E-ton Solar to close Adema
E-ton Solar Tech Co (益通光能), one of the nation’s biggest solar cell makers, yesterday said it would shut down US subsidiary Adema Technologies Inc and would seek buyers to sell manufacturing equipment after its efforts to turn the company around failed.
Revenues from Adema accounted for 4.22 percent of E-ton’s overall revenues in the third quarter of this year, the Tainan-based company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Adema is now shifting its focus to helping other companies install solar panels or facilities, E-ton said.
Adema has signed a contract with IKEA Property Inc to install 2.7 megawatts of solar facilities, E-ton said last week.
Icash allows online shopping
Members of icash, the chip-based payment card issued by President Chain Store Corp (統一超商), which operates 7-Eleven stores in Taiwan, can now enjoy online shopping.
In addition to paying for MRT fares and making small transactions at food and beverage outlets in the nation, icash members can log onto 7net — 7-Eleven’s cyber store — to purchase more than 100,000 products, the convenience store chain operator said yesterday.
Wintek drops JPMorgan Chase
Wintek Corp (勝華), a Taiwanese maker of flat panels, said it ended its relationship with JPMorgan Chase & Co as a bookrunner for its global depositary receipts and might take legal action against the company after criticizing an analyst report from the bank’s brokerage unit.
“The analyst report said new players will grab market share, but this assumption couldn’t be accompanied by any evidence,” Jay Huang (黃忠傑), spokesman for Taichung-based Wintek, said in a telephone interview yesterday, referring to a report published yesterday by Taipei-based analyst Narci Chang. “In the past several offerings, we cooperated with JPMorgan. Without this event today I think we still would have cooperated with them to conduct the GDR offering,” Huang said.
Central bank issues CDs
The central bank issued NT$149 billion (US$4.8 billion) in certificates of deposit (CD) yesterday, less than the NT$171.25 billion that matured, the monetary authority said in a statement on its Web site yesterday.
The central bank sold 30-day certificates of deposit at an interest rate of 0.69 percent, 91-day at 0.73 percent, and 182-day CDs at 0.83 percent, according to its Web site.
NT dollar falls slightly
The New Taiwan dollar dropped against the US dollar yesterday, slipping NT$0.03 to close at NT$30.930.
Turnover totaled US$780 million during the trading session.
Dealers said investors throughout East Asia, in particular foreign banks, sustained their interest in US dollars seen in recent days.
The trend was highlighted by the weakness of the Chinese yuan to the greenback yesterday after Beijing’s surprise move on Tuesday to raise its key interest rates for the first time since 2007.
Dealers said that while the gains on the local bourse lent some support to the NT dollar, market sentiment remained cautious on fears that governments in the region would take action to prevent rapid appreciation of their currency against the US dollar.
Government to buy back bonds
The government plans to buy back bonds with a total face value of NT$40 billion in a tender on Nov. 4, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on its Web site yesterday.
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Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San