COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Delta Air to bring back 400 pilots

Delta Air Lines plans to bring back 400 full-time pilots by this summer, according to a company memo on Monday seen by Reuters.

Having avoided furloughs last year, the company said it was restoring the pilots to full-flying status due to the federal payroll support program and available training capacity starting in March and April.

"We are cautiously optimistic that demand will increase as vaccinations roll out across the world, and we look forward to restoring all affected pilots back to full flying status as the recovery continues," said John Laughter, senior vice president of flight operations.

However, he reiterated that Delta expects its average cash burn in the first quarter to be between US$10 million and US$15 million per day, with customer demand likely to be similar to the depressed levels seen in the fourth quarter.

"We are encouraged that Delta has begun recalling pilots that the pandemic has side-lined," a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association, a union that represents Delta pilots, said in a statement. Delta declined to comment or provide a forecast for future schedules or capacity. – Nampa/Reuters

Moderna vaccine effective against new variants

Moderna Inc said on Monday its Covid-19 vaccine produced virus-neutralizing antibodies in laboratory tests against new coronavirus variants found in the UK and South Africa.

A two-dose regimen of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine is expected to be protective against emerging strains detected to date, the company said.

Moderna, however, said it would test a vaccine booster against the South Africa variant in pre-clinical trials to see if that would be more effective in boosting antibodies against the variant and other future variants.

Although all viruses mutate constantly, scientists are concerned about the mutations discovered in Britain and South Africa because they are believed to be capable of altering key functions of the virus. - Nampa/Reuters

Hyundai Q4 profit jumps by 57%

Hyundai Motor Co posted a 57% jump in quarterly profit on strong demand for high-margin SUVs and its premium Genesis cars, but results came in slightly below expectations due to the impact of a strong South Korean won.

Hyundai, which together with affiliate Kia Corp is among the world's top 10 automakers, reported a net profit of 1.3 trillion won (US$1.18 billion) for the fourth quarter ended December, versus 804 billion won a year earlier.

That fell short of the 1.5 trillion won average of 16 analyst estimates compiled by Refinitiv. Revenue rose 5% to 29.2 trillion won, Hyundai said in a regulatory filing.

"Hyundai had a good fourth quarter, especially in the United States, where higher average selling price cars such as SUVs saw increasing demand as consumers shun public transit because of Covid-19 and low gasoline prices," said Lee Han-joon, an analyst at KTB Investment & Securities.

Hyundai also saw solid demand for its cars last year in emerging markets such as India, despite the pandemic, but delivered a loss in the October quarter as it provisioned for a big engine-quality related bill.

Demand for its vehicles from car-rental companies that purchase in bulk are however still tepid, analysts said, although sales of its luxury cars remain a bright spot. - Nampa/Reuters

Huawei in talks to sell smartphone brands

China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd is in early-stage talks to sell its premium smartphone brands P and Mate, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said, a move that could see the company eventually exit from the high-end smartphone-making business.

The talks between the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker and a consortium led by Shanghai government-backed investment firms have been going on for months, the people said, declining to be identified as the discussions were confidential.

Huawei started to internally explore the possibility of selling the brands as early as last September, according to one of the sources. The two sources were not privy to the valuation placed on the brands by Huawei.

Shipments of Mate and P Series phones were worth US$39.7 billion between Q3 2019 and Q3 2020, according to consultancy IDC.

However, Huawei has yet to make a final decision on the sale and the talks might not conclude successfully, according to the two sources, as the company is still trying to manufacture at home its in-house designed high-end Kirin chips which power its smartphones. - Nampa/Reuters

Google workers to form global union alliance

Google employees from across the globe are forming a union alliance, weeks after workers at the search engine giant and other units of parent company Alphabet Inc formed a labour union for US and Canadian offices.

UNI Global Union, that represents about 20 million workers globally, said on Monday it helped form Alpha Global, Google's union alliance that includes multiple countries such as the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and the UK.

Alpha Global will fight for the rights of full-time Alphabet employees as well as temporary, vendor and contract workers, UNI Global said.

“The problems at Alphabet are not limited to any one country, and must be addressed on a global level,” UNI’s General Secretary Christy Hoffman said.

Alphabet did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After years of protests over working conditions and business practices, 200 Google workers formed Alphabet Workers Union, a so-called “minority union,” in early January. - Nampa/Reuters