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■ ProMOS downplays incident
ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技), the nation's third-largest maker of memory chips for computers, yesterday said that production would not be affected by a minor incident at a new plant in Taichung. Two workers were hospitalized for further treatment and detailed checks after being burned by acid while installing new equipment at the plant, company spokesman Ben Tseng (曾邦助) said. Meanwhile, the company's board yesterday approved a proposal to issue the maximum of 1 billion new shares at home or overseas to raise funds for new 12-inch plants. The issue may raise as much as NT$12.05 billion (US$371.91 million), based on the stock's closing price of NT$12.05 yesterday.

■ Current-account surplus surges
The nation's current-account surplus jumped to a record high in the fourth quarter as exports increased, the central bank said. The surplus widened to US$9.22 billion from US$1.73 billion a year earlier and a revised US$993 million in the third quarter, the Central Bank of China, Taiwan's central bank, said yesterday in a statement in Taipei. The surplus on the income account, which includes dividend payments, narrowed to US$2.67 billion from a revised US$2.99 billion a year earlier. The deficit on the services account, which includes travel spending, narrowed to US$971 million from US$2.17 billion. The financial account, which measures investment flows, showed a deficit of US$6.86 billion after a US$1.46 billion deficit in the same period of 2004. Direct investment showed a net outflow of US$1.92 billion and portfolio investment had a net inflow of US$2.86 billion.

■ Kraft alliance talks denied
Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), the nation's biggest food company, yesterday denied a report that the company is in talks with Kraft Food Inc to form a strategic alliance in China. Uni-President and Kraft may consolidate their production facilities in China, while Kraft may also use Uni-President's Chinese sales network, the Economic Daily News reported on Sunday, without saying where it obtained the information. While Kraft and Uni-President have on-going business relations locally, there is no strategic alliance planned as described by the report, the Taipei-based company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Uni-President's affiliated companies distribute Kraft products such as coffee in Taiwan. Uni-President has invested US$342 million in China, and last week said it would form a soft-drink venture in China with Japan's Nissin Food Products Co.

■ Evergreen expects solid growth
Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運), the world's third-largest shipper, said yesterday it and other shipping units in the Evergreen Group (長榮集團) expect to post a year-on-year increase of 10 percent in combined sales this year. Evergreen said shipping sales are expected to reach NT$140 billion (US$4.32 billion) this year, compared with the NT$127.12 billion recorded last year. The companies are expected to post NT$15 billion in pretax profit this year, a company official said, adding that comparative figures were not immediately available. For last year, Evergreen Marine alone registered NT$41.99 billion in sales.

■ NT dollar loses ground
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, dropping NT$0.010 to close at NT$32.400. A total of US$751 million changed hands during the day's trading.

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