■ GE in new joint venture
General Electric Co and China Airlines (華航) plan to invest at least US$100 million to start a airplane-engine testing company in Taiwan, the Economic Daily News reported, citing people familiar with the situation.
The investment is part of pledges made by General Electric last year to win China Airlines engine orders, the report said.
General Electric and China Airlines may invite other companies in Asia to invest in the new company, the report said.
China Airlines, the nation's largest carrier, selected General Electric over Rolls-Royce Plc for a US$600 million aircraft engine order.
■ 10-year bond prices slide
Taiwan's 10-year government bond slid on expectations that economic growth is accelerating.
The 2.875 percent bond maturing in December 2013 dropped 0.2659, or NT$265.90 per NT$100,000 face amount, to 102.5755. Its yield rose 3 basis points to 2.58 percent at 12:53 p.m. in Taipei, according to the Gretai Securities Market.
The declines came ahead of a report that showed the unemployment rate last month was unchanged at 4.7 percent. It had been expected to fall to 4.6 percent.
The rate may drop to 4.1 percent by the end of this year, a Bloomberg survey showed.
■ President Chain's profit falls
President Chain Store Corp (統一超商), operator of the world's third-biggest 7-Eleven franchise, said its fourth-quarter profit fell 12 percent from the previous year after it set aside funds to upgrade its electronic payment system.
The company had net income of NT$807.6 million, compared with NT$918.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2002. Revenue rose 9.3 percent to NT$19.3 billion. The figures were derived by subtracting nine-month audited figures from 12-month unaudited 2003 results reported yesterday.
Taipei-based President Chain said it set aside about NT$30 million a month in the fourth quarter to upgrade its payment system. The system allows stores to key in consumers' profiles to "help us carry out customer research and beat intensifying competition," chief financial officer Fred Chen (陳福唐) said.
President Chain said its unaudited 2003 profit was NT$3.98 billion, 54 percent higher than the audited NT$2.59 billion a year earlier, according to statements to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Revenue last year rose to NT$77.6 billion from NT$72 billion a year earlier.
The unaudited profit beat the company's NT$3.56 billion forecast for last year, President Chain said.
■ Quanta aims to be No. 1
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), the world's largest maker of notebook computers, also wants to be the No. 1 television maker, DigiTimes newspaper said, citing Quanta chairman Barry Lam (林百里).
Quanta, which started making flat TVs with liquid-crystal displays in the third quarter last year, plans to make other televisions that use larger plasma displays and projector technology, the report said.
The Taipei-based company expects to have 5 percent of the flat-TV market by the fourth quarter this year with production of about 90,000 units during the period, the paper said.
Samsung Electronics Co, the world's largest maker of flat-panel displays, and its rivals will increase spending for expansion this year by 42 percent to a record US$9.4 billion to meet demand for TVs and computers that use the screens, researcher DisplaySearch said.
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