SMARTPHONES
Silitech to buy back shares
Handset keypad supplier Silitech Technology Corp (閎暉) yesterday said its board decided to implement a stock buyback plan beginning yesterday and running through July 21. Shares closed 1.32 percent higher at NT$23 yesterday before the company unveiled its buyback plan. The board has agreed to buy back up to 10 million shares, or 5.28 percent of total outstanding shares, at a price of NT$16.1 to NT$35.45 per share, Silitech said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The company plans to spend up to NT$2.74 billion (US$89.7 million) on the buyback and will transfer the shares to employees in a bid to “boost employee morale,” the filing said.
RETAIL
Breeze Group founder dies
Upscale mall operator Breeze Group (微風集團) yesterday confirmed its founder and chairman Paul Liao (廖偉志) has died at the age of 67. Breeze executive director Henry Liao (廖鎮漢) said in a letter to company employees that his father died at home on Wednesday, attended by close family members. The group, which runs several Breeze Center (微風廣場) malls, said that Paul Liao died of an illness, but did not disclose further details.
INVESTMENT FUNDS
FSC’s Wang to chair TIGF
The semi-official Taiwan Insurance Guaranty Fund (TIGF, 保險安定基金) yesterday said its board decided to invite Financial Supervisory Commission Vice Chairwoman Jennifer Wang (王儷玲) to head the fund after former chairman Chu Yun-peng (朱雲鵬) completed his tenure on Thursday. The fund expects that, under Wang’s leadership, Cathay Life Insurance Co Ltd (國泰人壽) will be on track to complete its recent purchases of insolvent Global Life Insurance Co (國寶人壽) and Singfor Life Insurance Co (幸福人壽). Wang is also to help facilitate communications between the fund, the financial regulator and the local insurance industry, according to a TIGF statement.
BANKING
Dome exposure ‘manageable’
The Taipei City Government’s order to Farglory Land Development Co (遠雄建設) to shut down construction of the Taipei Dome this week is expected to create a negative sentiment for the financial sector in the near term, but potential earnings overhang for banks with credit exposure to the land developer is still manageable, JPMorgan Securities Ltd said in a note yesterday. JPMorgan said the syndicated loan of NT$15.4 billion from 11 banks led by Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行) is collateralized by the Taipei Dome itself and related surface rights. The brokerage said such credit exposure is, in general, less than 0.1 percent of the total loan, while a 100 percent provision is expected to affect no more than 10 percent of creditor banks’ earnings this year.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Industry continues to grow
The book-to-bill ratio for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers dropped to 1.04 last month as growth in billings surpassed bookings, semiconductor industry association SEMI said yesterday. This marked the fourth month this year that the ratio stood above one, indicating the industry is still growing. The three-month average of worldwide bookings expanded 12.9 percent to US$1.57 billion last month, from US$1.39 billion in March, SEMI’s data showed. The three-month average of worldwide billings jumped 19.3 percent to US$1.51 billion last month from US$1.27 billion in the prior month.
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
RECORD LOW: Global firms’ increased inventories, tariff disputes not yet impacting Taiwan and new graduates not yet entering the market contributed to the decrease Taiwan’s unemployment rate last month dropped to 3.3 percent, the lowest for the month in 25 years, as strong exports and resilient domestic demand boosted hiring across various sectors, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. After seasonal adjustments, the jobless rate eased to 3.34 percent, the best performance in 24 years, suggesting a stable labor market, although a mild increase is expected with the graduation season from this month through August, the statistics agency said. “Potential shocks from tariff disputes between the US and China have yet to affect Taiwan’s job market,” Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling
As they zigzagged from one machine to another in the searing African sun, the workers were covered in black soot. However, the charcoal they were making is known as “green,” and backers hope it can save impoverished Chad from rampant deforestation. Chad, a vast, landlocked country of 19 million people perched at the crossroads of north and central Africa, is steadily turning to desert. It has lost more than 90 percent of its forest cover since the 1970s, hit by climate change and overexploitation of trees for household uses such as cooking, officials say. “Green charcoal” aims to protect what
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