Business Digest, February 13, 2013
Cash sweetens 10 deals at Providence Bay
Sino Land said it had sold 10 flats at Providence Bay in Tai Po since it started offering cash sweeteners to buyers in the development during the Lunar New Year. The developer will pay HK$68,888 to buyers of units in the first or second phase between February 1and February 17. Sino Land said nine buyers bought flats in the second phase and one bought a phase-one unit. The nine flats have 1,316 square feet to 1,460 sq ft of gross floor area and sold for between US$8,033 and US$9,370 per sq ft. The one flat in the first phase was 1,435 sq ft and sold for HK$1,460 per sq ft. Peggy Sito
Hermes beats sales forecast for 2012
French luxury group Hermes posted a 16.4 per cent rise in 2012 sales at constant exchange rates, beating its own recent forecast. It predicted a slight rise in its operating margin for the year. “Sales exceeded the target for the year, driven by persistently robust momentum in the fourth quarter,” Hermes said yesterday. Revenue grew 18.5 per cent in the last three months of the year. Quarterly growth was strongest in Asia, excluding Japan, at 30 per cent, Hermes said. Reuters
US Fed official hints at longer run for stimulus
Federal Reserve vice-chairwoman Janet Yellen signalled the US stimulus might outlast the Fed’s bond purchases, saying the central bank had the option to hold interest rates near zero even after reaching near-term targets for inflation or unemployment. Yellen’s comments coincide with a Federal Open Market Committee debate over when to bring bond buying to an end, a shift that may prompt expectations of an interest-rate increase. Bloomberg
UBS fined over AIG investment fund risks
UBS has been fined £9.45 million (HK$115.38 million) by Britain’s financial regulator for exposing customers to unacceptable risk when it sold an AIG investment fund. The Financial Services Authority said the bank also failed to deal properly with customer complaints about the AIG fund sale. Reuters
