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Business in Asia Today

Mitsubishi Heavy foresees profit drop
TOKYO - Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (TSE:7011) hasforecast a 64 percent drop in pretax profit to 43 billion yen($358 million) for fiscal 1998, reflecting the unprofitableperformance of plant construction projects overseas. TheTokyo-based manufacturer of heavy machinery expects to log apretax loss of some 8 billion yen ($66 million) for thesecond half.

Malaysia approves $230m petroleum refinery
KUALA LUMPUR - The Malaysian government has approved thesetting up of a 55,000 barrels-per-day petroleum refinery inLabuan, an island off the east Malaysian Sabah state. Theproject, to be set up by Hijaz Refinery Sdn Bhd, would be thefirst such project to be undertaken by the private sector inthe country, said Hijaz Industries (M) Sdn Bhd, its parentfirm, in a statement released here. Hijaz Industries said thatconstruction would begin in the fourth quarter of 1999 and therefinery would go onstream in late 2002.

Caltex, BP discontinue Aussie joint venture talks
SYDNEY - Petrol refiner and marketer Caltex Australia Ltd.and BP Australia Ltd. have discontinued talks on a jointventure to operate their Australian refineries and associatedoil supply and shipping functions. "The companies were unableto agree on a commercial arrangement that creates value to thesatisfaction of the parties," Caltex said in a statement.Caltex and BP announced in early December they were indetailed discussions on a possible joint venture.

Maybank consolidates Singapore operations
KUALA LUMPUR - Mayban Finance (Singapore) Ltd., MalayanBanking Berhad's (Maybank) finance company in Singapore, willmerge with the Singapore operations of Maybank, it wasannounced here. Maybank managing director Amirsham A. Azizsaid that under the merger, all assets, liabilities andbusinesses of Mayban Finance (Singapore) Ltd. would betransferred to Maybank. Meanwhile, Maybank Bhd announced thatthe group's pre-tax profit in 1998 had plunged by 72 percentto RM236.909 million ($9.4 million).

China Southern Airlines to spend $250m on training
PERTH - China Southern Airlines (NYSE:ZNH) (HKSE:1055), thelargest airline in China, will spend U.S.$250 million onfacilities and pilot training over the next 20 years at itsWestern Australia Flying College in Perth. The airlinechairman, Yan En Yu, said China Southern Airlines planned totrain 3,000 pilots at its airport facilities in Merriden andJandakot.

Philippines' Purefoods lifts net income by 500%
MANILA - Purefoods Corporation, the food subsidiary ofAyala Corporation, said its net income in 1998 had jumped bynearly 500 percent to 910.5 million pesos ($23 million)from 157.5 million pesos ($4 million) in 1997. Of the net income, 234.9 million pesos($6.6 million) came from recurring operations, a 49 percentincrease from last year's level.

Pertamina earmarks $3bn for CPP oilfield takeover
JAKARTA - Indonesia's state oil company Pertamina hasearmarked $3 billion to take over PT Caltex PasificIndonesia's (CPI) operations of Coastal Plain Pekanbaru (CPP)oilfield in Riau in the year 2001. The fund could be financedfrom Pertamina's in-house operations at the turnover ratio offour times US$35 million, in addition to investmentstotalling US$12 million, or at an annual total of US$47million, said Pertamina director for exploration andproduction Priyambodo.

Japan's GDP to continue falling Jan.-March
TOKYO - Japan's gross domestic product for theOctober-December period was estimated to have fallen 0.1 percent fromthe previous quarter in real terms, the Japan Center forEconomic Research reported. The institute also forecast a 0.5percent decline for the January-March period, the sixthstraight quarter of decline. As a result of the new forecasts,Japan's GDP for fiscal 1998 is expected to shrink by 2.5 percent, compared to the government's earlier prediction of 2.2percent.

Haitai Electronics to reduce capital by 90%
SEOUL - South Korea's Haitai Electronics (KSE:13090) hasresolved to cut capital by 90 percent, an action meant tofacilitate the company's bid to implement debt-to-equity swapswith creditors. The capital reduction will bring the number ofHaitai shares and the troubled company's capital to 1.33million shares from 13.31 million and 6.67 billion won ($5.4million) from 66.7 billion won ($54.4 million),respectively.

(Asia Pulse)


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