Securities firms’ profits double
Securities companies saw their net profit more than double last month from July, in part because of Yuanta Securities Co’s (元大寶來證券) returns on an investment in a non-core business, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) said on Saturday.
The increase in those investment returns offset the negative impact on securities firms’ bottom lines of a decline in daily turnover in the nation’s equity markets last month, when average daily turnover fell about 20.6 percent month-on-month to NT$92.2 billion (US$3.07 billion), the TWSE said.
According to the TWSE, the nation’s 79 securities firms posted a combined net profit of NT$6.66 billion last month, up 160.89 percent from a month earlier.
The exchange said 49 out of the 79 firms were profitable, while the remaining 30 incurred losses during the month.
In the first eight months of the year, the 79 securities firms posted a combined net profit of NT$26 billion, up 121 percent from a year earlier, the exchange said.
Quiznos to open 100 stores
Toasted submarine sandwich brand Quiznos is planning to open 100 stores in Taiwan within 10 years, aiming to gain a sizable share of the nation’s fast-food market.
The first three stores are set to be in the Taipei region, and a flagship store is expected to open in the first quarter of next year, according to a spokesman for the Denver-based chain.
Quiznos opened its first store in Taipei City’s Xinyi District (信義) this month. Taiwan is the 40th nation Quiznos has opened stores in.
Founded in 1981, Quiznos is the second-largest submarine sandwich shop chain in North America. It has more than 2,000 outlets in 40 countries.
Best Mall eyes 100,000 clients
Best Mall (Best嚴選購物網), an online shopping site that started operations in Taiwan on Saturday, said it would focus on offering high-quality food items and hopes to attract 100,000 members by the end of this year, despite Taiwan being in the grips of a food safety scandal.
The e-commerce platform plans to provide consumers with high-quality food products because it is supervised by a team of doctors, Best Mall founder Yang Chang-yao (楊昌堯) said.
Best Mall also offers health, beauty and 3C products, as well as clothing and antiques, Yang said.
HTC beats Samsung to No.1
HTC Corp (宏達電) edged out South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co to return to being Taiwan’s largest smartphone manufacturer based on units sold in the second quarter of this year, according to data released by research house International Data Corp (IDC) on Friday.
HTC took first place because of sales of its flagship One M8 and mid-tier Desire 816, while Samsung continued to benefit from the popularity of its high-end Note series, the report said.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese PC vendor Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) surprisingly climbed to third place on the back of its low-cost ZenFone 5 model, surpassing Japan’s Sony Mobile Communications AB in fourth and China’s Xiaomi Corp (小米) in fifth, the report said.
Based on IDC’s results, a total of 2.2 million smartphones were shipped to distributors in Taiwan during the second quarter, making it the third consecutive quarter in which shipments surpassed 2 million units.
Taiwan and France to create IoT
Taiwan and France will work together to develop the Internet of Things (IoT) in a bid to explore business opportunities within the potentially massive industry, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) said on Friday.
Shen made the remarks in Paris as the government-funded Institute for Information Industry (III) signed a memorandum of understanding with Institute National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA), or French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation, and Universite Pierre et Marie Curie for future cooperation in developing the IoT.
Shen added that beyond the cooperation on the IoT with France, Taiwan is seeking to work with European countries on 5G technology and telematics development.
HSBC Bank (Taiwan) Ltd (匯豐台灣商銀) has approved two sustainability-linked loans totaling NT$450 million (US$15.55 million) for Taya Group (大亞集團) and Sinbon Electronics Co (信邦電子), the bank said yesterday, adding that interest rates would fall if the borrowers’ sustainability performance improves. Those marked the first sustainability-linked loans granted by HSBC Taiwan, it said. While HSBC Taiwan has experience providing green loans for the nation’s developers of renewable energy sources to support their projects, the bank began focusing on sustainability-linked loans to meet rising demand from companies in other sectors planning to undertake sustainability programs, it said. “As we reward our clients who reach their
‘NEW TRAVEL MARKET’: The carrier initially planned to lay off about 8,000 people globally, but after government intervention reduced that to 18 percent of its workforce Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd (國泰航空) would cut 6,000 jobs and close its Cathay Dragon brand, the South China Morning Post reported, as part of a strategic review to combat the unprecedented damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Hong Kong-based airline is expected to officially announce the plan after the market close today, the newspaper said. It initially planned about 8,000 layoffs globally, but after government intervention reduced that to 18 percent of its total workforce, including about 5,000 jobs in Hong Kong, it said. The company, which posted a HK$9.9 billion (US$1.3 billion) loss in the first half, has for months
V-SHAPED RECOVERY: Local tech firms have benefited from strong demand for 5G deployment and electronic devices required for a low-contact economy, CIER said The Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) yesterday raised its forecast for the nation’s GDP growth this year to 1.76 percent, from its previous estimate of 1.33 percent, saying exports and private consumption have staged a V-shaped recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in the second half of the year. “The upgrade aims to reflect the fast recovery in Taiwan’s exports and domestic demand,” CIER president Chang Chuang-chang (張傳章) told a media briefing. The Taipei-based think tank said the economy might have expanded 2.77 percent last quarter — emerging from a 0.78 percent decline in the second quarter — and would grow
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) yesterday said that the company remains committed to its project in Wisconsin, but appeared to condition its completion on the receipt of state incentives, the Wall Street Journal reported. Gou said in a statement that Hon Hai, known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) outside of Taiwan, remains committed to its investment, although “market conditions and the COVID-19 pandemic” have altered the timing of its expansion and the specifics of its manufacturing plans. The company has over the past three years invested US$750 million to transform southeastern Wisconsin into a high-tech
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