AVIATION
Major carriers’ sales drop
The nation’s major airlines on Monday reported sales declines last month, but the figures also showed that the impact of flight disruptions due to the Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak in South Korea was easing. China Airlines Ltd (中華航空) said that sales dropped 7.11 percent year-on-year and 1.8 percent month-on-month to NT$11.64 billion (US$371.86 million) last month, and that cumulative sales for the first six months of the year totaled NT$72.78 billion, up 0.71 percent compared with the same period last year. EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) reported sales of NT$11.01 billion last month, down 0.8 percent from the previous month and 3.33 percent from a year earlier. Its first-half sales grew 5.98 percent to NT$62.33 billion from the previous year. TransAsia Airways Corp (復興航空), weighed down by accidents over the past year, saw sales last month drop 39.8 percent year-on-year and 6.1 percent month-on-month to NT$730 million. Its revenue for the first six months fell 20.3 percent annually to NT$5.17 billion.
EQUITIES
Stock trading halts planned
The government is to introduce a mechanism next year that will allow halts in the trading of stocks on the main bourse and the over-the-counter market, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) said on Monday. According to the exchange, whenever a listed company is set to announce material information that could influence its share price, it can apply to the TWSE for approval of a temporary halt in trading. The new mechanism, which follows foreign exchanges such as Singapore, Hong Kong and the NASDAQ, is to take effect on Jan. 15.
WEALTH
Taiwan moves up rich list
Taiwan was the 17th-richest nation among 184 countries and territories from 2009 to 2013, according to an analysis by Global Finance Magazine based on per capita income adjusted for purchasing power. Taiwan’s ranking in 2013 was much improved from its 25th position in 2009. According to the ranking released by the magazine on Monday, Qatar was the richest nation in the world, ahead of Luxembourg, Singapore, Norway and Brunei, in that order. Japan ranked 22nd and South Korea was 26th, while China was 90th, according to the magazine.
STOCK EXCHANGE
Listed firms’ revenue falls
Listed companies’ total consolidated revenue fell 1.88 percent year-on-year to NT$2.3 trillion last month, according to a statement by the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp (TWSE) yesterday. The decline in last month’s sales was attributed to weakening performance of the construction, steel, and oil and gas industries. However, in the first half of the year, listed companies’ total sales were NT$13.47 trillion, up 1.65 percent year-on-year, which the TWSE attributed to growth in the electronics components distribution, tourism and automobile industries.
INVESTMENT
Hon Hai, Czech PM eye pact
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is reportedly to sign a memorandum on cooperation with the Czech Republic later this month related to an investment in a research and design center in that nation, Reuters reported on Monday. The report said Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) is to meet Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka on Tuesday next week to sign the agreement.
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
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last