Business Digest, March 6, 2013
Deutsche Bank plans to slash its yuan borrowing costs by as much as 50 per cent selling bonds in Taiwan's newly opened Formosa bond market rather than dim sum debt in Hong Kong. Germany's largest lender has applied to Taiwan's central bank to sell as much as two billion yuan (HK$2.49 billion) of five-year notes and three-year bonds at yields lower than its dim sum bonds are offering in Hong Kong. Bloomberg
The mainland's services sector cooled last month after new business receded from eight-month highs, a private survey showed yesterday, in line with slower factory activity that suggests a modest rebound in the economy this year. The HSBC Services Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 52.1, still in the expansion zone over 50, from January's 54. Reuters
Net profit at Haitong International Securities surged 92 per cent to HK$293.45 million last year, while turnover grew 17 per cent to HK$1.18 billion. The biggest jump in profits was in the firm's trading and investment business, where they leapt 672 per cent to HK$55.5 million. Profits from its placing and underwriting business soared 168 per cent to HK$188.5 million. Toh Han Shih
The net loss at i-Cable Communications jumped 54 per cent last year to HK$278 million from a year earlier on higher programming and marketing costs. The pay-television and broadband internet services provider, a subsidiary of The Wharf, reported a marginal increase in revenue to HK$2.127 billion. Bien Perez
