Sharp Corp’s Taiwan branch yesterday announced that it has partnered with retail operator Aurora Telecom Corp (震旦通訊) to expand the Japanese company’s presence in Taiwan via Aurora Telecom’s 150 outlets across the nation.
The announcement came after Aurora Telecom’s parent company, Aurora Group (震旦行), on Friday night said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange that it plans to sell a 34 percent stake to Sharp Taiwan for NT$546.88 million (US$17.98 million), pending shareholders’ approval.
Sharp (Taiwan) Electronics Corp (台灣夏普) sales and marketing general manager Steven Chang (張凱傑) said Sharp aims to increase its revenue contribution from overseas markets, adding that boosting the company’s performance in Taiwan is Sharp’s priority.
“Sharp needed more brick-and-mortar retail channels in Taiwan. The partnership enables Sharp to quickly reach areas where we could not reach before,” Chang told a news conference at Aurora Telecom’s headquarters in Taipei, adding that Sharp expects Aurora Telecom’s well-trained sales personnel to help Sharp sell its products more easily.
Sharp’s selected products, such as TVs and air purifiers, were placed in Aurora Telecom’s 150 stores over the weekend, Chang said.
When asked if Aurora Telecom’s management would be adjusted, Chang said he cannot comment any further for the time being, as the transaction has not yet gained Aurora Telecom shareholders’ approval.
“What I can say now is that I respect Aurora’s management, given its high operational efficiency,” Chang said.
Aurora Telecom general manager Micro Liao (廖慶章) said the company foresees that the strategic partnership with Sharp will benefit its revenue and profitability in the long term, on the back of consumers’ confidence in Sharp’s high-quality products.
Aurora Telecom plans to continue opening new stores and invest more to train sales staff in a bid to further extend its reach in the Taiwanese market, Liao said, without elaborating.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
Hong Kong authorities ramped up sales of the local dollar as the greenback’s slide threatened the foreign-exchange peg. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) sold a record HK$60.5 billion (US$7.8 billion) of the city’s currency, according to an alert sent on its Bloomberg page yesterday in Asia, after it tested the upper end of its trading band. That added to the HK$56.1 billion of sales versus the greenback since Friday. The rapid intervention signals efforts from the city’s authorities to limit the local currency’s moves within its HK$7.75 to HK$7.85 per US dollar trading band. Heavy sales of the local dollar by
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
RSS