Direct flights between Taipei’s Songshan Airport and Shanghai’s Hongqiao Airport, which begin today, could increase demand for office space in the Dunbei (敦北) and Dunnan (敦南) commercial areas in the near future, Sinyi Realty Co (信義房屋) said in a statement.
Sinyi, the nation’s biggest real-estate brokerage, said inquiries about office space in the neighborhood of Songshan Airport have recently increased, mostly from local trade companies looking for 70-ping (231.5m²) to 80-ping offices.
Direct flights between the two cities will boost property investment by local companies in the short term, with domestic enterprises considering moving their headquarters to the Dunbei area, the realtor said.
“It will take about half a year before we will learn whether Chinese enterprises will start to set up their offices in areas surrounding Songshan Airport [following the new direct air links],” Ko Hung-an (柯宏安), deputy head of Sinyi’s Global Asset Management Inc, said in the statement.
“In particular, when the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway connects with Hongqiao Airport, the transportation network will be further expanded,” Ko said, adding that if Chinese tourists were to be allowed to travel independently to Taiwan in the future, the commercial area near Songshan Airport would benefit further.
Ko said business opportunities created by the new air links would not only boost demand for office space in the Dunbei and Dunnan areas, but would also push more high-tech companies to move to the Neihu Technology Park (內湖科技園區) near Songshan Airport.
In addition, the links will likely attract more China-based Taiwanese businesspeople to invest in luxury residences in Taipei and facilitate urban renewal projects for old communities near Songshan Airport, he said.
Meanwhile, shareholders on Friday approved the company’s proposal to distribute a cash dividend of NT$2.6 per share and a 20 percent stock dividend (or 200 shares per 1,000 held) on last year’s earnings of NT$1.48 billion (US$45.6 million).
Sinyi said in a separate statement that the company’s performance was only slightly affected by the global financial crisis last year, when it posted an earnings per share of NT$4.88 and its revenues rose 28.7 percent from a year earlier to reach a record high of NT$7.18 billion (US$221 million).
Chairman Chou Chun-chi (周俊吉) told shareholders the company would open a branch in Tokyo this month, marking the first Taiwanese real estate agency to branch into Japan.
Looking ahead, Chou said that in addition to plans to expand business in China, Sinyi would increase the number of its branches to more than 290 in Taiwan in the second quarter, and expects the number to exceed 300 by the end of the year.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
Hong Kong authorities ramped up sales of the local dollar as the greenback’s slide threatened the foreign-exchange peg. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) sold a record HK$60.5 billion (US$7.8 billion) of the city’s currency, according to an alert sent on its Bloomberg page yesterday in Asia, after it tested the upper end of its trading band. That added to the HK$56.1 billion of sales versus the greenback since Friday. The rapid intervention signals efforts from the city’s authorities to limit the local currency’s moves within its HK$7.75 to HK$7.85 per US dollar trading band. Heavy sales of the local dollar by
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film