GTHKF Genting Hong Kong Ltd (CE)

Paytm

Ex-Alibaba Executive Joins Payment Firm

Indian online payment startup Paytm has hired the former head of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s wholesale business, as it looks to ramp up growth and work more closely with the Chinese e-commerce company.

Bhushan Patil joins Paytm as a vice president after serving 5 1/2 years at the Chinese company, where he helped run Alibaba.com.

At the Indian company, Mr. Patil will focus on efforts to expand to other countries, a job that closely mirrors what he did at Alibaba, said Vijay Shekhar Sharma, chief executive of Paytm's parent company One97 Communications.

His move comes after Alibaba and its financial-services affiliate Zhejiang Ant Small & Micro Financial Services Group last year invested more than $500 million for a 40% stake in One97 Communications.

Like Alibaba's Alipay, Paytm uses its online payment service to help direct traffic to its other businesses.

--Sean McLain

Jet Airways

Indian Airline Boosts

Ties With Honeywell

Jet Airways (India) Ltd. has chosen the aerospace unit of Honeywell International Inc. to maintain auxiliary power units on its fleet of 10 Boeing Co. 777-300ER planes.

The five-year pact will help Jet "better predict and manage maintenance cycles, allowing the India-based airline to reduce unscheduled downtime and improve reliability of its fleet," Honeywell said. It expands Jet's existing maintenance programs with Honeywell for auxiliary-power units on Boeing 737 and Airbus Group SE's A330 planes. The companies don't disclose the value of the maintenance pact.

--Santanu Choudhury

Genting

Cruise Operator

Posts Profit Surge

Genting Hong Kong Ltd., which operates cruise and resort businesses, said its 2015 net profit more than quintupled from a year earlier, partly buoyed by disposal gains and a higher revenue.

The Hong Kong and Singapore-listed company said Thursday that its net profit rose to US$2.11 billion for the year ended Dec. 31 from US$384.5 million a year earlier, while its revenue rose to US$690 million from US$570.8 million a year earlier.

The company booked a gain of US$658.8 million from sales of shares in Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. in March, May, August and December.

--Chester Yung

Chalco

Aluminum Company

Swings to a Profit

Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. said Thursday it swung to a net profit of 206.3 million yuan ($31.9 million) for 2015, from a net loss of 16.21 billion yuan a year earlier, thanks to higher government grants as well as a smaller impairment loss.

The Chinese state-owned aluminum company, also known as Chalco, said revenue for the year ended Dec. 31 fell 13% from a year earlier to 123.45 billion yuan. It didn't propose a final dividend for 2015.

--Chester Yung

Toshiba

Bounce Back Forecast After Record Loss

Toshiba Corp. forecast a sharp return to profitability next fiscal year, after saying it will suffer the largest loss in its 140-year history in the current one.

The electronics conglomerate said Friday it expects a net profit of Yen40 billion ($359 million) in the fiscal year starting April 1, compared with an expected loss of Yen710 billion ($6.4 billion) this year. For the year starting in April 2018, the company said, earnings are likely to jump to Yen100 billion.

Toshiba is restructuring to reduce its business portfolio.

--Takashi Mochizuki

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 20, 2016 12:26 ET (16:26 GMT)

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