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NEW YORK — Tesla's third-quarter profits more than quadrupled on ‘sharply’ higher sales despite a global semiconductor shortage that has plagued the auto industry, according to company results released on Wednesday.

Elon Musk's electric car company posted a record profit of $1.6 billion for the three-month period, as revenues surged 57 per cent to $13.8 billion compared to the year-ago period. 

Tesla also delivered a record 241,391 vehicles during the period, with sales significantly ramping up in North America and China.

The results suggest Tesla's output has been less affected by the global shortage of semiconductors than some rival carmakers that have shuttered factories or cut production.

However, the company said chip shortages, as well as congestion at ports and rolling blackouts, "have been impacting our ability to keep factories running at full speed."

"We believe our supply chain, engineering and production teams have been dealing with these global challenges with ingenuity, agility and flexibility that is unparalleled in the automotive industry," Tesla said in its news statement. 

Tesla notched somewhat lower revenues on the sale of electric vehicle regulatory credits to other automakers compared with the year-ago period. The company also reported a $51 million impairment related to bitcoin.

But profit margins expanded, even as the company alluded to uncertainties amid the lingering supply chain challenges.

"We continue to run our production lines as close to full capacity as conditions allow," Tesla said in the news release. "While sequential growth remains our goal, the magnitude of growth will be determined largely by outside factors."

New capacity 

The electric carmaker said new factories in Germany and the US state of Texas remain on track.

Musk was on hand earlier this month at the unveiling of Tesla's "gigafactory" near Berlin, its first European plant that is expected to ultimately produce some 500,000 cars a year. 

The nearly-completed facility has been criticized by some NGOs in Germany, but Tesla said in Wednesday's press release that it expects to receive final permit approval by the end of the year.

Another gigafactory in Austin, Texas is "progressing as planned," Tesla said. Musk announced earlier this month that the company is shifting its headquarters to Texas from California.

Tesla is nearing assembly of its first production line cars in Austin and Berlin, but the "hardest work lies ahead" in ramping up output, chief finance officer Zack Kirkhorn said on an earnings call.

Tesla has completed a shift to its factory in Shanghai being its main hub for export vehicles, freeing up other plants to provide more cars for Europe and North America, according to executives.

The company's stated goal is to get on pace to produce millions of cars annually.

"There appears to be quite a profound awakening of desirability for electric vehicles," Kirkhorn said.

"It's called us a little bit off guard. Folks want to buy an electric car and folks want to buy a Tesla right now. It's very exciting for us."

Tesla said it is expanding new "full self-driving" technology to more drivers based on "demonstrated driver safety." 

But earlier this month, US highways safety regulators demanded details from Tesla on issues with the new autonomous system, building on a previously announced probe.

Executives on the call downplayed regulatory inquiries, saying they were to be expected with "cutting edge" technology and that they were cooperating "as much as possible."

CFRA Research analyst Garrett Nelson said the strong results were already priced into Tesla shares, describing the trading action as "muted." 

Moreover, the company's statement that the magnitude of its growth "'will be determined largely by outside factors' gives investors pause," Nelson said.

Tesla shares dipped 1.3 per cent to $854.40 in after-hours trading. Shares have risen more than 25 per cent in the last two months.

NEW YORK — American Airlines said on Thursday that the latest surge in Covid-19 hit profitability in the latest quarter, but that it was bullish on the upcoming holiday season.

The big US carrier enjoyed a profitable July before the spread of the Delta variant pushed the company into the red in both August and September, American executives said in a letter to employees.

The company reported $169 million in profit in the third quarter, but the bottom line would have been a loss without an infusion of US funds authorised by Congress for carriers to preserve airline jobs.

Revenues were $9 billion, more than double the year ago-levels, but about 25 per cent below those in the equivalent period of 2019.

"The American Airlines team continues to demonstrate its resilience and ability to execute, enabling us to deliver our best quarter since the pandemic began as measured by pre-tax financial results," said Chief Executive Doug Parker.

"While the rise of the Covid-19 Delta variant delayed some of our revenue recovery, it has not stopped our progress."

American said it is gearing up for "robust" demand during the holiday season, planning for fourth-quarter capacity to be down between 11 to 13 per cent compared with the 2019 quarter.

That is a higher level of utilisation than at rivals United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, which said they expected capacity down 23 per cent and 20 per cent compared with the 2019 period.

American Airlines shares rose 1.0 per cent to $19.72 in pre-market trading.

BEIRUT — A New York-based firm contracted by the Lebanese government is to resume its audit of the central bank on Thursday in line with creditors' demands, the Lebanese presidency and a top official said.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and France are among creditors demanding an audit of Banque du Liban.

The move is part of urgent reforms to unlock financial support to deal with an economic crisis branded by the World Bank as one of the planet's worst since the mid-19th century.

Some observers have warned the audit is unlikely to yield the kind of revelations that could hold Lebanon's ruling elite accountable for the alleged corruption and mismanagement that caused the collapse.

The Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) auditing firm had launched an audit in September last year but was forced to pull out some two months later because the central bank failed to hand over necessary data.

On Wednesday, President Michel Aoun met with A&M managing director James Daniell, who informed him that "the company will begin tomorrow its forensic financial audit of Lebanon's central bank after all arrangements were completed", the presidency said.

Finance ministry official Georges Maarawi said that the firm "will have 12 weeks to collect information and draft a report", under the terms of its contract with the Lebanese government. 

Finance Minister Youssef Khalil signed the contract with A&M last month, only days after he took up his post.

Experts have expressed doubts that the terms of the contract and the limited time given to auditors will allow for a credible investigation.

"As long as the auditors don't have direct access to servers, IT and accounting systems and the work isn't overseen by the competent authorities... then I don't expect anything out of it," financial analyst Mike Azar said.

"The way the work is structured now will most likely not result in an honest and thorough forensic audit," he told AFP.

In December, parliament approved a bill that suspends banking secrecy laws for one year to allow for the forensic audit — which is widely seen as a necessary prelude to any agreement with the IMF over financial assistance.

Finance ministry official Maarawi said Lebanese authorities were holding "technical meetings" with the IMF, without elaborating.

Following a meeting with IMF executive director Mahmoud Mohieldin on Tuesday, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that Lebanon was betting on an IMF plan to help it survive its unprecedented financial crunch.

"We hope to clinch a cooperation agreement before the end of the year," he said. 

LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday urged foreign investors to buy into post-Brexit Britain, as he seeks to power the country's future prosperity on renewable energy.

The UK leader kicked off a Global Investment Summit in London by announcing a £400 million ($552 million, 473 million euros) partnership with the Bill Gates Foundation to invest in emerging green technologies.

The tie-up, which will see both sides stump up £200 million, follows Spanish renewable energy giant Iberdrola announcing late Monday plans to invest £6 billion creating Britain's biggest offshore wind development.

Johnson, who has outlined plans for the UK to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, is hoping to burnish his green credentials before hosting world leaders at a critical UN climate change gathering in Glasgow next month.

He also wants to boost investment to grow Britain's economy as it grapples with the fall-out from the coronavirus pandemic and Brexit, which have combined to strain the logistics sector, labour market and other areas.

In his sales pitch, Johnson promised government backing for private investment in sustainable projects, promising Britain was now "moving in an exciting new direction with a green, industrial revolution, with new regulatory freedoms".

But some government plans to cut carbon emissions have come under fire for not going far enough.

Homeowners in England and Wales will be offered subsidies of £5,000 from next year as part of a £450 million scheme to help them replace old gas boilers with low-carbon heat pumps.

But experts pointed out that the grants will fund just 90,000 of the devices, and a better alternative would be to reduce energy demand by improving home insulation.

Activists from the campaign group Insulate Britain have sought to highlight that issue by blocking motorways and main roads in recent weeks.

Scaling up 

The Gates Foundation tie-up — run through the Microsoft co-founder's Breakthrough Energy Catalyst arm, set up in 2015 alongside private investors — will focus on four key green technology areas.

They include green hydrogen, long-term energy storage, sustainable aviation fuels and so-called direct air capture, which harnesses carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Appearing with Johnson, Gates said the joint investment would begin next year and he hoped that at least one of them would be "ready to scale" within five years and the remainder within a decade.

"We're going to take these technologies which are not yet economic... and we will scale those up and bring down that cost, so we'll get these to the same place we are today with solar and onshore wind," he added.

Meanwhile, once operational Iberdrola's wind project off the east coast of England — involving its subsidiary Scottish Power — would supply enough energy to power 2.7 million homes and create 7,000 jobs.

The project, which still requires planning consent, is one of 18 deals worth a total of £9.7 billion and creating a potential 30,000-plus jobs to be formally announced at the summit.

The government said it will also launch a new "Investment Atlas" showcasing strategic investment opportunities across the UK as it seeks to deliver on one of its central 2019 election pledges to reduce regional inequality.

