■ Chunghwa Telecom on target
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) will exceed its profit target for this year, president Lu Shyue-ching (呂學錦) said yesterday. "We will actively promote broadband and mobile business as well as control costs," Lu told a briefing. "We are confident we can exceed our profit target this year." In April the company set an earnings per share target of NT$4.39. In the first half, earnings per share reached NT$2.52, it said in a statement yesterday. Chunghwa Telecom has no plans to buy back its shares this year, chairman Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) told the same briefing. "Next year, we will consider doing so at the appropriate timing," he said, without giving an amount. Lu said the company had second quarter audited net income of NT$12.7 billion (US$392 million). First-half audited net income was NT$24.3 billion, he said. Capital expenditure in the second quarter was NT$4.53 billion, down 14 percent from the first quarter, Lu said. The company had 8.11 million cellphone users as of Aug. 30, giving it a market share of 39.3 percent, he said.
■ Shih to speak in Taegu
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) is scheduled to speak at the APEC Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) ministerial meeting being held today and tomorrow in Taegu, South Korea. Shih, who arrived Taegu at the head of a Taiwanese delegation on Tuesday night, will speak on the strategy on industrial clustering for SMEs. As Taiwan's establishment and operation of science-based industrial parks and zones is the paradigm of industrial clustering for SMEs, Shih said, he wants to share the nation's experience with other countries.
■ British to invest in new town
An unidentified British commerce group plans to invest NT$14 billion (US$428 million) to develop a new city near the Taoyuan station of the high-speed railway, a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday, citing an adviser to the train developer. In the next 10 to 15 years, the construction industry will focus on developing new cities along the train line, the newspaper said, citing Hsueh Chao-hsin (薛昭信), chief adviser for station development for Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵). The British group plans to build office buildings, residential buildings and a hotel, the paper said. Japanese and Hong Kong companies are seeking similar investment projects, the paper said.
■ Quanta's profits drop again
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), the world's largest maker of notebook computers, had a fifth straight quarterly profit decline because of a loss in its investment in flat-panel displays. Second-quarter net income fell 29 percent to NT$2.11 billion (US$64.5 million), from NT$2.96 billion a year earlier, Quanta said, while it had a profit of NT$4.15 billion in the first half and NT$2.04 billion in the first quarter. Separately, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), one of the world's largest suppliers of electronics manufacturing services, said yesterday its net profit in the six months to June rose sharply to NT$16.26 billion. The figure marked a 22.7 percent rise compared with 13.25 billion in the previous year. Earnings per share rose from NT$3.35 to NT$4.11 while sales surged to NT$276.11 billion, up from NT$174.30 billion.
■ NT dollar dips
The New Taiwan dollar continued losing ground against its US counterpart, declining NT$0.094 to close at NT$32.751 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$1.11 billion, compared to US$1.257 billion on Tuesday.
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