DATE=11/10/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ASIA BUSINESS WRAP (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-309631

BYLINE=HEDA BAYRON

DATELINE=HONG KONG

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: China's largest television maker is linking up with a French rival to form the world's biggest T-V manufacturing company, while Southeast Asia's largest telecommunications company has reported a strong profit. V-O-A's Heda Bayron has this week's summary of business headlines in Asia.

TEXT: T-C-L of China and the French company Thomson will combine their T-V and D-V-D manufacturing operations to create a new company called T-C-L-Thomson. The joint venture is expected to be the world's biggest T-V set maker, producing 18 million a year.

The companies say the deal will allow Thomson to take advantage of cheap manufacturing in China and will give T-C-L better global brand recognition. Thomson makes the R-C-A brand of T-V sets.

Southeast Asian telecommunications giant SingTel showed a solid performance for the three months ending in September. Net profit for the Singapore company rose 14 percent to 271 million dollars from a year ago - boosted by strong earnings from an Australian unit and other regional investments.

Chief executive Lee Hsien Yan says overseas operations now account for more than 70 percent of the company's revenues.

/// LEE ACT ///

Our international investments continue to perform strongly … our regional mobile businesses are growing in terms of profits as well as dividends.

/// END ACT ///

Higher beer sales pushed up quarterly profit for the Philippine food and beverage conglomerate, San Miguel. Profit for the period from July to September rose 15 percent to 33 million dollars. International beer sales rebounded 11 percent from the previous quarter's 10 percent contraction due to the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

In Taiwan, semiconductor sales by the country's largest manufacturers jumped in October. Sales by United Microelectronics rose more than 27 percent to 225 million dollars from a year ago, while T-S-M-C's jumped more than 33 percent to more than half-a-billion dollars. Both companies expect to use more than 90 percent of their capacity to meet strong demand for microchips in the next few months. (Signed)

NEB/HK/HB/KPD