue chips listed on the Korea Stock Exchange, which will include Samsung Electronics Co. and Hynix Semiconductor Inc. It will then gauge demand so it can decide whether to increase the number of issues. The trades will be settled in South Korean won, with the investors converting their yen into currency fluctuation risks. The brokerage said it has plans to provide investors with information on the Korean stock market trends, individual share prices, and corporate and financial information about the companies.
Mobile/Wireless
- KDDI Corp. announced that it would acquire a stake in an auction web site operator to be established by DeNA Co., a new firm to be spun off from DeNA with 50 million yen (US$477,000) in capital. KDDI has been in partnership with DeNA and this acquisition move is further aimed to strengthen their partnership. DeNA plans to issue 300 million yen (US$2.8 million) worth of shares at 1 million yen (US$9,500) per share to KDDI, which will then give KDDI a 30 percent stake in the DeNA unit. In another development, KDDI said it will soon begin exporting video game software and other content for mobile phones in the U.S. and other countries. Initially, KDDI will pitch game software to American mobile phone companies, such as Verizon Wireless, through KDDI America Inc. To be exported to the U.S. are three kinds of software that include a shooting game, which was developed by Mobcast Inc. and Interactive Brains Co., both midsize game developers in Tokyo. KDDI will also offer a range of services that include marketing, translation of software into English and software modification following U.S. handset specifications. It also intends to promote exports of Japanese-developed content to mobile phone companies in South Korea, China, India and Brazil.
- Asurion Japan, a unit of U.S. mobile phone company Asurion Corp., is offering a service that will enable a back up of mobile-phone data. With software installed in the handset, the information is automatically sent over the Internet to a server and stored every time a user rewrites address book or other data. The service also gives the user access to information on the server over the Internet via a personal computer. In cases where a user changes information through a computer, the updated information is sent to the mobile phone.
- Kyocera Corp. reported that its net profit went down 33 percent to 45.9 billion yen (US$437.4 million) in fiscal 2004. Kyocera's sales had a 4 percent growth to 1.1 trillion yen (US$10.4 billion), with its operating profit going down 7 percent to 100.9 billion yen (US$961.7 million). The company ascribed said figures to weak results at its optical and U.S. cell phone businesses.
Media, Entertainment and Gaming
- Game software giant Konami Corp. sold all of its shares in toymaker Takara Co. to Index Corp., according to a source close to the deal. Index, a distributor of content for mobile phones, has bought Konami's 2,014,000 shares, representing 22.2 percent, in Takara for about 11 billion yen (US$104.8 million) making Index the toy maker's largest shareholder. Index said it aims to expand its content distribution business by using Takara's toys and characters. The move is the latest in Index's buyout spree: last year, the company bought a professional French soccer team and a Japanese animated film operation. Konami did not disclose the buyer's name. Takara is projecting a group net loss of 15 billion yen ($143 million) the year ended March 31.
- Sony Corp. announced a group net profit of 163.8 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in fiscal 2004, an 85.1 percent increase from the previous year ascribed by the firm to a record operating profit in the movie division. The company reported a 15.2 percent growth in overall operating profit to 113.9 billion yen ($1 billion). Sales in the game business, however, saw a 6.5 percent decrease to 729.7 billion yen ($7 billion), as brought about by what it called a "strategic cut" in the price of its PlayStation 2 game consoles. Sales in the music division of Sony went down 47.1 percent to 216.7 billion yen ($2 billion). For the current fiscal year to next March 31, the company forecast a net profit of 80 billion yen ($763.4 million).
Hardware
- Matsushita Electric Industrial posted an increase in group net profit for the financial year to March from 42.1 billion yen ($401.2 million) to 58.4 billion yen ($556.6 million). Its sales for the financial year went up 17 percent from 7.4 trillion yen ($70.5 billion) to 8.7 trillion yen ($83 billion). Matsushita expects profit to grow to 110 billion yen ($1 billion) with sales expected to stay unchanged for the present year. The company said it was benefiting from cost cuts and inventory reduction.
