Refinery unit shut after fire
Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) shut down a refinery unit in Mailiao, Yunlin County, yesterday after an oil leak sparked a fire, the company said in a statement.
The fire started at 4:30pm and was extinguished shortly afterward, the statement said, citing company spokesman Su Chi-yi (蘇啟邑).
The company says the damage to the refinery unit was minor, saying the accident should have no impact on its production and distribution of oil products.
"We expect to resume normal operations by Friday," the statement said.
Meanwhile, Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團) was rated the nation's biggest business conglomerate, reporting NT$701.3 billion in sales last year, according to a report released by Commonwealth magazine yesterday.
It is followed by Lin Yuan Group (霖園集團) with NT$524.68 billion, Shin Kong Group (新光集團) with NT$281.7 billion, Hon Hai Group (鴻海集團) with NT$280.53 billion and Mitac-Synnex Group (神通集團) at NT$256.05 billion, the report said.
Acer expects record earnings
Acer Inc expects to double earnings per share from its main business next year, chief financial officer Philip Peng (彭錦彬) said yesterday at the annual shareholders' meeting.
The company expects to record earnings per share of NT$1 from its main business this year, increasing to NT$2 next year, Peng said.
Acer reported earnings per share of NT$4.46 in the 12 months to Dec. 31 last year.
The company aims to increase revenue by as much as 40 percent this year, helped by new products to be introduced in the third quarter.
Acer will sell 100 million shares in BenQ Corp (明基電通) this year. The transaction, which is expected to raise about NT$4.5 billion (US$130 million) based on the current market price, will pare Acer's stake in BenQ to 15 percent from 20 percent, Peng said.
Hotel markets its housekeepers
The five-star Ambassador Hotel in Taipei has launched a new house-cleaning service to help tide it over the business slump it has suffered since the outbreak of SARS in March.
The hotel came up the "clean your home" service as its revenues slipped to below NT$100 million (US$2.85 million) last month. The service offers trained cleaners who will travel to clients' homes to provide cleaning services at a price range of NT$1,200 for less than 20 pings of floor space to NT$2,400 for between 65 and 85 pings.
The hotel also begun offering take-away lunchboxes last month.
Food festival starts today
A Taiwanese-food festival will begin in eight chain superstores and 747 supermarket chains in Hong Kong and China today, the China External Trade Development Cen-ter (CETRA) said yesterday.
CETRA officials said that this will be the first time the food festival has expanded from Hong Kong and made inroads into Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Dongguan in China, which they said will provide a needed shot in the arm to the sluggish export market for agricultural products caused by the outbreak of SARS.
The food festival was first launched in Hong Kong in 1999.
This year's festival will feature seasonal fruit and vegetables, as well as products from major agricultural product processing manufacturers, CETRA said.
NT dollar dips
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded lower against its US counterpart, declining NT$0.050 to close at NT$34.682 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$358 million.
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