■ UPS adjusts Q4 income
The US-based delivery service company United Parcel Service Co (UPS) yesterday announced a 19 percent jump in adjusted net income for the fourth quarter of last year, with earnings of US$8.93 billion in the same period, according to a company release.
The revenue is up by 8.2 percent from the same quarter in the previous year as both international and US package businesses enjoyed strong volume gains, it said.
For the full year last year, UPS reported US$33.5 billion in consolidated revenue, a 7.1 percent increase from the previous year.
"We are very proud of our performance last year, and expect a brighter result this year," UPS managing director Benjamin Choi (蔡永瓏) said yesterday.
Choi refused to reveal the result in Taiwan, merely saying the market had seen growth of over 15 percent last year.
For this year, Choi said the company would keep promoting its "synchronize commerce" -- a mechanism connecting the flow of goods, funds and information -- to local small and medium enterprises to help enhance these businesses' competitiveness and reduce risks.
■ Foreign reserves hit new high
The nation's foreign exchange reserves, the third-highest in the world, hit a record high of US$214.93 billion at the end of last month, up from US$206.63 billion in the previous month, the central bank said yesterday.
The bank said the increase reflected a US$3.8 billion net foreign-capital inflow, including proceeds from convertible bond and depositary receipt issues abroad.
But the bank said foreign-capital inflows tend to be short-term in nature and subject to sudden reversals.
Last month there was also a total of US$3.1 billion in sales of forward foreign exchange holdings by domestic exporters, it said.
■ DVD production growing
Taiwan's production of DVD recorders is expected to hold a second-highest, 32-percent market share globally this year, according to forecasts by the Topology Research Institute (拓墣產業研究所).
The ratio represents an output level of 15.2 million units out of an estimated global production of 47.5 million, the institute predicted, pointing out that Taiwan would only trail Japan.
It also predicted that the world's total output volume may top 110 million units in 2007.
Taiwan made about 4.05 million DVD recorders last year, accounting for some 16.2 percent in the international market with a scale of 25 million units, the institute reported.
Falling prices for DVD recorders are expected to push many Japanese companies to look for foreign outsourcers to manufacture for them in search of greater profit, and Taiwan-based makers and the general public may benefit from the situation, the institute said.
■ MediaTek sees Q1 profit dip
MediaTek Inc (聯發科技), the world's largest maker of chips for DVD players, said it expects first-quarter profit margin to narrow to 50 percent, from 52 percent in the fourth quarter.
First-quarter sales may fall 15 percent compared with the fourth quarter, the company said.
Sales of chips used in mobile phones, which the company started making in the fourth quarter, will make up a 10th of total sales this year, the Hsinchu-based company said.
■ NT dollar holds firm
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday maintained strength against its US counterpart, creeping up NT$0.003 to close at NT$33.285 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
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