TPK Holdings Co (宸鴻), which counts Apple Inc as its biggest client, yesterday posted nearly 14 percent sequential growth in revenue for last month, helping to boost the company’s last quarter revenue to exceed its target.
Revenue expanded to NT$7.99 billion (US$264 million) last month, compared with NT$7.03 billion in February, marking the first rise since January, according to a company statement. The figure was an annual decline of 49.33 percent from NT$15.77 billion.
The monthly growth is in line with company chief financial executive Freddie Liu’s (劉詩亮) expectation as demand rebounds and there was a rise in working days last month.
That brought last quarter’s revenue to NT$26.62 billion, surpassing TPK’s forecast of NT$25.13 billion.
That quarterly revenue represented a 36 percent quarterly contraction, from the three-year low of NT$41.88 billion in the fourth quarter last year. TPK has warned that seasonal weak demand would cut revenue.
TPK expected to swing into the black last quarter after posting first quarterly loss for the fourth quarter last year due to massive asset impairment.
TPK is scheduled to hold an investor conference on April 22 to reveal detailed financial figures.
Separately, local LCD panel maker HannStar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶) yesterday dismissed the local Economics Daily News’ report that Chinese touch panel maker O-film Tech Co Ltd (歐菲光) intends to subscribe HannStar’s new share offering via private placement for NT$3 billion roughly.
The report said O-film aimed to own 10 percent stake in HannStar to secure LCD panel supply.
“It is pure media speculation,” HannStar spokesman Justine Chien (簡宏毅) said in a statement submitted to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Last month, HannStar’s management proposed to sell 300 million new common shares via private placement to facilitate strategic partnership, or to replenish operating capital and repay debts.
The share sale will be discussed during the annual shareholder’s meeting on June 12.
O-film undercut rivals’ orders by offering prices that were 20 percent lower last year, local touch panel maker Young Fast Optoelectronics Co Ltd (洋華光電) said.
Separately, LCD panel maker Chunghwa Picture Tubs Co Ltd (中華映管) yesterday said revenue grew 21.6 percent to NT$5.69 billion last month from February’s NT$4.67 billion, thanks to an increase in shipments.
In the first three months, revenue slid 3.1 percent to NT$14.97 billion, compared with NT$15.45 billion in the prior quarter.
Shipment of middle-sized flat panels for tablets jumped 36.6 percent to 153,000 units last month, while small-sized panels for handset devices rose 19.4 percent month-on-month to 38.82 million units from 32.52 million units during the same period of time.
Shares of TPK soared 2.17 percent to NT$188 yesterday, outperforming the TAIEX, which lost 0.14 percent. HannStar shares remained the same at NT$11.6.
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
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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