■ Dbtel announces changes
Mobile phone vendor Dbtel Inc (大霸電子) said yesterday that it would reduce its shares to improve its financial status. After the revision, the company's capital would be around NT$1.25 billion (US$39.3 million), down from the current NT$8.32 billion, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The company had accumulated NT$430 billion in losses over the past years as of the first quarter. After the reduction, the company's net value would be lifted to NT$12.79 per share from the current NT$1.92. The proposal would be put to the company's annual shareholder meeting on June 30.
■ Airport fees to be cut
The government will lower airport fees for domestic routes, saving NT$1.16 billion (US$36 million) a year for carriers such as Far Eastern Air Transport Corp (遠東航空) and helping them to compete amid rising fuel costs. Airlines will be charged 50 percent less for landing from July 1, while leases for land and buildings will be cut by 10 percent, the Ministry of Transportation and Communication said on its Web site on Wednesday, without giving details on the fees. Four airlines operating domestic routes including Far Eastern will face competition from the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (台灣高鐵), which is scheduled to start services in October. "The ministry has asked the Civil Aeronautics Administration to actively promote measures that'll help the industry," including encouraging mergers, the ministry said, without disclosing details. The airport fee reduction won't apply for international routes, the ministry said.
■ Pingtung EPZA wants investors
The Pingtung branch of the Export Processing Zone Administration (EPZA) said yesterday that all domestic and overseas investors are welcome to set up shop in the new zone. The Pingtung branch, the first duty-free industrial zone in the nation's southernmost county, is scheduled for completion by the end of next year, the EPZA said, noting that all major roads, communication networks, and water and sewage systems have already been completed. According to EPZA statistics, the Pingtung branch, located near the Kaoping Bridge on the outskirts of Pingtung City, has so far approved the applications of 12 companies to set up shop. The total investment amounts to NT$3.689 billion, and roughly 1,500 job opportunities will be created. The land in the Pingtung zone is not for sale -- the monthly land rental is only NT$1.33 per square meter. In addition, companies inside the zone will enjoy preferential treatment on tariffs, commodity taxes, sales taxes, contract taxes, business income taxes and housing taxes, the EPZA said.
■ FSC members to be finalized
Financial Supervisory Commission Acting Chairman Lu Daung-yen (呂東英) said yesterday that a decision on whether the number of replacements for commission members will be three or four would be made by the end of next month. Three out of the commission's nine members will see their two-year tenures expire next month. They are Amy Chin (金文悅), Ling Kuen-bao (凌氤寶) and Huang Hsien-hua (黃顯華). As such, Lu's statements could indicate that the commission's suspended chairman, Kong Jaw-sheng (龔照勝), would be removed from his position by that time. Meanwhile, the post of director-general of the Examination Bureau, vacant since July last year, may remain empty in the near future, as Lu said a suitable candidate would not be selected before an internal consensus was reached.
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
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group