Shares of motherboard maker Asrock Inc (華擎) rallied 8.4 percent during its debut on the main bourse, defying the benchmark TAIEX's 3.90 percent loss following the plunge in the US overnight on growing subprime mortgage concerns.
Asrock stock rose NT$21 to NT$271 from its listing price of NT$250 per share. The 7 percent daily limit does not apply to the trading of new shares in the first five sessions. Asrock shares were traded on the smaller Emerging Stock Market (
Asrock is a motherboard brand owned by the world's biggest motherboard maker Asustek Computer Inc (
But, the five-year-old company said last week that it planned to shift its focus to middle-range and high-end products to boost profits as growth in the low-end area slows amid rising competition from Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (
SinoPac Securities Corp (
"Asrock will gain a new driving force after tapping into middle-range and high-end products, which account for 60 percent of the total unit sales of the motherboard industry," SinoPac Securities said in the report published on Monday.
Asrock plans to produce 10 percent to 15 percent more motherboards next year from this year's goal of 7 million units, based on replacement demand for the Vista system and rising demand in the emerging markets, chairman Ted Hsu (
In the first nine months of the year, Asrock's earnings inched up by nearly 4 percent to NT$1.39 billion, compared to NT$1.34 billion a year ago.
On Tuesday it said it had raised NT$2.86 billion by issuing 11.44 million new common shares during the initial public offering. Asrock now has around 102 million shares in issue.
NOT ALL GOOD: Analysts warned that other data for last month might be less rosy due to the virus and analysts expect the PMI to contract again next month Chinese factory activity saw surprise growth last month as businesses went back to work following a lengthy shutdown, but analysts said that the economy faces a challenging recovery as external demand has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, while the World Bank said that growth could screech to a halt. China is slowly returning to life after months of tough restrictions aimed at containing the virus, which put millions of people into virtual house arrest and brought economic activity to a near standstill. The strict measures saw a closely watched gauge of manufacturing plunge to its lowest level on record in February,
The output of the global smartphone industry this year is to contract by 7.8 percent on an annual basis as the COVID-19 pandemic ushers in a global recession, Taipei-based market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report on Monday. The global production of smartphones is expected to fall to 1.29 billion units, as the pandemic dampens demand for consumer electronics, leading to a decline in shipments across Europe and North America, TrendForce said. With consumers delaying smartphone purchases and thereby lengthening the device replacement cycle, overall prices would suffer a setback that is expected to negatively affect the profitability of smartphone
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ALL ABOUT STRATEGY: The company is optimistic, saying that its gross margin should increase year-on-year, but it is scaling back on its plans to expand capacity Quang Viet Enterprise Co (QVE, 廣越), which makes down jackets and garments for sportswear and outdoor brands including Adidas AG, yesterday said that revenue might drop 5 to 10 percent annually this year as some customers trimmed orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. That would mark its first revenue decline since 2016. Quang Viet posted record-high revenue of NT$16.26 billion (US$537.45 million) last year, up 22 percent from 2018. Down jackets made up 40 percent of it revenue last year. North Face Inc and Patagonia Inc are this year likely to reduce orders by 20 to 30 percent from a
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