Shareholders in hotel and restaurant operator FDC International Hotels Corp (雲品國際) on Friday approved plans to acquire affiliate Palais de Chine (君品酒店) for NT$780 million (US$25.4 million), allowing FDC to expand its revenue.
The acquisition fell in line with FDC’s strategy to include the upscale business hotel near Taipei Railway Station as a key profit driver on par with luxury resort Fleur de Chine (日月潭雲品酒店) near Sun Moon Lake and independent dining facilities, FDC said in a statement.
FDC would begin to benefit from the addition of Palais de Chine in October, it said.
Palais de Chine was the flagship property of L’Hotel de Chine Group (雲朗觀光), which owns other hotel brands, including Maison de Chine (兆品酒店), Chateau de Chine (翰品酒店), Chinatrust Hotels (中信旅館) and outlets in Italy.
FSC saw its revenue and profit plunge by 5.7 percent and 52.32 percent respectively from a year earlier to a record low of NT$339 million and NT$21 million last quarter, it said, adding that the results translated into earnings per share of NT$0.32, also a new low.
FDC attributed the weak performance to a slow season, as well as layoffs and asset impairment costs linked to the closure in May of the seafood buffet restaurant Giardino (品花苑) in New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District (新莊).
For the first half of the year, FDC accumulated NT$753 million in revenue, a 2.78 percent increase from a year earlier, while net income dropped 22.03 percent to NT$86 million, it said.
Earnings momentum might improve with the high-sales season approaching, it said.
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
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