Japan posts fifth straight current account surplus in November

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan posted a current account surplus for the fifth consecutive month in November as a weaker yen helped boost repatriated returns on foreign investment, official data showed yesterday.

Japan logged a surplus of 433.0 billion yen (US$3.7 billion) in the current account, reversing a deficit of 596.9 billion yen a year earlier, the finance ministry said.

The current account is the broadest measure of the country’s trade with the rest of the world, measuring not only trade in goods but also services, tourism and returns on foreign investment.

In November, Japan’s deficit in merchandise trade shrank sharply, helped by higher exports and falling oil bills.

Overall income, meanwhile, improved with higher gains from equity and other direct investment, as well as from investment in financial items, data showed.

The rise was inflated by a weaker yen, the consequence of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s pro-spending policy and the Bank of Japan’s massive monetary easing.

“On the back of the weak yen and the steady global economy, Japan’s investment income overseas is expanding remarkably,” said Daiki Takahashi, economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo.

“The nation’s trade deficit is also shrinking partially, thanks to a drop in oil prices,” Takahashi said. “Japan is likely to continue enjoying a current account surplus for now.”

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Japan posts fifth straight current account surplus in November

Knutsford Express posts $17-m profit, happy with new leg of Highway 2000

BY STEVEN JACKSON Business reporter jacksons@jamaicaobserver.com

Friday, October 10, 2014    

LUXURY bus company Knutsford Express has voiced approval of the Mount Rosser bypass of Highway 2000 amid posting $17.1 million in profit, or 20 per cent higher than year-earlier levels.

The company also expanded the number of departures on offer while increasing travel options to passengers along the South Coast by 50 per cent.

“The much-anticipated middle phase of the North-South Highway which bypasses the hilly and windy Mount Rosser roadway opened. This has allowed for a reduction in the travel time on the North Coast route and resulted in a more comfortable ride for our passengers,” the company said in a joint note prefacing the financial results

signed by directors Oliver Townsend and Anthony Copeland.

“With this reduction in time and with our fleet being improved by the addition of new luxury coaches on that route, our customers will have an even better travelling experience,” the directors said.

The Caribbean Business Report was unable to contact the company for further clarification on the benefit of the bypass.

Total revenues hit $103 million, or 30 per cent higher than a year earlier based on increased passengers resulting from the company’s expansion of the South Coast route. Cash and equivalents stood at $48.5 million at August compared with $12.8 million a year earlier.

Knutsford Express operates bus routes that connect Jamaica‘s south-eastern city of Kingston to northern and western parishes. It offers scheduled coach transportation, courier service, private hire, and special-event shuttles.

The company raised just under $100 million through an initial public offer (IPO) of 20 million shares or 20 per cent of the firm last December. The listing on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market allowed the company to qualify for a five-year break on income tax.

The company now has 105 departures weekly and has expanded its reach to Falmouth, Negril, Savanna-la-Mar, and Mandeville, having acquired competitor South Coast Express last year.

It started operations in 2006 with 28 departures weekly between Montego Bay and Kingston.

Earlier this month, the State body, the National Road Operating and Construction Company (NROCC), admitted that use of the recently opened Mount Rosser bypass dipped by more than a third since it started collecting a toll last month.

During the period prior to the toll collection, the road attracted approximately 5,000 to 6,000 vehicles per day, as motorists took advantage of the moratorium implemented to encourage use of the new road. But the numbers fell to 3,000 to 4,000 vehicles per day with the introduction of toll charges.

Toll rates implemented were $200 for Class 1 vehicles (cars), $420 for Class 2 vehicles (SUVs) and $1,000 for trucks.

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Knutsford Express posts $17-m profit, happy with new leg of Highway 2000

Alcoa posts US$119m loss

DALLAS, Texas – STRONG demand for lightweight aluminium in autos and airplanes is helping Alcoa Inc cope with lingering weak metal prices. The company said its second-quarter loss was wider than a year ago, but excluding costs for closing smelters and other restructuring and legal expenses, the results slightly beat Wall Street expectations.

Alcoa has customers in many industries, making it a gauge of the economy. And as the first member of the Dow index to report quarterly results, its results draw extra attention from investors.The company stuck to its forecast of seven per cent growth in global aluminium demand this year, led by a roughly 10 per cent increase for aerospace.Shares rose 11 cents, or 1.4 per cent, to end regular trading at US$7.92 before the quarterly results were released. In after-hours trading, they fell four cents.Aluminium prices skidded about eight per cent during the April-through-June quarter, further hurting the aluminium mining and smelting end of Alcoa.But other parts of Alcoa’s business — the sale of aluminium sheets and parts such as fasteners — are growing as carmakers and aircraft manufacturers use more aluminium for better fuel efficiency.US consumers who delayed car purchases during the recession bought more than 7.8 million vehicles from January through June, the auto industry’s best first half since 2007. And Boeing and Airbus have backlogs of hundreds of aircraft from airlines desperate to upgrade to newer, more fuel-efficient planes.Alcoa is closing two smelter lines in Canada and a smelter in Italy, but it’s expanding mills in the US that cater to the auto and aerospace industries.Despite the boost from cars, planes and cost-cutting, Alcoa has been the worst-performing stock in the Dow Jones industrial average this year, down 9 percent. And in May, Moody’s Investors Service lowered the company’s credit rating to junk status, citing continuing weak prices for aluminum.Chairman and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld said Monday that the company was disappointed by the downgrade, which he said reflected Moody’s view of the economy and aluminium prices rather than Alcoa’s strategy and performance.“We control what we can control, and we can’t control the metal price volatility,” he said on a conference call with analysts.The US-headquartered company reported a second-quarter loss of US$119 million, or 11 cents per share. That compared with a loss of US$2 million, or break-even on a per-share basis, a year earlier.Excluding US$195 million in restructuring and legal-expense items, Alcoa said it would have earned seven cents per share, a penny more than analysts expected. Revenue fell two per cent to US$5.85 billion, matching the forecast of analysts surveyed by FactSet.Kleinfeld said the company turned in a “remarkable” operating performance in the face of falling metal prices by “restructuring, curtailing, and closing facilities and (we) made progress addressing legacy legal issues.”Alcoa is negotiating with the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle claims that it paid millions in bribes to get Aluminium Bahrain BSC, or Alba, to overpay Alcoa for raw materials.The company said it proposed to settle by paying the Justice Department US$103 million, and it took a charge in that amount. But the company said there could be “an additional possible charge of up to approximately US$200 million to settle the DOJ matter.”Alcoa added that the SEC staff rejected a US$60 million settlement offer. It said any payments to the government would be stretched over several years.Alcoa’s Fjardaal aluminium smelter in Reydarfjordur, Iceland, an environmentally friendly plant that utilises hydroelectric power.Alcoa said its second-quarter loss widened due to weak aluminium prices. (PHOTO: AP)

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Alcoa posts US$119m loss