MANUFACTURING
Sentiment improves: TIER
The manufacturing sector showed an improved business sentiment last month, according to a survey released by the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台經院) yesterday. The composite index for the manufacturing sector rose 2.23 points to 99.50 from April, a new 20-month high, the institute said in its monthly report. The results echoed the latest industrial production data released on Thursday, which showed the production index for last month stopped a 12-month losing streak, TIER said. Meanwhile, the composite index for the service sector rose 2.25 points from a month earlier to 88.95, largely because the local equity market staged a rebound during the month, the institute said.
MACROECONOMICS
M1B, M2 growth rates rise
The monthly growth rates of monetary aggregates M1B and M2 last month grew 0.41 percent and 0.05 percent respectively, the central bank said in a statement yesterday. The annual growth rate of M1B, a narrow measure of the amount of money in circulation, last month rose 6.3 percent from a year earlier. However, the annual growth rate of the broader M2 monetary measurement — which includes M1B, time deposits, foreign currency deposits and mutual funds — decreased to 4.14 percent, mainly because of slower growth in foreign currency deposits and net foreign capital outflows, the central bank said. For the first five months of this year, the average annual growth rates of M1B and M2 were 6.36 percent and 4.88 percent respectively, it said.
ENERGY
Taipower posts pre-tax profit
State-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday said it reported a pre-tax profit of NT$62.8 billion (US$1.93 billion) last year, but the company’s accumulated losses still reached NT$135.5 billion as of the end of last year. Taipower swung into profit in 2014, with a net income of NT$14 billion, ending eight consecutive years of losses. At the company’s annual general meeting, chairman Hwang Jung-chiou (黃重球) said the company would this year continue to face challenges including fluctuating fuel costs, development of renewable energy and a shortage of skilled workers.
AVIATION
Passengers to rise: EVA Air
EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) yesterday said at its annual general meeting that its total number of passengers is expected to increase by 10 percent from last year’s 10.06 million to 11.08 million, while its air cargo volume might drop 3.5 percent year-on-year to 600,000 tonnes. Shareholders yesterday approved the distribution of a NT$0.8 dividend, which includes a cash dividend of NT$0.5 and a stock dividend of 3 percent, based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$1.69.
ELECTRONICS
Lite-On to pay dividends
Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) yesterday said it has gained shareholders’ approval to distribute a dividend of NT$2.24 per share — including a cash dividend of NT$2.19 per share and a stock dividend of 0.5 percent per share. The dividend implies a payout ratio of 72 percent and suggests a yield of 4.9 percent based on the firm’s share price of NT$43.8 at the close of Taipei trading yesterday. Meanwhile, Wu Kuo-feng (吳國風), Harvey Chang (張孝威), Edward Yang (楊耀武) and Albert Hsueh (薛明玲) were elected as independent directors on the company’s board, the optoelectronic components maker said in a statement.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day