'Happy Go' card launched
To strengthen consumer loyalty amid service-oriented competition, the Far Eastern Group (遠東集團) will integrate its subsidiary companies to launch a "Happy Go" card, which allows cardholders to collect bonus points on purchases made in selected stores, it was announced yesterday.
The new product functions like membership card and cannot be used as a credit or debit card.
At the launching ceremony yesterday, Eastern Group chairman Douglas Hsu (徐旭東) said he hoped that 40 to 50 percent of its customers will apply for the card, which offers point collection, discounts and other deals.
China Steel's sales up 37%
China Steel Corp (中鋼), Taiwan's largest steelmaker, said December sales rose 37 percent from a year ago.
Sales rose to NT$14.9 billion (US$464 million) from NT$10.9 billion a year earlier, the company said in a statement on the stock exchange Web site. Sales at the Kaohsiung-based company fell from NT$15.9 billion in November.
LCD prices to keep falling
The slide in prices of liquid-crystal displays used in computers and televisions will continue in the first two weeks of January, led by TV screens, an analyst said.
The price of a TV screen measuring 32 inches diagonally will fall by 4.9 percent to US$675 from US$710 two weeks ago, Taipei-based WitsView Technology Corp (聯景科技) said on its Web site. The price of a 17-inch monitor screen will drop US$3 to US$154. WitsView counts manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics Co and investment banks such as Merrill Lynch among its clients.
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ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)