- Japanese electronics maker Sharp said its net profit increased 26.6 percent to 76.8 billion yen ($732 million). The company's sales rose 12.5 percent to 2.5 trillion yen ($23.8 billion), a record figure for Sharp. The outcome was slightly ahead of the forecast made by the company. For the present year to March, Sharp predicts an even better scenario as it looks to a net profit of 87 billion yen ($829 million) and operating profit at 160 billion yen ($1.5 billion) on revenue of 2.7 trillion yen ($25.7 billion). The company said it would develop more sophisticated 3G mobile phones and appliances that are sensitive to the health of their users. Sharp attributed the growth to continued big demand for LCD TVs and camera-equipped mobile phones.
- NEC Electronics Corp. disclosed a group net loss for the January-March quarter, pointing to weak demand for semiconductors used in cell phones, computers and other products. The chip business subsidiary of NEC Corp. reported a group net loss of 2.3 billion yen ($22 million) for the quarter, from a profit of 7.5 billion yen ($71.4 million) in the same period a year earlier. For the full fiscal year ended in March, the company said its group net profit went down 42.9 percent to 16 billion yen ($152.5 million) from 28 billion yen ($266.8 million). Its group sales went down to 708 billion ($6.7 billion).
- Fujitsu said its net profit went down 35.8 percent to 31.9 billion yen ($304 million) in the year to March. The computer maker, however, is optimistic as it looks to a net profit of 50 billion yen ($476.5 million) in the present, year with the assumption that the digital products market is set to recover. Fujitsu's group recurring profit had a 78.9 percent increase to 89 billion yen ($848.3 million) even as its sales went down 0.1 percent to 4.7 trillion yen ($44.7 billion). The company indicated the poor performance of its software segment as one reason for the losses.
- Toshiba Corp. said its group net profit went down 49 percent in the January-March quarter, with the company explaining the results as caused by slump in its semiconductor business and the ongoing price competition for digital goods and home electronic appliances. It posted a group net profit of 36 billion yen ($343.1 million) for the three months, down from its year-earlier profit of 70.2 billion yen ($669.1 million). Toshiba's group operating profit decreased 40 percent on year to 103.2 billion yen ($984.8 million) in the quarter. Its group revenue went up 2 percent to 1.6 trillion yen ($15.2 billion).
Semiconductors
- Citing demand for consumer electronics in the first half, Advantest announced its group net profit of 38 billion yen ($362.6 million), almost double the 17.3 billion yen ($165 million) from the year before. The company, which manufactures semiconductor-testing devices and other measuring instruments, posted a 37.4 percent increase in its group sales to 239.4 billion yen ($2.2 billion) from 174.2 billion yen ($1.6 billion). Despite some good signs in capital spending by its clients, the company remains cautious in its earnings outlook, as it predicts for the fiscal year ending March 2006 a 2.8 percent decrease in its group net profit to 37 billion yen ($353.1 million).
- Elpida Memory announced its bouncing back to profit in the year ended March 31, ascribing the results to cost cutting and higher sales of memory chips, which was in turn brought about by its capacity expansion. The company, which remains as Japan's only exclusive maker of DRAM (dynamic random access memory) chips had a group net profit of 8.2 billion yen ($78.2 million), from a loss of 26.4 billion yen ($252 million). The company's group sales soared, almost double, to 207 billion yen ($2 billion) from 100.4 billion yen ($958.1 million). The company, however, still registered a group net loss of 1.6 billion yen ($15.2 million) in January-March, compared with a year-earlier profit of 490 million yen ($4.6 million). The company's group sales went up 57.5 percent to 50.7 billion yen ($483.8 million) from 32.2 billion yen ($307.2 million) a year ago
Korea
Internet
- Hanarotelecom, South Korea's second-largest internet broadband carrier, said it would give up its license for new wireless internet services. The company with SK Telecom and KTF were given license that would allow them to provide services via the new technology called "WiBro", which would allow broadband internet access through mobile phones and other portable devices. Hanarotelecom presently controlled by US investors said its officials decided to give up the WiBro service and just focus on its broadband internet business. The withdrawal of the company casts a shadow on the government's move to develop WiBro as the new source of revenue for the country's telecom industry.
