TELECOMS
Taiwan Star to end 4G offer
Taiwan Star Cellular Corp (台灣之星), a telecommunications arm of Ting Hsin International Group (頂新國際集團), yesterday said it is ending its low-priced 4G flat-rate package by the end of this month. Starting next month, Taiwan Star will stop offering its unlimited 4G service package that carries a minimum monthly charge of NT$599. The number of subscribers to this package rose threefold this week from last week, the company said. Mobile users who prefer flat-rate packages can still subscribe to Taiwan Star’s 4G service packages with higher minimum monthly fees ranging from NT$799 to NT$2,599.
RETAIL
FamilyMart, I-Mei team up
Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店), the nation’s second-largest convenience store operator with 2,952 stores nationwide, yesterday said it was forming a strategic alliance with I-Mei Foods Co Ltd (義美食品) to sell up to 100 I-Mei products, after the retailer started selling I-Mei soybean milk products on March 4. FamilyMart said it sold 500,000 bottles of I-Mei soybean milk products per week, raising the company’s soybean milk sales by 80 percent. The convenience store operator added that it plans to choose 200 to 300 outlets in residential areas to set up independent store shelves for I-Mei products in May.
ELECTRONICS
Everlight to build new plant
Leading LED lighting and product supplier Everlight Electronics Co (億光電子) said it would invest NT$1.3 billion (US$41.2 million) to purchase land, facilities and equipment for a factory in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼). The new factory is expected to begin a test run early next year. To meet the firm’s capacity expansion needs, Everlight’s board on Wednesday approved a five-year unsecured convertible bond issue of NT$5 billion, the company said in a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing. Last year, Everlight posted a net income of NT$2.2 billion, or NT$5.12 per share. The board this week proposed distributing cash dividends of NT$4 per share, implying a dividend yield of 5.17 percent based on yesterday’s closing price of NT$77.4.
FOOD
UBS upgrades Uni-President
UBS Securities Ptd Ltd yesterday upgraded its rating for Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), the nation’s largest food-and-beverage conglomerate, to “buy” from “neutral,” on expectations that a turnaround in the firm’s beverage business in China would boost its earnings growth this year and next. Uni-President Enterprises could also see continued margin expansion this year, as the company extends its product portfolio restructuring to “all” products following last year’s food safety scandals, UBS said in a research note. The brokerage raised its price target for Uni-President from NT$51 to NT$58, or 24 times its estimated earnings per share of NT$2.42. The stock closed flat at NT$51.50 yesterday.
PROPERTY
Kee Tai income up 43.2%
Kee Tai Properties Co (基泰建設) yesterday reported stellar earnings for last year and announced plans to distribute cash dividends of NT$1.25 per share. Net income rose 43.2 percent from a year ago to NT$1.3 billion, or NT$3.18 per share. With the stock closing at NT$20.45 yesterday, the proposed cash dividends imply a yield of 6.11 percent.
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
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
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