1 Samsung expects record profit (BBC) Samsung
Electronics expects to deliver record profits for the last three months of
2017, but the estimate missed analyst expectations. The world's biggest memory
chip maker forecast operating earnings of 15.1 trillion won ($14.1bn) - up 64%
from a year earlier.
But while chip prices boosted margins, a stronger
won weighed on the figures. The record guidance comes despite a corruption
scandal engulfing top leadership at the South Korean firm. The forecast keeps
Samsung on track for record annual profits, in a year when prices for computer
memory chips kept surging.
But the 2018 outlook is less certain, with Samsung
shares having fallen nearly 10% from their all-time high in November, as some
investors bet on an end to the chip boom. Meanwhile, the market for smartphones
and other mobile devices is facing increasing competition from Chinese rivals.
Samsung Electronics is regarded as the jewel in the
crown of the Samsung Group conglomerate, which is made up of 60 interlinked
companies and is one of South Korea's massive family-run businesses known as
chaebols.
2 Venezuela inflation goes through roof (San
Francisco Chronicle) Venezuela's opposition-controlled legislature has said that
inflation in the economically struggling nation reached a staggering 2,600
percent last year.
The figures underline the problems besetting
Venezuela, where food, medicines and other basic goods are in extremely short
supply. There have been recent instances of looting reported across the
country.
Venezuela sits atop the world's largest oil
reserves, but low production by the state oil monopoly and the global drop in
crude prices has thrown the Latin American country into crisis. The government
of socialist President Nicolas Maduro has released no official economic
figures.
3 Record year for private equity companies (Khaleej
Times) The global private equity industry raised a record $453 billion from
investors in 2017, leaving it with more than $1 trillion to pour into companies
and new business ventures, data from industry tracker Preqin showed.
The figures underscore the extent to which large
institutional investors, as well as family offices, are placing a growing
portion of their money with leveraged buyout firms, venture capital groups and
growth equity funds, which are promising returns that beat the wider stock
market.
The money raised in 2017 surpassed the previous
landmark of $414 billion set in 2007. Private equity firms are also showing an
increasing appetite for taking non-controlling positions in companies, which
expands the field of possible investments.
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