STOCKS
GIS launches share buyback
General Interface Solution Holding Ltd (GIS, 業成科技) shares yesterday closed down 1.83 percent at NT$214, despite the start of its latest buyback plan. The touchpanel manufacturing arm of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is the first supply chain firm related to Apple Inc to have launched a buyback on the open market following the sluggish sales of the iPhone X, the Chinese-language Commercial Times reported. The buyback, which prices shares between NT$153 and NT$301, is the firm’s second since it was listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange in 2015. The earlier program began on Dec. 7, 2016, and ran to Feb. 6 last year, and bought back 3 million shares.
CONTACT LENSES
Pegavision’s profit up 62%
Pegavision Corp (晶碩) on Monday reported net profit of NT$302 million (US$10.33 million) for last year, an increase of 62 percent over 2016 and its highest annual earnings since the Pegatron Corp (和碩) subsidiary was founded in 2009. Earnings per share were NT$5.05, compared with the NT$3.11 per share in 2016, Pegavision’s filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange said. Its revenue climbed 31.5 percent to NT$2.18 billion last year. Pegavision attributed its strong earnings to the robust sales of its contact lens brand in China and Southeast Asia. Orders from Japanese vendors expanded steadily last year from 2016, it said.
INSURANCE
Cathay Life installs panels
Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽) yesterday said that it has completed installation of 4,890 ping (16,165m2) of solar panels on the rooftop of a logistics facility in Taoyuan’s Dayuan District (大園). The panels have a combined capacity of about 1.9 megawatts and are expected to produce 2.09 million kilowatt-hours of energy annually. That would help the company offset 1,335 tonnes of carbon emissions, it said. Cathay Life has been investing in solar power since 2014, and it will continue to cover the rooftops of its investees, such as the logistic facility with solar panels, executive vice president Lin Chao-ting (林昭廷) said.
RECYCLING
Long Chen invests in unit
Industrial papermaker Long Chen Paper Co (榮成紙業) is to inject new capital of 270 million yuan (US$42.68 million) into its Chinese subsidiary, Hubei Long Chen Recycling Technology Co Ltd (湖北榮成), it said yesterday in a filing with the Taiwan exchange. Long Chen has a 40.2 percent stake in Hubei Long Chen, which began production in October last year. The Hubei-based subsidiary is scheduled to receive China’s approval for importing wastepaper by the end of March at the earliest, Long Chen said earlier this month. Its stock rose 0.59 percent in Taipei trading to close at NT$33.9 before the announcement.
INSURANCE
Hepatitis B policy offered
Taiwan Life Insurance Co (台灣人壽保險) yesterday launched the nation’s first insurance policy for hepatitis B patients. The policy is designed to help patients fund their treatment in the earlier phases of the disease, and provide larger lump-sum payouts in the event of a liver transplant or other major procedure, the life insurance arm of CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) said. While insurance firms decline to provide coverage to about 10 percent of prospective clients due to liver disease, such people often have the most urgent need for insurance, it said. A typical policy for a 35-year-old person requires an annual premium of NT$64,647 over 20 years.
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