HOSPITALITY
FDC hits highest-ever revenue
Hotel and restaurant operator FDC International Hotels Corp (雲品國際), which expanded its banquet business through a number of acquisitions and mergers last year, yesterday reported that its net profit increased 19 percent to NT$228 million (US$7.82 million) from a year earlier, or record earnings per share of NT$3.48. The company’s revenue was the highest in its history at NT$1.53 billion, up 15 percent year-on-year. The company’s board has proposed a cash dividend of NT$2.75 per common share, which would mean a payout ratio of 79.02 percent if it is approved at an annual general meeting scheduled for May 30.
MANUFACTURING
Nan Ya Plastics dividend up
Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠), a major unit of Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團) that manufactures electronic materials and plastic, fiber and petrochemical products, yesterday said its board has approved a cash dividend of NT$5.1 per common share, the highest since 2009. Based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$6.87, the payout ratio is 74.24 percent. Meanwhile, Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑), the Formosa Plastics Group’s flagship company and the nation’s largest maker of polyvinyl chloride resins, on Thursday approved a cash dividend of NT$5.7 per common share, a seven-year high that represents a payout ratio of 75.2 percent based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$7.58.
TOURISM
Lion Travel sees record sales
Lion Travel Service Co (雄獅旅行社) yesterday posted record sales and earnings for last year and the company’s board has proposed a cash dividend of NT$5.2 per share. Lion Travel said net profit reached NT$455 million last year, or earnings per share of NT$6.5, with revenue increasing 22.4 percent year-on-year to NT$26.78 billion. The company attributed the growth to 15.65 million Taiwanese making overseas trips last year, up 7.3 percent from a year earlier. Efforts to adjust its product portfolio and marketing strategy, as well as to develop overseas markets and additional distribution channels, also helped generate the improved results, Lion Travel said. The company’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 15 is to vote on the dividend proposal.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Win’s net profit jumps 20.9%
Win Semiconductors Corp (穩懋), the world’s largest pure-play gallium arsenide foundry, on Thursday posted net profit of NT$3.76 billion for last year, up 20.9 percent from NT$3.11 billion in 2016. That translated into earnings per share of NT$9.34, from NT$6.04. Revenue grew 25.48 percent to NT$17.09 billion from NT$13.62 billion. The company’s board also proposed a cash dividend of NT$7, which represents a payout ratio of 74.95 percent. The company’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 15 is to vote on the proposal.
MANUFACTURING
Optimax forgoes dividend
Optimax Technology Corp (力特光電), a supplier of polarizing films that are a central component of LCD technology, has decided not to distribute a dividend to shareholders this year, as the company reported a net loss of NT$213 million for last year, or a loss per share of NT$0.66. The regulator might ban margin trading in Optimax shares next month at the earliest, as the firm’s net value has fallen below the threshold of NT$5 per share to NT$4.68, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to