BANKING
Banks’ profitability drops
Local banks last year posted declines in return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) for the third straight year, the Financial Supervisory Commission said on Thursday. Banks’ ROA and ROE came in at 0.67 percent and 8.97 percent respectively, falling by 0.01 and 0.26 percentage points from the previous year, as assets expansion outpaced growth in profitability, the commission said. A surge in penalties for infractions at home and abroad over the past three years also contributed to the decline, it said. ROA dropped to a six-year low, while ROE slid to an eight-year low, it added.
ENERGY
Swancor, FPG firms team up
Resin manufacturer and wind farm developer Swancor Holding Co (上緯) on Thursday said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with two Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團) members to develop a local supply chain for offshore wind farms. Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑) and Formosa Heavy Industries Corp (台朔重工) are to produce materials used in turbine blades and underwater structure of wind turbines respectively for Swancor’s ongoing projects, the company said in a statement. Swancor has been working on its offshore energy project since 2013, with business partners including Sydney-headquartered Macquarie Capital Ltd and Denmark-based Orsted A/S.
MEDIA
VHQ plans to raise NT$740m
Singapore-based VHQ Media Holdings Ltd plans to raise capital of NT$740 million (US$25.26 million) through the issuance of 5.22 million new common shares. The company on Wednesday said that it has set the price at NT$141.78 per share and the proceeds would be used to purchase a 70 percent stake in Beijing Jupiter Cultural Media Inc (木星時代文化傳媒), a deal that is expected to be completed in the second quarter, it said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. VHQ offers movie production, TV commercials visual design, special effects, 3D animation and post-production services.
RETAIL
Eslite announces dividends
Eslite Spectrum Corp (誠品生活), which operates bookstores, restaurants, hotels and commercial centers, on Tuesday said its board has approved a plan to distribute cash dividends of NT$7.56 per common share, representing a payout ratio of 84.85 percent based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$8.91. Revenue last year edged up 0.35 percent from the previous year to NT$4.28 billion, while net income rose 0.5 percent to NT$423 million. The company is to hold an annual general meeting on May 29 at the Eslite Xinyi Store in Taipei, where shareholders are to vote on the dividend proposal.
ELECTRONICS
Tripod profit jumps 22%
Printed circuit board supplier Tripod Technology Corp (健鼎科技) on Tuesday reported that net profit for last year rose 22.19 percent to NT$4.37 billion, or earnings per share of NT$8.31, the highest since 2010. Gross margin increased 0.26 percentage points to 18.23 percent and revenue expanded 22.19 percent to NT$45.82 billion. The company expects revenue this year to grow by 8 to 10 percent, buoyed by its solid state drive and “smart” speaker segments, as well as increased orders from top Chinese handset and automotive clients. Tripod operates plants in Taoyuan as well as in China’s Jiangsu and Hubei provinces.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by