TAIPEI — Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn unveiled three electric vehicles on Monday, boosting its bid to be a major player in the rapidly expanding EV market as it seeks companies to partner with.

The world's largest contract electronics maker, Foxconn already plays a lynchpin role in assembling Apple's iPhones as well as gadgets for a myriad of top international brands. 

But it has been moving fast to diversify beyond electronics assembly and has ploughed money into electric vehicles, including a joint venture with local automaker Yulon Motor and purchasing a struggling auto plant in Ohio.

The models unveiled on Monday — a sedan, an SUV and a bus — are concept vehicles that Foxconn hopes it could build with other manufacturers.

"Foxconn is no longer a new kid in town," Chairman Young Liu declared at the unveiling ceremony in Taipei.

Foxconn's founder Terry Gou drove their "Model E" sedan to the presentation and said the company's EVs "demonstrate Taiwan's overall industrial strength".

A white sports utility vehicle — "Model C" — is expected to hit the market in Taiwan in 2023 with a price tag of under Tw$1 million ($357,000), the firm said. 

Its "Model T" electric bus could start operating in southern Kaohsiung city as early as next year if it passes the transport ministry's review, Vice Premier Shen Jong-chin said.

Foxconn has funnelled about Tw$10 billion ($355 million) into electric car development in 2020 and the company says its investment will rise over the next two years. 

Liu said the company "has gradually built an electric vehicle supply chain and distribution network", with one new partnership announced almost every month this year.

Among its recent partners is Fisker, one of a host of US-based electronic car startups hoping to one day challenge Tesla's supremacy. 

The two companies announced plans to jointly develop electric cars sold under the Fisker brand with a goal to start producing vehicles in late 2023.

It has been widely reported for years that Apple has a secret electronic car project, something Foxconn could be in an ideal place to partner on given its existing relationship with the Californian giant. 

The unveiling of Foxconn's models comes as car makers suffer from a global shortage of semiconductors after the coronavirus pandemic caused purchases of electronics and computer parts to sky-rocket.

Taiwanese high-tech chip foundries are some of the world's biggest and most advanced and have been ramping up production to meet the demand.

WASHINGTON — New data that was out on Friday showed $590 million in ransomware-related payments were reported to US authorities in the first half of 2021 alone, setting a pace to beat totals for the whole previous decade as cyber extortion booms.

The figure is also 42 per cent higher than the amount divulged by financial institutions for all of 2020, the US Treasury report said, and there are strong indicators the true cost could be in the billions.

"If current trends continue, [reports] filed in 2021 are projected to have a higher ransomware-related transaction value than... filed in the previous 10 years combined," said Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

The heists involve breaking into a company or institution's network to encrypt its data, then demanding a ransom, typically paid via cryptocurrency in exchange for the digital key to unlock it.

Washington has sought to crack down on a sharp rise in attacks, including issuing its first sanctions against an online exchange where illicit operators have allegedly swapped cryptocurrency for cash.

Recent assaults on a major US oil pipeline, a meat packing company and the Microsoft Exchange e-mail system drew attention to the vulnerability of US infrastructure to digital pirates who are extorting staggering sums.

Treasury said investigators found over 150 online wallets for cyptocurrency and by analysing them uncovered roughly $5.2 billion in transactions potentially tied to ransomware payments.

Companies and institutions face intense pressure to pay up in order to get their data unlocked, but also to keep the attack from potentially angry clients and authorities who issue stern warnings not to give cash to criminals.

The report, based on the suspicious activity alerts that financial firms have to file, noted it was unclear if the jump represented increased awareness of the cybercrime.

"This trend potentially reflects the increasing overall prevalence of ransomware-related incidents as well as improved detection and reporting," Treasury said.

The victims of the attacks were not identified in the report, which noted some of the apparent ransoms were paid before January 2021.

The new data on the scale of payments related to hacks came after more than two dozen nations resolved to collectively fight ransomware during a Washington-led summit.

The United States gathered the countries — with the notable exception of Russia — to unify and boost efforts to fight a cybercrime that is transnational, on the rise and potentially devastating.

Stronger digital security and offline backups as well as collectively targeting the laundering of the attacks' proceeds were identified as crucial steps in the fight.

"We will consider all national tools available in taking action against those responsible for ransomware operations threatening critical infrastructure and public safety," the nations said in a joint statement.

Great Britain, Australia, India, Japan, France, Germany, South Korea, the European Union, Kenya, Mexico, and others were among those that joined in the virtual gathering on Wednesday and Thursday.

During the summit, countries’ representatives recounted their agonising experiences with cyber extortion.