MedFirst Healthcare Services Inc (杏一), which operates healthcare supplies stores with medical consultation services, reported on Monday that its earnings rose 25 percent last quarter from a quarter earlier because of lower losses at shops that opened this year.
Net profit increased to NT$22.98 million (US$753,306) from NT$18.67 million the previous quarter, but were 4.01 percent lower than the NT$23.94 million recorded a year ago, the company’s stock exchange filing showed.
MedFirst, the nation’s largest medical store operator, opened 10 shops this year, raising its number of shops to 179.
These new locations helped revenue rise to NT$920.57 million last quarter, up 2.49 percent from NT$898.25 million the previous quarter and up 11.43 percent from NT$826.15 million a year earlier, it said.
This quarter, MedFirst is to open three shops in China and one shopping center in Beijing Tsinghua Chang Gung Hospital. The company has seven shops in China now: four in Shanghai, two in Nanjing and one in Xiamen.
Although the company’s shops in China were in the red for the past three quarters, losses declined 51 percent from a year ago, it said.
In addition, its operating expenditure slid to 28.05 percent of its revenue last quarter, from 28.29 percent the previous quarter and 28.77 percent in the first quarter.
MedFirst registered losses of NT$15 million for its Chinese operations last year. However, in addition to opening new shops, the firm is evaluating the possibility to partner with or take over Chinese firms for expansion in China.
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
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last