Print

Mail

wiki links

Business quick take

Taiwan, Lockheed to sign MOU
Taiwan will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation with Lockheed Martin Aircraft & Logistics Centers next week, the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced Wednesday. Ministry officials said that China Airlines (華航), EVA Airways (長榮), Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (漢翔航空), Air Asia and the Industrial Technology and Research Institute (工研院) will sign the MOU with Lockheed Martin next Sunday with the aim of forming a joint venture at some point in the future and making inroads into the repair and maintenance market in the Asia-Pacific region.

Esso raises pump prices
Esso Petroleum Taiwan Inc (台灣埃索) announced yesterday that retail pump prices for its unleaded gasoline and auto diesel will be increased by NT$2.2 per liter and NT$0.8 per liter, taking effect today. This move, in line with rising prices set by Taiwan's petroleum giants such as Chinese Petroleum Corp (中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), is aimed to cease a gas price war which has engaged in central Taiwan for over a week. Esso said the normal promotions at these stations will be restored. Originally, the company opted to keep prices at 12 of its 48 stations in central Taiwan at around NT$2.2 per liter cheaper than their rivals.

NT$12.6bn for HannStar plant
HannStar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶), Taiwan's fourth-largest flat-panel display maker, received regulatory approval to raise as much as NT$12.16 billion (US$354 million) selling shares to fund construction of a new factory. In July, HannStar said it planned to raise as much as NT$12.5 billion selling 500 million shares for NT$25 each. Last month, it boosted the size of the planned sale almost three-tenths to 640 million shares as its stock price had fallen more than a quarter since the plan was announced. HannStar, which plans to sell the shares for NT$19 each, a 26 percent premium to the company's last traded share price, will add NT$340 million from its own capital to make up the difference.

Cleanup fund to close mid-2005
The government plans to close its financial cleanup fund by June 2005, said Vice Finance Minister Susan Chang (張秀蓮), adding that the government plans to cut its shareholding in six state-controlled banks to less than 20 percent by the end of 2005 and sell the remaining stakes by 2010. The government may tighten its definition of non-performing loans, shortening the period of unpaid interest payment before a loan is deemed to three months from six months, Chang said. That means loans now classified as under surveillance will be counted as bad loans, she added. Lenders' total non-performing loans stood at NT$1.06 trillion (US$31 billion), or 7.48 percent of all loans, as of June 30. An additional NT$473.6 billion of ``surveillance'' loans, considered in danger of default, would bring the total troubled lending ratio to 10.8 percent, according to the central bank. The government expects to revise rules by April next year, and banks may be given more time after that before being required to report under the new standard.

NT dollar falls
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday fell against its US counterpart on the Taipei foreign exchange market, losing NT$0.092 to close at NT$34.395. The turnover was US$371 million, down from the previous day's US$486 million. The local currency, which opened at NT$34.362 against the greenback, traded between NT$34.362 and NT$34.403 during the session.

This story has been viewed 2057 times.