GE will split into three to focus on aviation, China factory gate inflation hits 26-year high, and more.
As coal prices soar, China’s factory gate inflation hits a 26-year high. Meanwhile in the US, the industrial giant GE announces its decision to split into three companies, while Krispy Kreme’s third quarter revenue shows there’s still financial appetite to indulge in the sweet treat. Over at COP26, 24 countries and leading car manufacturers agree to end fossil-fuel powered cars by 2040 – with some big brands withholding their signatures.
China’s factory gate inflation hits 26-year high
China's factory gate inflation hit a 26-year high in October as coal prices soared amid a power crunch in the country's industrial heartland, further squeezing profit margins for producers and heightening stagflation concerns.
The producer price index (PPI) climbed 13.5 percent from a year earlier, faster than the 10.7 percent rise in September, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement.
It matched a pace not seen since July 1995 and was faster than the 12.4 percent forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll.
Krispy Kreme stays fresh
Krispy Kreme’s third-quarter revenue has climbed 18 percent, boosted by higher prices on its fresh doughnuts, helping the chain offset rising commodity and labour costs, reports CNBC.
CEO Mike Tattersfield said in an interview that customers are willing to spend more on fresh doughnuts.
“Because we’re a dozens business, we have a lot more flexibility in how we price,” Tattersfield said. “We’re not a high frequency brand. People are still going to do celebrations, so they tend to look at the business like, ‘Yes, I’d like to make sure we can have fresh doughnuts from Krispy Kreme.’”
Customers are also willing to pay up to 50% more for specialty doughnuts, he said.
GE to split into three companies
According to General Electric CEO Larry Culp, management will move as quickly as it can to split up into three companies but it will focus on doing it right.
The industrial giant has announced that it will break up into three businesses focused on aviation, health care and energy, reports CNBC.
The aviation unit will keep the GE name after spinning off the health-care unit in early 2023 and the energy unit in early 2024.
COP26 sees deal to end fossil-fuel vehicles by 2040
Twenty-four countries and a group of leading car manufacturers have committed to ending the era of fossil-fuel powered vehicles by 2040 “or earlier” at Cop26, reports the Guardian.
The agreement includes Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Ireland and the UK. Ford, Mercedes, Volvo and Mercedes-Benz are among the carmakers to sign the accord.
The US, China and Germany, the behemoths of the global car industry, as well as Volkswagen, Toyota and BMW did not sign.
Peter Jackson sells tech division
New Zealand director Peter Jackson, best known for the Lord of the Rings movies, will sell the technology division of his award-winning visual effects company Weta Digital to US 3D game-development platform Unity Software Inc. for $1.625 billion in cash and stock, reports Bloomberg.
The proposed acquisition is expected to close during Unity’s fourth quarter 2021 and is subject to customary closing conditions.
