Investors yesterday switched interest toward second-tier CD-R makers and away from major recordable DVD makers such as Ritek Corp (
Ritek is the world's second-largest maker of recordable DVDs, and yesterday it confirmed a report that the company invested in Summit Computer Technology Co (皇統科技), the nation's largest educational CD title distributor, which reported it had misstated sales earlier this week.
Ritek said it invested NT$192 million (US$5.7 million) in Summit Computer and set aside NT$176 million as a provision to cover the investment. Probable further losses from the investment are limited, Ritek said in a statement to the exchange.
On the local bourses, shares of Lead Data Inc (
In addition, laggard CD-R stocks also rallied on anticipated CD-R price increases in the fourth quarter to reflect 30 percent higher raw materials costs, analysts said.
Summit Computer Chairman Lee Huang-kuei (
Summit Computer shares fell by the 7 percent daily limit for a second day to NT$2.66.
CMC Magnetics, however, denied the same report in a Chinese-language business daily that the company had invested in Summit Computer. CMC and its subsidiaries didn't invest, according to its statement to the exchange.
Summit Computer is the latest Taiwanese company to report financial problems since the nation's financial authorities strengthened their scrutiny of listed companies in recent months.
Also yesterday, National Aero-space Fasteners Corp (宏達科技) said its chairman, Su Ming-yu (蘇名宇), was called in for questioning by the nation's Investigation Bureau yesterday to explain why a shareholders' meeting was brought forward.
The decision to bring forward the annual meeting was queried by investors in 2002, Taoyuan-based National Aerospace said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
A Taipei-based business daily, citing an unidentified official, reported that Su was called in for questioning to provide clarification on a year-old case related to the manipulation of a convertible bond issue. The exchange this week has been probing the company's change of auditors and its slashed profit forecast, the paper said.
National Aerospace, which de-signs, makes and sells aero-space and industrial fasteners, warned on Sept. 3 it would make a net loss of NT$551 million (US$16 million) this year, reversing an April profit forecast of NT$123 million.
The stock has dropped 66 percent this year, and fell by 6.81 percent to close at NT$8.90 on Friday.
National Aerospace said in its statement that Su wasn't ques-tioned about the bonds. It also said that it was not being investigated over the profit forecast.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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