Mobile/Wireless
- KT Freetel Co. reported an increase in its first quarter profit when it posted a net income of 157 billion won ($158 million), a figure that is more than triple its 49 billion won ($49.3 million) a year earlier. Its operating profit went up 82 percent to 190 billion won (US$191.2 million). Its sales had a 1.9 percent increase to 1.5 trillion won ($1.5 billion). The country's second-largest mobile phone operator attributed the improvement mainly to a decrease in the cost of attracting new mobile customers and the consequent growth in the subscriber numbers. Earlier, KTF said it wants to add 300,000 new subscribers this year, after the government allowed mobile phone users to switch to other service operators without changing their phone numbers.
- LG Telecom, the smallest of Korea's three mobile-phone carriers, announced a net income of 22.4 billion won ($22 million) during the first quarter, compared to a loss of 25 billion won ($25.1 million) a year earlier. The first-quarter net income remains a 27.8 percent decrease from the fourth quarter last year, even as the company strengthened its efforts to protect its customer base against SK Telecom and KT Freetel. LG Telecom's first-quarter revenue went up 7.4 percent year-on-year to 825 billion won ($830.4 million), down 2.2 percent quarter-on-quarter. Its operating profit hit 42 billion won ($42.2 million). LG Telecom's market share was 16.3 percent as of March, a figure that translates to about 6 million customers.
China
Internet
- China Finance Online said its net revenues for the first quarter of 2005 grew by 106 percent compared to the same period in 2004 to $1.9 million. Its net income grew by 146 percent compared to the same period in 2004 to $1.2 million for the quarter. Net revenues in the fourth quarter of 2004 went down 7 percent from$2 million. Revenue from advertising-related business for the quarter contributed $179,000. China Finance Online is a leading Chinese online financial information and listed company data provider.
- Ctrip.com International, a leading consolidator of hotel accommodations and airline tickers in China, announced its unaudited financial results for the first quarter of 2005, with net revenues posting a 51 percent growth year-on-year to 96.9 million yuan ($11.7 million). Its operating income was 39.2 million yuan ($4.7 million), representing a 53 percent growth year on year. The company's net income was 39.6 million yuan ($4.8 million), up 82 percent year on year. Hotel reservation revenues totaled 70.6 million yuan ($8.5 million), a 29 percent increase from the same period in 2004. Air ticket booking revenues were 28.6 million ($3.5 million), a figure which represents a 177 percent increase from the same period in 2004 and a 32 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2004.
- Tom Online announced that Cisco Systems and Macromedia would acquire strategic share interests in Indiagames Ltd., a move that is expected to enhance the India-based mobile games publisher's quest for global growth. Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, and Macromedia, an independent software company, are expected to pay a total of $4 million for a combined stake of 18.2 percent in Indiagames, which will dilute Tom Online's share in Indiagames from 76.3 percent to 62.4 percent. The global wireless game market is expected to grow 50 percent per year in the next three years, and is expected to hit $8.4 billion in 2008, and Indiagames being the owner of one of the largest wireless content development facilities in the world is expected to benefit much from this scenario.
- Netease reported a 48 percent increase in its first-quarter earnings to 153.8 million yuan ($18.5 million), which the company ascribed basically to the popularity of its "Fantasy Westward Journey" title, which had 588,000 peak concurrent users as of last month. The company's revenue climbed 57.6 percent to 327.6 million yuan ($39.5 million). Sales from online games surged 135 percent to 262.1 million yuan $31.6 million). The company's advertising sales posted a 31.2 percent growth to 45.2 million yuan ($5.4 million). With its revenue from mobile phone content going down 67.3 percent to 20.2 million yuan ($2.4 million), industry watchers are saying that Netease is looking more like an online game operator than an internet portal. The company said it will continue to "spend huge sums" to develop in-house games and try to avoid reliance on one or two products. The Beijing-based operator said it is going to launch two new self-developed games - one about Chinese ancient mythology and the other about the Tang Dynasty.
