■FINANCE
D&B responds to report
More than 90 percent of companies in Taiwan have low financial risk, an executive of the Taiwan branch of the world’s largest business information provider, Dun & Bradstreet Corp (D&B), said on Friday. The statement came one day after D&B International Ltd Taiwan was quoted by the Chinese-language Economic Daily News as saying that more than 20 publicly listed companies were in dire financial straits. Alexander Lo (羅立基), general manager of the Taiwan branch, said the US-based company had not provided any such data. Lo said the D&B Paydex report cited in the news story was simply one of the factors used to evaluate a company’s financial risk. A D&B statement also explained that 92 percent of the 94,926 Taiwanese companies in its database were at the lowest level of financial risk.
■ENERGY
Electricity bills down
More than 4.7 million households and public schools around the country benefited from pricing incentives to conserve energy, collectively saving NT$1.74 billion (US$54.17 million) on their electricity bills for July and last month, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Friday. The Bureau of Energy said in a statement that because of the incentives, families and schools had saved 1.17 billion kilowatts per hour in electricity compared with a year earlier. The savings represent a 740,000-tonne reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, based on the formula of 1.637kg of emissions per 1kWh of electricity, the statement said.
■CLOTHING
H&M opens shop in Japan
Swedish clothing giant Hennes and Mauritz (H&M) opened its first outlet in Japan yesterday, where competition in the casual fashion industry is fierce. More than 3,000 people, mostly women in their 20s and 30s, lined up at the company’s first store in Tokyo’s shopping district of Ginza ahead of a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Japan becomes the 30th country with H&M outlets. The company has 1,600 shops and 800 production bases worldwide. Rolf Eriksen, chief executive of the Stockholm-based company, recently told Japanese media that he plans to expand outlets across the country. It has already decided to open two more stores in the capital’s leading fashion districts of Harajuku and Shibuya.
■TELECOMS
PRC firms win contracts
Chinese telecom firms Huawei (華為) and ZTE (中興通訊) have won contracts worth US$75 million to expand the mobile phone network in Libya, the state-run telecommunications office said on Friday. A total of US$58 million has been awarded to expand the existing network of the Libyana public mobile phone company from 1 million lines to 6.5 million lines, a statement said. ZTE and Huawei will also expand the mobile network along the Libyan coast.
■FOOD
Campbell recalls soup
Campbell Soup Asia Ltd has recalled 330,000 cans of soup in Hong Kong and Macau after fielding complaints that some cans emitted an “objectionable smell,” the company said on Friday. It is the first time Campbell has called back products in Asia, Campbell commercial director Heidi Nam said through a spokeswoman. The recall covered cans of condensed cream of mushroom soup and creamy chicken mushroom soup manufactured in Malaysia, Nam said. All cans were exclusively distributed in Hong Kong and Macau, she said.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
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