Singapore Airlines to pay staff almost eight months' bonus
SINGAPORE Airlines Ltd. will reward employees with a profit-sharing bonus worth almost eight months after delivering full-year net income of S$2.78 billion (US$2.1 billion) that beat analyst estimates.
Employees will be paid about 7.45 months' bonus, lower than the 7.94 months received a year ago, Chief Executive Officer Goh Choon Phong said on Friday.
The smaller bonus payout comes as Singapore Air on Thursday warned that tariff and trade tensions on top of broader economic and geopolitical uncertainties could hurt demand for passenger and cargo flights.
The Singapore flag carrier's net income beat, with passenger yields declining slower than over the past three years, contrasting with its outlook.
However, the carrier posted muted results for its final quarter, a sign of uncertain times ahead. US President Donald Trump's trade policies have rattled markets and hurt consumer sentiment.
'The global airline industry faces a challenging operating environment,' the airline said in a statement. The growing challenges 'may impact consumer and business confidence,' it added. –BLOOMBERG
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Free Malaysia Today
2 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
US, China seek to extend trade truce with London talks
US President Donald Trump accused China of violating a tariff de-escalation deal last month. (AP pic) LONDON : The US and China are to sit down at the negotiating table in London today to attempt to preserve a fragile truce on trade, despite simmering tensions. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and trade representative Jamieson Greer are leading the US delegation, president Donald Trump announced on Friday. Chinese vice-premier He Lifeng – who led Beijing's negotiating team at previous talks with the US last month in Geneva – would also head the team in London, China's foreign ministry announced at the weekend. 'The meeting should go very well,' Trump said on his Truth Social platform. His press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told Fox News today: 'We want China and the US to continue moving forward with the agreement that was struck in Geneva.' While the UK government reiterated that it was not involved in the content of the discussions in any way, a spokesman said: 'We are a nation that champions free trade.' UK authorities 'have always been clear that a trade war is in nobody's interests, so we welcome these talks', the spokesman added. Rare earths The talks in London come just a few days after Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping finally held their first publicly announced telephone talks since the Republican returned to the White House. Trump said the call, which took place on Thursday, had reached a 'very positive conclusion'. Xi was quoted by state-run news agency Xinhua as saying that 'correcting the course of the big ship of Sino-US relations requires us to steer well and set the direction'. The call came after tensions between the world's two biggest economies soared, with Trump accusing Beijing of violating a tariff de-escalation deal reached in Geneva in mid-May. 'We need China to comply with their side of the deal. And so that's what the trade team will be discussing tomorrow,' Leavitt said today. A key issue in the negotiations will be Beijing's shipments of rare earths – crucial to a range of goods including electric vehicle batteries and which have been a bone of contention for some time. 'Rare earth shipments from China to the US have slowed since President Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs in April,' said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading group XTB. 'The US wants these shipments to be reinstated, while China wants the US to rethink immigration curbs on students, restrictions on access to advanced technology including microchips, and to make it easier for Chinese tech providers to access US consumers,' she added. In April, Trump introduced sweeping worldwide tariffs that targeted China most heavily. At one point the US hit China with additional levies of 145% on its goods as both sides engaged in tit-for-tat escalation. China's countermeasures on US goods reached 125%. Then in Switzerland, after two days of talks, the two sides agreed to slash their staggeringly high tariffs for 90 days. But differences have persisted, including over China's restrictions on exporting rare earth minerals. The impact was reflected in the latest official export data released today in Beijing. Exports to the US fell 12.7% on month in May, with China shipping US$28.8 billion worth in goods last month. This is down from US$33 billion in April, according to Beijing's general administration of customs. There is also huge uncertainty around the outcome of other trade disputes. 'Green channel' Throughout its talks with Washington, China has also launched discussions with other trading partners – including Japan and South Korea – in a bid to build a united front to counter Trump's tariffs. On Thursday, Beijing turned to Canada, with the two sides agreeing to regularise their channels of communication after a period of strained ties. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese Premier Li Qiang also discussed trade and the fentanyl crisis, Ottawa said. Beijing has also proposed establishing a 'green channel' to ease the export of rare earths to the European Union, and the fast-tracking approval of some export licenses. China is expected to host a summit with the EU in July, marking 50 years since Beijing and Brussels established diplomatic ties.
