Farglory Land Development Co (遠雄建設) yesterday said its sales of new homes might pick up in the second half now that uncertainty over property taxes has settled.
Farglory Land chairman Frank Chao (趙文嘉) made the remark at the Taipei-based developer and builder’s annual general meeting, during which shareholders approved plans to distribute a NT$3.8 cash dividend per common share based on a net profit of NT$5.19 billion (US$165.8 million) last year, or NT$5.99 earnings per share.
Chao offered an apology to shareholders because the results represented a 24.41 percent decline from 2013’s results.
“The situation forward will not be worse than the status quo,” Chao said in reply to questions about the controversial Taipei Dome, a joint development venture between the Farglory Group (遠雄集團) and the city government.
The firm has been engaged in a dispute with the city amid concerns about the dome’s safety.
The underground portions of the site next to the MRT Bannan Line could be finished this month and all the foundations by the end of next month, Farglory Land communications vice president Tsai Chung-i (蔡宗易) said.
Farglory still needs to assure the city government that the dome’s structure is safe to house big sports events and will not pose traffic challenges.
The safety dispute has raised concerns over the health of a NT$15.4 billion syndicated loan covering the construction work.
Mckinney Tsai (蔡友才), chairman of state-run Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐商銀), the lead bank for the loan, on Monday said the creditor banks have no intention of freezing cashflow given sufficient credit protections.
Farglory also increased its share of the funding from 35 percent to 42 percent, thereby lowering the credit risks, Tsai told members of the Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee.
The creditor banks have appropriated NT$9 billion, Tsai said.
Chao said Farglory is looking ahead to a rebound in newly completed housing because prospective buyers might want to take action before property gains taxes take effect next year.
Under the new levy, property gains will be subjected to income taxes of 15 percent to 45 percent, depending on how long the property was held by the owner.
Farglory owns NT$10 billion worth of newly completed apartment units and a land inventory valued at NT$20 billion, company officials said.
The company plans to maintain its policy of launching NT$30 billion to NT$40 billion of presale projects a year, the officials said.
Revenue more than doubled to NT$3.02 billion last month from a year earlier, after booking incomes from sales of new office space in New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止), according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure