President Chain Store Corp (PCSC, 統一超商), which operates the nation’s largest convenience store chain, 7-Eleven, yesterday announced it would transfer all of its icash card business to newly launched Icash Corp (愛金卡) in a bid to expand the use of the card.
The date of transfer is scheduled for April 21, with the price set at NT$25 million (US$815,610). Icash Corp — a wholly owned subsidiary of PCSC — is to create 2.5 million shares as the consideration of the transfer.
“The move is a response to the group’s future development strategy,” PCSC head of finance Tina Cheng (鄭雅云) told a press conference at the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Icash Corp administration department manager Alex Lin (林宗佑) said the company is set to expand the use of the card, which is restricted for use at 7-Eleven, to other Uni-President stores, such as drugstore chain Cosmed (康是美) and President Starbucks Coffee Corp (統一星巴克).
In the long term, owners of the cards would be able to use it as an alternative method of payment at other retailers, or even for transportation, Lin added.
The Uni-President Group (統一集團), which owns PCSC, established Icash Corp with a paid-in capital of US$300 million last year.
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) approved the company’s application to distribute electronic stored-value cards in September last year.
The approval made the card capable of being the nation’s second-largest electronic stored value card behind EasyCard, which is distributed by EasyCard Corp (悠遊卡) and used mainly by Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (台北捷運).
Foreign brokerage house Nomura International (Hong Kong) Ltd on Thursday upgraded its rating on PCSC shares to a buy, citing the company’s solid results last year and its outlook this year.
From January to September last year, PCSC’s net income totaled NT$6.57 billion, or earnings per share of NT$6.32, stock exchange data showed.
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