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Does the US ‘need' Canada?
US President Donald Trump had one big question on his mind as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney headed to Washington last month. 'I very much want to work with him, but cannot understand one simple TRUTH,' Trump said in a social media post, reiterating several ways he believes Canada benefits unfairly from its trade relationship with the United States. The president also repeated his incorrect claim that the United States is 'subsidising' Canada to the tune of US$200bil, alluding to the country's trade deficit with Canada, which is the value of what the United States imports minus its exports. In fact, the trade deficit last year was US$63.3bil, according to US data. And if Canada's energy exports were stripped out, it turns into a trade surplus. For Trump, it all boils down to one point: does the United States need Canada? 'We don't need their cars, we don't need their energy, we don't need their lumber, we don't need ANYTHING they have, other than their friendship,' he said in the social media post. But industry groups say differently. The auto industries in Canada and the United States have become highly interconnected over the past three decades – especially between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, the busiest commercial crossing along the border – as the countries knocked down trade barriers. In 2023, the US imported about 1.24 million vehicles from Canada, the fourth-highest tally behind Mexico, Japan and South Korea. The US is the world's top oil producer, but its refineries rely on crude oil, a variety that Canada specialises in extracting. Retooling US refineries to eliminate the need for crude oil would cost billions and companies are not willing to make those investments, especially because of the uncertainty over Trump's trade policies. Besides oil, Canada in 2023 supplied nearly 100% of the natural gas and 85% of the electrical energy imported by the US, according to Canada's energy regulator. Canada also provides more than one-fourth of the uranium the United States imports to run nuclear reactors, federal data shows, more than any other nation. Howard Lutnick, the US Commerce Secretary, is investigating whether lumber imports are a threat to national security. In 2021, the United States purchased US$28bil worth of lumber from Canada, nearly half of lumber imports. American industry groups have estimated that the tariffs on lumber that Trump has introduced will increase home costs by an average of about US$9,000. For now, the US lumber industry cannot meet the demand from homebuilders, according to a recent analysis by Fastmarkets, and it would take the country at least 10 years to whittle down its need for imported lumber. Farmers this year were reminded of the US agriculture industry's reliance on Canadian imports of key chemical ingredients used in fertiliser, like potassium-rich minerals called potash. The United States imports 85% of its potash from Canada, which is the world's largest exporter of the minerals. But Trump's tariffs on Canada will make potash more expensive for farmers to import and the increases could be passed down to grocery store shoppers, according to the Fertilizer Institute, a US industry group. Trump says the US needs Canada's friendship. Many Canadians say forget about it. The usually warm relationship between the two countries is in tatters, with Canada invoking a defensive tactic used in hockey – 'elbows up' – as its posture against Trump's economic attacks and threats to make Canada a US state. Toronto residents Douglas Bloomfield (right) and son Phoenix holding a Canadian flag and an ice hockey stick in front of the White House as a protest against US tariffs. — AP Canadians have taken to boycotting American-made products and shirking summer travel to the US, with the number of flights scheduled to the country from Canada down by 21%, a New York Times analysis shows. — ©2025 New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times
BusinessToday
2 hours ago
- BusinessToday
Today's Shares: Yinson Stock Up 0.85%, Hits RM2.36 Amid RM9 Billion Talk
Yinson Holdings Bhd - FSO (FPSO) Helang Yinson Holdings Bhd's shares rose 0.85% to RM2.36 as of 3.39pm today, following reports of a potential RM9 billion acquisition by US-based infrastructure investor Stonepeak Partners. Trading volume surged to 166.3 million shares, with the stock reaching a high of RM2.44 and a low of RM2.33 during the session. Bloomberg reported that Stonepeak is in exclusive negotiations to acquire the Malaysian energy firm, with CIMB Research estimating the potential deal could value Yinson at approximately RM3.23 per share. This represents a 38% premium over the stock's last closing price and a 10.2% upside from CIMB's target price of RM2.93. Yinson's current market capitalisation stands at around RM6.5 billion. The Lim family, founders of the company, holds a 26.6% stake. Related