- Sohu.com reported unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2005, with revenues totaling $23.7 million, compared to revenues of $24 million for the fourth quarter 2004 and $25.9 million for the first quarter 2004. The total revenues were above company guidance while its advertising revenue of $14.8 million was within the high end of company guidance. The company posted non-advertising revenue of US$8.8 million, which exceeded company guidance, a result the company attributed to wireless business recovery resulting in 28 percent quarter-on-quarter growth. The company reported a net profit of $5.7 million. The martial arts fighting game Blade Online together with Knight Online, Sohu's first online game, generated revenues that met the company expectations and contributed 6 percent of the overall revenues in the first quarter.
Media, Entertainment and Gaming
- Viacom officials disclosed the company's plans to deliver MTV contents to 250,000 users of the China Mobile phone brand and, at the same time, broadcast Nickelodeon kids programming to 3.5 million households by way of a joint-venture partnership with the Shanghai Media Group. A source from the MTV Networks said the company is aiming to use its partnerships in China to help it become the world's leading provider of digital and kids content. The Nickelodeon-SMG co-production deal was forged in 2004 and was the end product of two years of negotiations and working with the government, and was the first foreign-Chinese joint venture approved by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT). Although the SARFT policy states that foreign companies may not have more than one production joint venture, MTV said it is working toward a second partnership, with the aim of transforming the strategic alliance with Beijing Television to a joint-venture partnership.
Telecommunications
- Qualcomm Incorporated, a pioneer of CDMA digital wireless technology, and ZTE Corporation, a manufacturer of telecommunications equipment in China, announced their entering a global QPoint license and distribution agreement. Under the agreement, ZTE is licensed to promote and sell location-positioning systems using Qualcomm's QPoint location server software to CDMA2000.
- China Netcom Group Corp. said it is in the preliminary phase of the negotiations to acquire four provincial fixed-line telecommunication networks from its parent, China Network Communications Group Corp. The four networks are located in Heilongjiang, Jilin, Shanxi, and Inner Mongolia the additions of which will widen China Netcom's operations to 10 provinces in Northern China. Analysts said China Netcom would acquire the four networks by issuing new shares. Once the acquisition is complete, all major fixed-line and mobile telecom assets will have been listed in Hong Kong. It is speculated that the country's industry regulator will plan a consolidation among the four major telecom companies, with the hope that such move will lessen competition in the sector and address the duplication of capital investment as China readies to release the next-generation mobile services.
- By the end of March, China's total number of phone subscribers has gone beyond 674 million, of which mobile users exceeded 349 million, with a penetration rate of 25.9 percent. From this figure, over 325 million were fixed-line telephone subscribers. The statistics from the Ministry of Information Industry show that from January to March of this year, China's communications services revenue hit its goal of 150.4 billion yuan ($18.8 billion), a figure that represents an 8.8 percent increase compared to the same period last year. Telecommunications revenues registered a 9.1 percent growth over last year to reach 136.5 billion yuan ($16.4 billion). In the last three months, the growth rate of China's telecommunications revenue went down slightly compared to the same period last year, with the revenue growth rate of the last three months unable to reach 10 percent. Before 2004, the figures were always above 10 percent. The report noted that the figures show that China's telecommunications market is becoming saturated, with no marked growth point at this stage.
