Sat, Feb 14, 2015 page14

• Taiwan Business Quick Take

  • Staff writer, with CNA
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  STEELMAKERS

  China Steel to expand stake

  China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼), the nation’s biggest steelmaker, yesterday said its board approved a plan to purchase a NT$939 million (US$29.9 million) stake in a Vietnamese steelmaking unit of Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團). After the transaction, CSC will hold a 25 percent stake in Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp (台塑河靜鋼鐵興業), up from 5 percent, the company said in a statement. The investment is part of CSC’s broader overseas expansion plan, the company said. The deal is expected to deepen the company’s partnership with Formosa and would also pave the way for future collaboration in expanding to other Asian countries, including India and Southeast Asian nations, it said. The board also approved plans to invest an additional NT$869 million in Taiwan Rolling Stock Co Ltd (台灣車輛股份有限公司) and Tang Eng Iron Works Co (唐榮鐵工廠).

  TELECOMS

  Taiwan Star eyes coverage

  Taiwan Star Telecom Co (台灣之星), a telecoms arm of Ting Hsin International Group (頂新國際集團), said it plans to boost investment on network deployment with an aim to increase its 4G coverage to 98 percent by the end of this year, while indoor coverage is expected to increase to 80 percent. At the end of last year, the carrier’s 4G coverage had reached 96 percent, Taiwan Star said in a statement on Thursday. The company said new subscribers rose by 20 percent last month after jumping 45 percent in December last year.

  PC MAKERS

  Sales drop across industry

  Following the peak holiday season in December last year, contract computer makers Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), Compal Electronics Co (仁寶電腦) and Inventec Corp (英業達) all reported monthly declines in sales for last month. Quanta’s revenue dropped 21.07 percent monthly to NT$70.12 billion last month. Compal sales declined 17.11 percent monthly to NT$68.73 billion last month, though the month’s sales jumped 28.54 percent from a year earlier. For last month’s sales, Inventec dropped 18.67 percent to NT$29.87 billion from a month earlier. The figure was a 29.5 percent decline from the previous year.

  PC MAKERS

  Pegatron income improves

  Contract notebook computer maker Pegatron Corp (和碩) reported 3.27 percent monthly growth in income to NT$118.04 billion for last month. Pegatron’s sales for last month also jumped 28.98 percent from a year earlier, according to a company filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

  TRANSPORTATION

  Union seeks Uber informants

  The Taipei taxi drivers’ union yesterday said it is offering a reward of NT$500 to people who provide firm evidence that US-based ridesharing service Uber is still operating in the nation, in violation of the law. The union said it worked with other organizations to raise NT$500,000, which would be split among the first 1,000 people who present pictures or video footage that prove Uber is still running a transportation service in Taiwan. The offer lasts until the end of next month, the association said. To obtain the reward, a person would have to report an incident to a motor vehicle office, providing a picture or video of a Uber car’s license plate, a screenshot of a confirmed dispatch order on the Uber app, a bill for the transaction and a confirmation slip from the motor vehicle office after filing the report.
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