SOE profits rise in first eight months

Profits at China’s Stateowned firms rose 20.7 percent in the first eight months of 2018 compared with the same period last year, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday. Total profits stood at 2.3 trillion yuan ($334.62 billion) in JanuaryAugust, while revenue increased 10.3 percent to 37.0 trillion yuan. State firms’ liabilities increased 7.6 percent from a year earlier to 112.8 trillion yuan as of end-August, the ministry said. at an industrial conference. While offering no outright denial of speculations that Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank could merge, the CEO of the embattled lender emphasized that his top priority at the moment was to improve profitability. The ability of Deutsche Bank to turn the page on a long list of legal issues in the wake of the 2007-08 financial crisis, as well as several leadership reshuffles, now hinges on an improvement of its earning power. “For us as a sports car manufacturer, where diesel has traditionally played a subordinate role, we have come to the conclusion that we want to get along without diesel in the future,” said Oliver Blume, chairman of the executive board of Porsche AG. The Stuttgart-based company announced the decision following similar moves by Volvo and Toyota. It said it would concentrate instead on hybrid technology and electric mobility. business, the Israeli company announced on Tuesday. Barak will be employed for 40 hours a month, receive a salary of $10,000 per month, and will be entitled to an optional plan of owning 5 percent of the company’s shares at an average exercise price of 89 US cents per share. tic product expansion in 2018 from 2.25 percent to 2.0 percent.