Securities authorities yesterday suspended Howarm United Industries Co (和旺) from over-the-counter share trading on the local bourse because the Taipei-based builder has failed to give a clear account of its land financing deals and cash flow.
The suspension came after shares in Howarm closed down by the maximum daily limit of 7 percent for the 17th consecutive session and a probe found a lack of accountability over the company’s land financing deals and check flows, Taipei Exchange (TPEx, 櫃檯買賣中心) chairman Wu Sou-shan (吳壽山) said.
Its lack of accountability renders the developer vulnerable in terms of asset protection, with investors and securities houses involved liable to incur further losses if the situation deteriorates, Wu said, adding that the TPEx has turned over the matter to judicial investigators to probe possible irregularities.
The company received an unspecified value of loans and mortgaged 12 plots of land, TPEx said.
The authorities last month launched a probe into Howarm in the wake of settlement defaults.
Howarm might seek to restore normal share transactions once it can settle doubts over its financial health, otherwise the company could be delisted from the local bourse if it fails to disclose its first-quarter results by today or account for its fund movements within six months, TPEx said.
Shares in Howarm closed at NT$13.45 on Wednesday, after slumping 71.68 percent over the past month, while the index declined 3.97 percent, TPEx data showed.
As of Wednesday, more than 20 million Howarm shares were on the market without buyers, data indicated.
About 24 million shares, or 20 percent of the company’s shares in circulation, were bought with margin loans and their investors need to settle with cash to secure the stock despite losses, TPEx said.
Another 2.3 million shares in Howarm involved in securities lending might generate gains of NT$68 million (US$2.21 million), TPEx said.
As for settlement defaults last month, securities houses probably incurred total losses of NT$63 million, according to TPEx estimates.
The brokerages affected are MasterLink Securities Corp (元富證券), Horizon Securities (宏遠證券), Capital Securities Co (群益證券) and Waterland Securities Co (國票證券), while state-run Mega Securities Co (兆豐證券) has managed to receive the payments owed to it from customers.
Howarm posted NT$1.02 billion in revenue last quarter, representing a 20.54 percent increase from the same period last year, aided by the sale of 100 ping (330.5m2) of land in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山).
Net income for last quarter was NT$226 million, or NT$1.75 per share.
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI