Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評) yesterday affirmed its twA+ long-term corporate credit rating and twA-1 short-term credit rating for both Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) and Taiwan Cellular Corp (台灣大哥大), the rating agency said in separate statements.
The outlook on these two companies' long-term ratings is stable, Taiwan Ratings, the local arm of Standard & Poor's Ratings Service, added in the statements.
Taiwan Ratings said the rating for Taiwan Cellular reflects the company's leading position in the nation's mobile telephony market, its good operating margins, stable cash flow and satisfactory financial profile.
Taiwan's wireless telecommunications market has experienced significant consolidation.
In July 2001, Taiwan Cellular acquired southern-based operator Trans Asia Telecommunications (
That figure compares with the 35 percent share that state-owned Chunghwa Telecom Co (
In April 2004, Far EasTone completed the acquisition of KG Telecommunications.
Taiwan Ratings expects the consolidation trend will help Taiwan Cellular maintain its leading market position amid less acute competition in terms of tariff rates and handset subsidies.
However, since the penetration rate in Taiwan's wireless telecommunications market exceeds 100 percent, Taiwan Ratings expects the market growth rate to fall below 10 percent over the next two to three years.
Taiwan Cellular has changed its investment policy as regards its shareholdings in Chunghwa Telecom. Taiwan Cellular, together with TransAsia, sold 122 million shares in Chunghwa Telecom in January, leaving it with a stake of 312.57 million shares in its major competitor.
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
‘IMMENSE SWAY’: The top 50 companies, based on market cap, shape everything from technology to consumer trends, advisory firm Visual Capitalist said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the 10th-most valuable company globally this year, market information advisory firm Visual Capitalist said. TSMC sat on a market cap of about US$915 billion as of Monday last week, making it the 10th-most valuable company in the world and No. 1 in Asia, the publisher said in its “50 Most Valuable Companies in the World” list. Visual Capitalist described TSMC as the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry operator that rolls out chips for major tech names such as US consumer electronics brand Apple Inc, and artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers Nvidia Corp and Advanced
Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco), the Saudi state-owned oil giant, yesterday posted first-quarter profits of US$26 billion, down 4.6 percent from the prior year as falling global oil prices undermine the kingdom’s multitrillion-dollar development plans. Aramco had revenues of US$108.1 billion over the quarter, the company reported in a filing on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange. The company saw US$107.2 billion in revenues and profits of US$27.2 billion for the same period last year. Saudi Arabia has promised to invest US$600 billion in the US over the course of US President Donald Trump’s second term. Trump, who is set to touch
SKEPTICAL: An economist said it is possible US and Chinese officials would walk away from the meeting saying talks were productive, without reducing tariffs at all US President Donald Trump hailed a “total reset” in US-China trade relations, ahead of a second day of talks yesterday between top officials from Washington and Beijing aimed at de-escalating trade tensions sparked by his aggressive tariff rollout. In a Truth Social post early yesterday, Trump praised the “very good” discussions and deemed them “a total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner.” The second day of closed-door meetings between US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) were due to restart yesterday morning, said a person familiar
RSS