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August 12, 2000
BANGKOK (AP) - American fast food juggernaut McDonald's is planning to beef up its investments in Thailand despite rising prices and other economic problems, a newspaper said Friday. McThai Co., the franchise owner of the chain in Thailand, intends to invest at least dlrs 500 million (dlrs 12.5 million) to increase its outlets next year, The Nation said. It quoted company President Dej Bulsuk as saying McThai would open 20 more outlets, 15 of them in Bangkok, in 2001. By the end of this year, there will be 89 McDonald's restaurants in Thailand, with several scheduled for opening in provincial areas over the next few months. The fast food industry, like virtually every sector, was badly hit when the Asian economic crisis erupted in mid-1997. Thailand has yet to make a full recovery. DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - Bangladesh on Friday devalued its currency by six percent to boost exports, the central bank said. One U.S. dollar will be equivalent to 54 takas instead of 51 takas from Sunday, the first working day of the week in this predominantly Muslim country, the Bangladesh Bank said. "The devaluation will help boost export earnings by making our products competitive in the international market," Anisul Huq, a spokesman for Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association. In November, the government had devalued taka by three percent against the U.S. dollar. Bangladesh's garment exports fetch more than dlrs 4 billion a year, nearly 70 percent of the overall export earnings. Economists worry, however, that the devaluation will further raise the 7 percent inflation rate. TOKYO (AP) - TDK Corp. said group net profit rose 9.4 percent to 12.84 billion yen (dlrs 117.9 million) in the April-June quarter as the electronics manufacturer enjoyed strong sales of components used in mobile phones. Sales at Tokyo-based TDK climbed 6.7 percent to 175.3 billion yen (dlrs 1.61 billion), led by a 26.5 percent rise in revenues at the company's materials division. It credited strong demand for multilayer chip capacitors from manufacturers of cellular phones and other popular personal communications devices. Sales of electronic devices such as high-frequency oscillators rose 15.5 percent, it said. But revenues from TDK's best-known products - video and audio recording media - fell 11.6 percent. A glut of recordable compact discs depressed global prices, the company said. BANGKOK (AP) - Sales of new cars in Thailand rose to 20,247 in July, up 20.2 percent from the same month last year, according to figures released Friday by Toyota Motor Corp. Toyota, which compiles sales figures for the Thai automobile industry, said that sales for seven months between January and July totaled 142,586 units, up 39.3 percent over the same period last year. Car sales suffered heavily in the aftermath of Thailand's 1997 financial crisis and have only recently started to recover. Sales of commercial vehicle were 13,673 units in July, a year-on-year increase of 18.4 percent. Still, that represented a slowdown compared with the 33.6 percent average monthly increase over the last seven months. SEOUL (AP) - LG Chemical Ltd. said Friday that first-half net profit jumped 29.2 percent to 240 billion won (dlrs 215.2 million) thanks to an upturn in its petrochemical business. Sales during the six months through June soared 22.6 percent to 2.629 trillion won (dlrs 2.36 billion), while operating profit rose 36.2 percent to 375.3 billion won (dlrs 336.6 million) In a statement, LG Chemical attributed its improved results to an increase in profitability at its petrochemical business and to a reduction in interest expenses. The company's life sciences business also recorded a 169 percent surge in ordinary profit, boosted by the sale of its stake in Texas Biotechnology Corp. |