PANEL MAKERS
GIS to raise funds with GDRs
General Interface Solution Holding Ltd (GIS, 業成), a touchpanel manufacturing unit of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), is expected to raise more than NT$6.298 billion (US$207.17 million) by issuing 30 million global depositary receipts (GDRs), each of which represents one GIS common share, the firm said yesterday in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The company said it is to price the GDRs at US$6.9 each, a 6.5 percent discount to its closing share price of NT$224.5 in Taipei trading on Thursday, based on a fixed exchange rate of NT$30.429 versus the US dollar at 11am. The GDRs are to be traded on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, it said.
STEELMAKERS
Chung Hung to improve mix
Chung Hung Steel Corp (中鴻鋼鐵), a subsidiary of China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼), yesterday told shareholders that it would improve its product mix by raising the proportion of higher-margin steel pipes. The remarks came after shareholders approved management’s plan to pay no dividend, even though the company last year posted a net income of NT$1.91 billion, or earnings per share of NT$1.33. Chung Hung has over the past few years accumulated a total of NT$4.5 billion in debt and has not paid cash or stock dividends in the past 10 years. Chung Hung chairman Chiu Shuenn-der (邱順得) said the company, which reported earnings per share of NT$0.48 in the first quarter of this year, remains cautiously optimistic about sales and profitability this year.
STEELMAKERS
FPG appoints unit president
Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp (台塑河靜鋼鐵興業) vice president Chang Fu-ning (張復寧) has been promoted to president, Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團) said in a statement yesterday. Chen Yuan-cheng (陳源成) would no longer serve as both chairman and president of the group’s steel mill in Vietnam, FPG said. The personnel adjustments took effect on Monday, it added. Chang, a 38-year veteran at FPG, in 2014 joined Formosa Ha Tinh Steel, which earlier this month started trial operations of its No. 1 blast furnace.
PC MAKERS
Acer taps former premier
Acer Inc (宏碁) yesterday said its board has named independent board director Simon Chang (張善政) to lead a new investment committee, which is to review the company’s new investments, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, and other strategic planning. Chang is chairman of the Taiwan Mobile Foundation and formerly served as the nation’s premier. Members of the committee also include Acer chairman Jason Chen (陳俊聖), founder Stan Shih (施振榮), former chairman George Huang (黃少華) and Lee Ji-ren (李吉仁), professor of international business at National Taiwan University.
FOOD AND BEVERAGE
TTFB to pay record dividend
Shareholders of Tai Tong Food & Beverage Group (TTFB, 瓦城泰統集團), which operates six restaurant chains led by Thai Town Cuisine (瓦城泰式料理), on Thursday approved a record-high cash dividend of NT$11.6 per share on last year’s earnings per share of NT$13.12. Net profit last year soared 9.33 percent year-on-year to NT$305 million, while sales increased 11.61 percent to NT$3.85 billion, which the firm attributed to its multiple-brand strategy, TTFB said. The restaurant chain operator said it aims to launch its seventh brand by the end of this year, in line with plans to establish six new cuisine chains before 2020.
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],”
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
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