Sunrise Department Store (中興百貨) promised to redeem NT$2.5 million (US$77,400) in vouchers in circulation should the store's concessionaires refuse to honor the vouchers, a company executive said yesterday.
"All vouchers can be cashed [at the counters] on the basement floor," Sunrise president Jeff Tsai (蔡振世) told reporters yesterday, one day after some concessionaires refused to accept Sunrise-issued vouchers and expressed concern over media reports of the retailer bouncing checks.
valid
Tsai assured consumers that all vouchers issued by the retailer remain valid, while rejecting media reports that it plans to shut down its Taipei store after bouncing NT$300 million in checks.
"We are experiencing some management difficulties and are seeking a new buyer," Tsai said. "But closure isn't an option."
Although the retailer owes NT$900 million in combined debts, Tsai said that it was not imperative for the company to shut down as it still had NT$2 billion in total assets.
He admitted that the company was facing a liquidity problem after some suppliers insisted on cashing their checks in advance.
The company is in talks with suppliers to ease the credit crunch and maintain normal operations, Tsai said.
Tsai attributed the department store's financial difficulties to a "sluggish economy," saying revenues during its anniversary sale promo early this month achieved less than 70 percent of its NT$350 million goal.
Formerly known as Sesame Department Store (
Sunrise was one of the first retailers to introduce upscale brands such as Armani in Taiwan, but slow business later forced the company to close two of its branches -- Xinyi in July 2004 and Hsinchu in July 2005 -- leaving a single outlet in Taipei.
competition
Like most other smaller players, Sunrise faces stiff competition from neighboring retailers, such as Breeze Center (
Meanwhile, retailer Idee Department Store's (
Idee, an affiliate of the debt-ridden Rebar Asia Pacific Group (
Shinkong spokesman and chief financial officer Kevin Ho (
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
RSS