29/04/2026

BIZ & FINANCE WEDNESDAY | APR 29, 2026

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Budget airlines first to cut flights as jet fuel prices soar demand doesn’t meet expectations on certain routes.

Denso drops Rohm buyout after failing to win backing from chipmaker NAGOYA: Japanese auto parts manufacturer Denso said yesterday it had withdrawn its offer to buy chipmaker Rohm after failing to secure the company’s support for a deal that could have been worth up to US$8.3 billion (RM32.7 billion). The move marks a retreat for Denso, a key supplier to Toyota, from a potential tie-up that would have expanded its control over power-management chips used in electric vehicles and data centres. “Even if we were to continue these talks any further, at this stage we could not envision a scenario that would lead to an increase in value for both sides,” CEO Shinnosuke Hayashi told reporters in a briefing at the Nagoya Stock Exchange. Hayashi said Denso had weighed the impact on its mid- to long-term corporate value and its relationship with Rohm, and concluded it was better to prioritise cooperation in technology and manufacturing. Denso, the world’s second-largest auto parts supplier, had already flagged on Monday that Rohm had not agreed to its proposal and was considering withdrawing the offer. It said yesterday it had held multiple discussions with the Kyoto-based chipmaker since approaching it about acquiring its shares, but was unable to obtain backing from Rohm’s board and a special committee set up by the company. The two companies agreed in May 2025 to form a strategic semiconductor partnership focused on integrated circuits for electric vehicles. Rohm, which has strengths in energy efficient silicon carbide power semiconductors, said last month it had begun talks with Toshiba and Mitsubishi Electric on integrating their power semiconductor businesses. The Rohm announcement came as Denso forecast a nearly 10% drop in profit for the current financial year, citing uncertainty over the Middle East and higher investment spending. The company said it expects operating profit of ¥500 billion (RM12.3 billion) in the year ending March 2027, down from ¥552.5 billion a year earlier. The outlook comes despite a strong finish to the year just ended, with Denso posting a 50% jump in fourth-quarter operating profit to ¥176.6 billion as higher production volumes offset rising tariffs, parts and material costs. – Reuters

“For domestic routes, the airline will carefully optimise flight frequencies,” it said. “On the international front, the airline has temporarily suspended and reduced frequencies primarily on Indian routes due to high operating costs.” Operations across other markets such as China, East Asia, and Southeast Asia remain steady, it added. Hungary’s low-cost airline Wizz Air has so far resisted cutting flights. “We are not taking capacity out, because I think the other guys will take capacity out,” its chief executive Jozsef Varadi was quoted as saying recently by trade magazine Aviation Week . “You don’t have to run faster than the bear, but faster than the guy next to you,” he added. He may have been thinking of the most spectacular cuts made in the industry by German group Lufthansa, which had just announced it was chopping 20,000 flights from its schedule through October, along with halting its regional feeder airline CityLine. Its European rival Air France-KLM has trimmed 2% of flights in May and June at its low cost Transavia subsidiary. KLM has kept cancellations down to one percent of its European flights. Ryanair didn’t cite fuel prices but high costs and taxes when announcing last week it would reduce flights to and from Berlin starting in October. It is also cutting 10% of flights from Dublin, criticising limited capacity at the airport. Since the beginning of the month, Spain’s Volotea has trimmed nearly 1% of flights from its summer schedule. – AFP, Reuters

o With cheaper tickets, they have less capacity to absorb the increase in costs PARIS: Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea and other low-cost airlines are feeling the financial pain from high jet fuel prices as a result of the Middle East war and are cutting flights. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending the price of jet fuel soaring and triggering fears of shortages that could force airlines to cancel flights. Airlines aren’t waiting for a lack of supplies to react. “Travel alert: airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now,” Travel Therapy TV host Karen Schaler said in an Instagram reel this past weekend. “Book early.” That advice would win the approval of Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary, who expressed concern earlier this month that fears of fuel shortages were making people put off booking flights. Low-cost carriers – which control a little more than a third of the global market, according to various estimates – are feeling the pinch first due to the nature of their business model. With cheaper tickets, they have less capacity to absorb the rise in fuel costs. Some of the cancellations may be the normal adjustments airlines tend to make when Oil prices have risen since the start of the US Iran conflict on Feb 28, often swinging violently in response to the war’s ever changing headlines. BP’s profit after tax jumped to US$3.8 billion (RM15 billion) for the January-March period from US$687 million in the same period a year earlier, London-listed BP said in an earnings statement. The closely followed underlying profit figure more than doubled to US$3.2 billion from US$1.4 billion the previous year, a figure that “reflects exceptional oil trading contribution”, the statement said. “Overall, our business continues to run well. This was another quarter of strong operational and financial delivery, and we made further progress towards our 2027 targets,” said CEO Meg O’Neill, who was appointed at the end of last year to replace Murray Auchincloss. The group had announced in mid-April that it

