Toyota, SBG reports strong earnings
May 13, 2021 (Thursday) Light rain
・Six out of ten domestic app operators say they transfer domestic users' personal data overseas or have allowed access from overseas.
Japan's personal information protection rules remain somewhat ambiguous compared with Europe.
・Toyota <7203> [Closing price 8,523 yen] on the 12th, for the fiscal year ending March 2021, consolidated net profit rose 10% year-on-year to 2.2452 trillion yen.
It reversed a predicted 7% decrease to secure a profit increase, beating market expectations.
Overcoming semiconductor shortages, quickly capturing demand recovery in the U.S. and China.
For the fiscal year ending March 2022, sales expected to rise 10% year-on-year to 30 trillion yen, net profit up 2% to 2.3 trillion yen.
Consolidated vehicle shipments projected at 8.7 million units, up 14%.
・Mitsui Trust Holdings <8309> [Closing price 3,769 yen] aims to reduce policy-held shares (including cross-holdings) of around 1 trillion 4000 billion yen to zero.
First among major banks. Plan to sell 250 billion yen worth (market value) over the two-year period to March 2023.
・The six laws related to digital reform, deemed important by the Suga administration, were approved and enacted in the House of Councillors on the 12th with majority support from the ruling party and others.
The Digital Agency, to lead online administration procedures, will be established on September 1.
・U.S. Department of Labor on the 12th reported that April's Consumer Price Index rose 4.2% from a year earlier, the highest increase in 12 years and 7 months since September 2008.
Excluding volatile energy and food, the core rate rose 0.9%, higher than March, reaching the highest level in 39 years since April 1982.
・Hitachi <6501> [Closing price 5,382 yen] on the 12th, Vice President Keiji Kojima (64) will become President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) on June 23.
President Toshihiro Higashi (66) will become Chairman with executive powers and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
Kojima, a researcher by background, built a mechanism to monetize in the digital business “Lumarda” started in 2016 and put Hitachi's data business on track.
・Efforts to tighten Japan's border measures regarding the mutated novel coronavirus have become a challenge.
The Liberal Democratic Party's Foreign Affairs Research Council on the 12th urged the government to strengthen entry controls.
Noncompliance with home quarantine requests could reach up to 300 people a day.
・On the 12th, the government published the results of a nationwide survey on vaccination of people aged 65 and older against the novel coronavirus.
Out of 1,741 municipalities nationwide, 251 responded that they could not complete vaccinations by the end of July, about 14% of all municipalities.
・The National Institute of Infectious Diseases on the 12th indicated that more than 90% of domestically circulating coronavirus had been replaced by a more infectious variant nationwide.
Among cases infected with what is called the "British variant" in Japan, the risk of severe illness may be 1.4 times higher than the original strain.
・There were multiple online appointment system failures for COVID-19 vaccines on the 12th across the country.
The issue was caused by a failure at Salesforce.com, which handles customer information management; the service was restored after about five hours.
・Toyota <7203> [Closing price 8,523 yen] reveals a new goal toward decarbonization.
Global sales of electrified vehicles, including hybrids, to reach 8 million units by 2030, about four times the level in fiscal year ending March 2021.
This would account for about 80% of the latest global sales in the Toyota Group. The previous target for electrified vehicle sales was 5.5 million units by 2025.
・SoftBank Group <9984> [Closing price 9,180 yen] on the 12th, consolidated net profit for the year ended March 2021 at 4.9873 trillion yen.
Turnaround from the previously largest annual loss in March 2020; for domestic companies, this marks the largest ever net profit.
Most of SBG's profits come from fair value gains on fund investments, aided by rising stock prices.
・European Union (EU) Parliament on the 12th released the spring economic forecast.
With the spread of COVID-19 vaccines, the economy is judged to be recovering robustly,
and the euro area’s real GDP growth in 2021 is revised up significantly from 3.8% in February to 4.3%.
Prices are expected to temporarily exceed 2% in the latter part of 2021.
・The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare is considering including meal delivery workers such as Uber Eats in a special workers' compensation insurance program.
If premiums are paid, the coverage includes treatment costs for injuries, etc.
・Nomura Holdings <8604> [Closing price 564.3 yen] on the 12th, announced raising pretax profit targets for the three major segments to 3200 billion yen for the fiscal year ending March 2023.
The previous target was 2800 billion yen.
・Worldwide bond markets are focusing on debt problems of Chinese companies.
Public works in stimulus measures have led to increased debt in civil engineering and construction sectors.
If there is a rise in defaults, a hard landing could shake global markets.
・Taiwan's weighted index fell for a third consecutive day on the 12th, dropping as much as 8.6% intraday.
On the 11th, a community-acquired infection of a novel coronavirus with an unknown transmission route was detected, prompting plans to raise alert levels.
The closing price dropped 680.76 points (4.1%) to 15,902.37, near a two-month low; the decline since the previous day was over 1,300 yen.
Most large-cap stocks were broadly down.
・In the Tokyo stock market on the 12th, the Nikkei Stock Average fell sharply, closing down 481.08 points (1.6%) at 28,147.51.
In the afternoon, there were moments when it briefly fell below 28,000; the two-day decline exceeded 1,300 points.
・China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (SAIC) on the 12th announced that April new car sales rose 8.6% year-on-year to 2,252,000 units.
Sales recovered from the previous year’s lockdown effects and exceeded the previous year for the 13th consecutive month.
However, the association notes that the supply and production may still be constrained by the ongoing semiconductor industry issues expected to continue into late 2021.
April production rose 6.3% year-on-year to 2,234,000 units.
Compared with April 2019, before the pandemic, sales were up 13.5% and production up 8.7%.
April sales for Toyota <7203>, Honda <7267>, and Nissan Motor <7201> all surpassed their previous-year figures.
・Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on the 12th reported that April new vehicle sales (shipping basis) fell 10% month-on-month to 262,163 units.
Recovery from the January–March lockdown and other COVID-19 measures led to a rise from the zero figure of the previous year.
・Militant conflict in Gaza and Israel escalates into retaliatory strikes; as of the 12th, overall casualties exceed 50.
The international community is increasingly concerned, though fighting may intensify.
・Global COVID-19 infection (and death) counts as of 4 p.m. May 12, summarized by Johns Hopkins University: worldwide 159.7 million cases (141,760 deaths)
United States 32,779,153 (69,5), India 23,340,938 (4,205), Brazil 15,282,705 (2,311), France 5,861,384 (251), Turkey 5,059,433 (278), Russia 4,840,948 (323)
United Kingdom 4,455,446 (20), Italy 4,123,230 (251), Spain 3,586,333 (205), Germany 3,557,504 (268), Argentina 3,191,097 (490), Colombia 3,031,726 (429)
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