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Winbond records loss
Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電子), the nation's largest maker of memory chips for personal computers and cellphones, turned to a first-quarter loss after sales tumbled by more than 17 percent.

The loss was NT$892 million (US$25.5 million) compared with net income of NT$146.5 million a year earlier. Sales, announced earlier, fell to NT$6.7 billion from NT$8.1 billion.

Winbond has had little success diversifying from computer-memory chips into so-called flash memory chips that store data in cellphones. The company depended more on sales of computer chips in the first quarter this year than in the same period a year ago, analysts said before the company posted results.

Cathay's profit jumps
Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), the nation's biggest financial services company, had a 50 percent increase in first-quarter profit after the company began including earnings from all units.

Net income rose to NT$7.25 billion (US$207 million) from NT$4.85 billion a year ago.
This year's earnings are the first to include income from units Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), United World Chinese Commercial Bank (世華銀行), Cathay United Bank (國泰銀行) and Cathay Century Insurance (東泰產險).

Cathay Financial is projecting net income of NT$21 billion for this year.

Travel agencies get loans
To bail out the nation's travel industry that had been hard hit by the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the government is considering offering loans to travel agencies that are unable to pay employee salaries, an industry representative said yesterday.

According to Tseng Sheng-hai (曾盛海), chairman of the Taipei Association of Travel Agents (TATA, 台北旅行公會), the Executive Yuan has agreed to help travel agencies secure bank loans.

In addition, Tseng said his association will continue to pressure the government to delay collection of last year's income taxes.

Tourism industry sales have sharply declined since last month, falling as much as 90 percent after the first case of SARS was confirmed in Taiwan last month.

This month, about 97 percent of travelers have canceled trips to China, while outbound tourism has plummeted 91.3 percent, according to the association.

Price of Taiwan Beer to rise
Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp (台灣菸酒公司) said it will increase the price of Taiwan Beer, the nation's biggest local brand, by up to 12.5 percent next month to reflect its costs.

Under the new pricing, which will take effect May 16, a 0.6-liter Taiwan Beer will sell for NT$45, up from the current NT$40, while a can will sell for NT$28, up from NT$26, the company said.

Earlier this week, company chairman Morgan Hwang (黃營杉) said the company aims to increase its beer sales to NT$25 billion this year from NT$21 billion last year.

Taiwan Beer currently commands around 74 percent of the domestic market.

The company hopes to increase the beer's market share to 80 percent this year, as China's Tsingtao Beer has captured nearly 8 percent of the market, Hwang said.

Carlsberg, Budweiser, Heineken, Asahi and Kirin are among the more popular foreign brands in Taiwan.

NT dollar continues decline
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday continued to lose ground against its US counterpart, losing NT$0.088 to close at NT$34.944 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.

Turnover was US$793 million.
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