“It is not unusual for carriers to adjust their schedules at this time of the year,” financial analyst Dudley Shanley at investment bank Goodbody told AFP. But “if jet fuel prices remain at this level, there will have to be a little bit more trimming for low cost airlines”, he added. If before the war airlines were able to maintain marginally profitable routes or even unprofitable routes, the surge in jet fuel prices will force them to make difficult choices. That will start with many during the peak summer travel season. The speed with which airlines are reacting depends in part upon the extent to which they secured fuel supplies in advance at fixed prices. European airlines tend to do this to a greater extent than their rivals in other parts of the world. Air Transat, a low-cost Canadian airline, has cut 6%of its May-October flight schedule. Southeast Asia’s largest low-cost carrier, AirAsia X, announced on Friday announced it was cutting more flights and even some connections, without providing an overall figure. Earlier this month the Malaysia-based no-frills airline said it was raising fares by up to 40% and about 10% of its overall flights had been cut so far. Yesterday, Thai AirAsia said in a statement it will reduce overall seat capacity by an average of 30% between May and June due to a sharp rise in aviation fuel prices and softening mid-year travel demand, Reuters reported.

BP’s Q1 underlying profit more than doubles to US$3.2b LONDON: British energy giant BP yesterday reported a sharp increase in profits in the first quarter as crude oil prices soared amid the Middle East war. expected to benefit from rising oil prices, noting that the price of Brent North Sea crude, the international benchmark, averaged US$81.13 a barrel in the first quarter, up from US$63.73 in the fourth quarter of last year. company mounted a boardroom shakeup after slashing clean energy investment and pivoting back to its more profitable oil and gas business. O’Neill plans to reorganise the company, clearly separating its upstream and downstream activities. Her aim is to make BP “a simpler, stronger, more valuable company,“ she saidyesterday.

Oil prices have been volatile due to the war, coming close to US$120 a barrel in March, which BP traders were able to profit from. The company said in mid-April that each one dollar variation in the price of a barrel has a US$340 million on its annual operating profit before tax. BP “has been working relentlessly to keep our assets producing safely, reliably and efficiently”, while working “in an environment of conflict and complexity”, O’Neill said. The American CEO took up her post in early April with a mission of implementing a recovery plan for the struggling group, whose profit after tax in 2025 plunged 86% year-on-year to US$55 million. BP’s performance has generally fallen behind that of its rivals in recent years, and last year the

“Now, we have to capitalise on the opportunity that exists across our portfolio, simplifying how we work, unlocking growth and driving improved returns,” she added. The new CEO faced a stinging rebuke from shareholders last week at the annual general meeting where they largely rejected two board proposals as a step backwards on transparency, particularly concerning climate strategy. One proposal aimed to revoke two resolutions adopted at previous general meetings, which required BP to publish certain climate-related information. The other was intended to authorise holding shareholder meetings exclusively online. – AFP

Chinese EV battery maker CATL raises HK$39b SINGAPORE/HONG KONG: China’s electric vehicle battery maker CATL raised HK$39.2 billion (RM19.76 billion) yesterday, tapping strong investor appetite for green energy stocks as the Iran war drives up oil prices and accelerates the global shift away from fossil fuels. research firm SNE Research, making it the world’s top-ranked battery maker. CATL, which makes batteries for Tesla, BMW, Volkswagen, Xiaomi and Nio, priced 62.4 million new H shares at HK$628.20 each, the bottom of its marketed range, according to a stock exchange filing yesterday. The shares were sold at a 7% discount to Monday’s closing price of HK$675.50.

The fundraising comes as Chinese exports of solar products, batteries and electric vehicles hit record highs in March, according to energy think tank Ember, in a sign the oil shock is quickening the global pivot to clean energy, a sector dominated by CATL. The company held a 38.1% share of the global electric vehicle battery market in the first ten months of 2025, according to South Korean

The fundraising is the largest equity offering in Hong Kong so far this year and the biggest in the financial hub since CATL’s own US$5.25 billion (RM20.74 billion) listing last May, the world’s biggest share offering in 2025, according to LSEG data. – Reuters

A mockup of a CATL Freevoy Super Hybrid Battery II on display at the Beijing Auto Show. – AFPPIC