Premier Farnell PLC, a UK electronics and industrial products supplier, could expand in Thailand, South Korea or Taiwan to strengthen its position when the recession concludes, its chief executive officer said.
“About regional expansion, we’re looking at one of Thailand, Taiwan and [South] Korea; those markets can really deliver growth,” CEO Harriet Green said yesterday.
The supplier of 400,000 products, from drill bits to semiconductors, said increasing Internet-based orders will help counter a global economic slump and “challenging” markets. Sales per day for the three months through April slid 15 percent, the London-based company said today in a statement. April and last month showed an “improvement” over March, Green said.
“It’s too early to predict an end to this downturn, but it’s encouraging that we’ve got some signs of stability,” Green said. Clients have continued reducing stock levels in the last 45 days, she said, adding Premier was confident it would play an “important part” in restoring the supply chain when the destocking process ends.
Premier shares rose as much as 12 percent, the biggest intraday gain in more than two months, and changed hands up 6.2 percent at 138.75 pence in London, for a market value of £500 million (US$823 million).
The company, which is growing in faster-growing markets such as China, India and eastern Europe, previously discussed expanding in Taiwan and South Korea, before saying in December it would review those plans because of the recession. Premier aims to generate one-fifth of sales from developing countries compared with a current level of 17 percent.
The group is targeting 70 percent of group sales from the Internet within 12 to 18 months, with Europe “ahead of schedule” at 53 percent, the CEO said.
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last