RETAIL
Buyback scheme approved
Far Eastern Department Stores Co (遠東百貨) yesterday said its board approved a plan to buy back as many as 25 million shares on the open market from today until Nov. 6. The company plans to repurchase shares at prices between NT$12 and NT$24 per share, with the size of the share buyback equaling 1.74 percent of total shares, Far Eastern Deparment said in a statement. The department store operator’s shares yesterday closed 0.32 percent lower at NT$15.45.
SEMICONDUCTORS
ASE posts August record
IC packager and tester Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體) yesterday reported a record revenue for last month of NT$22.92 billion (US$694.5 million), up 5.8 percent from July and an increase of 9.5 percent from a year earlier. Cumulative revenue for the first eight months this year rose 16.31 percent annually to NT$179.47 billion. Meanwhile, smaller rival Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品) said its revenue grew 5.7 percent month-on-month, but declined 4.2 percent year-on-year to NT$6.71 billion last month.
SOLAR PRODUCTS
SAS’ solar sales soar
Solar wafer maker Sino-America Silicon Products Inc (SAS, 中美晶) yesterday said consolidated revenue rose 9.94 percent annually last month to NT$2.44 billion, with sales from solar products jumping 48.15 percent to NT$1.215 billion while those from silicon wafers falling 2.67 percent to NT$1.227 billion. The company expects order visibility to extend into the end of this year and factory utilization to remain at 100 percent.
RESTAURANTS
Tai Tong eyes sales growth
The Tai Tong Food & Beverage Group (瓦城泰統集團) yesterday reported sales of NT$332 million for last month, up 12.58 percent year-on-year and 8.33 percent month-on-month. The company, which operates five restaurant chains including Thai Town Cuisine (瓦城泰國料理), said sales for the first eight months rose 19.38 percent year-on-year to NT$2.36 billion. It expects sales to grow steadily this month and in the fourth quarter on seasonal demand.
FINANCE
CTBC’s income slides
CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) yesterday said net income last month slid 20.59 percent to NT$2.12 billion from July, with aggregate net income in the first eight months growing 22 percent year-on-year to NT$22.01 billion, or NT$1.33 per share. The company attributed the monthly decline to market volatility, which had impacted earnings performance of its life insurance and brokerage units. Separately, Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) reported net income of NT$4.32 billion for last month, tumbling 54.48 percent month-on-month, with net income in the first eight months rising 21.5 percent year-on-year to NT$55.87 billion.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Adimmune, Daiichi ink deal
Vaccine maker Adimmune Corp (國光生技) yesterday inked a five-year partnership agreement with Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd, to provide antigen bulk for the production of quadrivalet influenza vaccine for the Japan market. The companies said they aim to achieve annual production volume of 4 million vaccine doses. Daiichi Sankyo is one of Japan’s top three pharmaceutical companies, with ¥920 billion (US$7.68 billion) in sales and ¥75 billion in net income last year.
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