Delta Electronics profits soar
Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday reported a record-high net profit of NT$5.84 billion (US$192.1 million), or NT$2.4 per share, for last quarter but gross margin fell slightly to 27.3 percent from 27.43 percent in the previous quarter.
The firm attributed the lower margin to adjustments in its product mix and higher labor costs.
In the first three quarters of the year, the company said net profit increased 20 percent year-on-year to NT$15.67 billion, or NT$6.43 per share, with cumulative revenue of NT$141.1 billion and gross margin of 27.1 percent.
The company expects business for this quarter to be flat from last quarter, but analysts estimate the company’s earnings per share would reach NT$8.5 for this year, the highest since the company listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange in 1988.
Realtek saw Q3 weakness
Networking chips designer Realtek Semiconductor Corp (瑞昱) yesterday reported weaker-than-expected gross margin of 43.5 percent for the July-to-September quarter because of declining average selling prices in its products.
The figure is lower than the 44.88 percent seen in the previous quarter and compared with the 44.7 percent forecast made by Daiwa Capital Markets Inc.
However, the net income reached a historical high of NT$1.2 billion last quarter, or NT$2.38 per share, thanks to a disposal gain of NT$809 million from the sale of its 10.4 percent stake in ISSC Technologies Corp (創傑).
From January to last month, Realtek’s earnings per share were NT$6.02, with cumulative revenue of NT$23.7 billion and gross margin of 44.1 percent.
Controversial article deleted
The legislature’s Economics Committee yesterday agreed to delete an article from the Regulations Governing the Permission of Investment by Nationals in the Mainland Area (大陸地區人民來台投資許可辦法), which allows Chinese to invest in industries included in the proposed free economic pilot zones without being constrained by current regulations.
As the draft bill for the zones has not yet been passed, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers Liao Kuo-tung (廖國棟), Hsu Yao-chang (徐耀昌) and Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) yesterday proposed deleting the article, a suggestion backed by other lawmakers on the committee.
The committee passed other articles of the bill yesterday.
When the Ministry of Economic Affairs incorporated the article into the law in November last year, it drew criticism that the article would create a loophole for Chinese to invest regardless of the amount and the proportion of investment.
S&P raises Formosa’s outlook
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Ratings Services yesterday revised the outlook for Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團) to “stable” from “negative,” while affirming the “BBB+” long-term corporate credit rating as well as the “cnA+” long-term Greater China regional scale rating on the four core companies of the nation’s largest industrial group.
The group’s four main units are Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑公司), Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (台灣化學纖維) and Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠).
S&P said its move reflects the group’s lower debt leverage and strong funds-from-operations interest coverage.
“We expect the group to continue its more conservative policy on debt leverage and lower its debt further,” S&P said in a statement.
“We also expect the group to maintain satisfactory profitability, despite a weaker-than-expected chemical market in Asia-Pacific,” the ratings agency said.
AT&T sells US dollar bonds
AT&T Inc sold US$1.295 billion of US dollar bonds in Taiwan, the biggest ever foreign-currency sale in the nation.
The second-largest US wireless carrier offered the callable notes due in 2044 at 4.7 percent, according to Bloomberg-compiled data.
AT&T’s sale follows Verizon Communications Inc — also of the US — raising US$870 million through a bond sale in Taiwan last month.
SinoPac Securities Corp (永豐金證券) has forecast foreign-currency bond sales will reach US$20 billion next year, up from a projected US$15 billion this year and US$1.8 billion last year.
SPIL raises US$400 million
Chip tester and packager Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品) yesterday said it raised US$400 million from the sale of five-year zero-coupon convertible corporate bonds, the biggest amount raised in any sale of zero coupon bonds in Asia, excluding Japan, so far this year.
The sale consisted of a base amount of US$300 million in bonds and an over-allotment over another US$100 million after international investors showed enthusiasm in subscribing to the bonds, the company said.
If investors hold the bonds to maturity, they will be able to convert their holdings into common shares at a price of NT$53.10 per share.
Siliconware said it will use the proceeds from the bond sale to buy raw materials from overseas suppliers and lower its long-term debt.
According to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, Siliconware was shouldering NT$12.01 billion in long-term debt with a maturity of more than one year as of the end of the second quarter of this year, compared with NT$15.36 billion in long-term debt as of the end of last year.
Despite the strong demand for its bonds, shares of Siliconware fell 0.96 percent to close at NT$41.25 in Taipei trading yesterday.
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
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six