Taiwan
Hardware
- BenQ, a leading computer electronics maker, disclosed that its earnings during the January -March quarter went down from NT$3.1 billion ($99.2 million) a year earlier to NT$300 million ($9.6 million). Revenue was reported at NT$32.3 billion ($1 billion), with the company explaining the result to losses from the high-margin mobile phone segment. Analysts also speculate that the company lost Motorola Inc. of the US as a major customer either late last year or early this year. The company said it shipped 1 million cell phones in the quarter. A company official points to a 15 percent decline in LCD monitor prices for a 20 percent decline from the previous quarter. The results were below some analysts' expectations. The company expects BenQ to sustain its profit level as prices for LCD monitors are stabilizing. LCD computer monitors account for more than half of the company's total sales.
Semiconductors
- AU Optronics, the world's third-largest flat-panel maker, said it registered a loss of NT$2.1 billion ($672.2 million), which the company considers an improvement on the loss of NT$11.6 billion ($371.3 million) in the previous quarter. Its sales in the three months to March went down to NT$38.8 billion ($1.2 billion) from NT$41.3 billion ($1.3 billion) in the previous year. AU Optronics is planning to get NT$35 billion ($1.1 billion) of loans to fund its new 7.5 generation facility, with equipment due to be installed in the second quarter next year and mass production in the following quarter.
- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) reported a sharp fall in revenue for the first quarter when it posted a net profit for the three months to March of NT$16.8 billion ($537.7 million), down from NT$22.1 billion ($707.4 million) the previous year. The company, considered the world's largest contract chipmaker, also announced its sales going down 12.8 percent to NT$55.6 billion ($1.7 billion). TSMC said it was utilizing only 78 percent of its chip production capacity in the first quarter, a decrease from the 88 percent in the fourth quarter of last year. The company, however, predicts the utilization rate would go up to 80 percent in the second quarter.
Hong Kong
Media, Entertainment and Gaming
- TCL Multimedia Technology Holdings reported a first-quarter net loss of HK$48 million ($6.2 million), attributing the result to operating losses at the European and American arms of its majority-owned joint venture. The company posted revenue of HK$7.9 billion ($1 billion), a 97 percent increase from HK$4 billion ($513.1 million) a year earlier, a period before TCL Multimedia went on with the TV-manufacturing venture with Thomson SA of France. The operating profits from its China operations were not enough to cover the losses incurred in its European and American operations. Its sister company, TCL Communications Technology, which produces cell phones, disclosed a net loss of HK$386 million ($49.5 million) as it contended with inventory and as it worked on its joint venture with Alcatel. Revenue in the latest quarter went down 13 percent to HK$1.7 billion ($218 million) from HK$1.9 billion (US$243.7 million).
Mobile/Wireless
- SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings announced that it has officially adopted the SmarTone-Vodafone brand name. The network will not only give the Hong Kong operator a chance to raise global awareness about its product by way of the world's largest mobile-phone operator but will also bring to SmarTone customers access to Vodafone services. Some of these services include phone replacement when the customers travel abroad. Vodafone customers traveling to Hong Kong will be the recipients of services provided by SmarTone. Analysts also expect SmarTone to be aided in its competition, given the partnership, with the more resource-rich Hutchison Whampoa. SmarTone said it would rebrand its 38 shops with the SmarTone-Vodafone logo.
Singapore/Malaysia/Philippines/Indonesia
Internet
- The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore said it would auction airwaves for wireless broadband services, "as demand exceeds supply." IDA said it has already received seven applications from Singapore Telecom Mobile, MobileOne, StarHub, Pacific Internet Corp, inter-touch Holdings, Qala Singapore, and Zone Telecom. IDA said the deployment of wireless broadband networks would bring fresh competition into the local broadband market, with businesses and consumers seeing broadband offerings at more competitive prices.
Mobile/Wireless
- StarHub, Singapore's integrated info-communications provider, introduced a broad portfolio of new mobile content for its 2G and 3G services. The suite of new content is accessible over a good selection of video-supported 2G and 3G handsets. In another development, StarHub has launched MaxOnline Ultimate, which offers residential broadband speeds of up to 25Mbps, a service that is said to be targeted at heavy Internet users and home networking households with multiple users and devices connected to the internet.
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