ENTERTAINMENT
VHQ buys into TV dramas
Singapore-based VHQ Media Holdings Ltd (威馳克媒體) yesterday said it has purchased a 70 percent stake in Beijing Jupiter Cultural Media Inc (木星時代文化傳媒), a deal that is likely contribute to its revenue and earnings this quarter. VHQ, which trades on the Taipei Exchange, said it expects that the extension into TV dramas through the 173.6 million yuan (US$25.1 million) deal would help it leverage its strengths in movie production, TV commercial visual design, special effects, post-production and 3D animation. VHQ said it remains optimistic for this year, as orderbook visibility stretches until next year.
SEMICONDUCTORS
PDC shares up on earnings
Prosperity Dielectrics Co Ltd (PDC, 信昌電子陶瓷) shares yesterday rose 9.91 percent after it reported that net profit increased 322 percent annually in August. The Taoyuan-based company, which supplies chip capacitors, chip resistors, ceramic dielectric powder, semiconductor ceramics and silver paste, said that net profit reached NT$190 million (US$6.15 million) in August, with earnings per share (EPS) of NT$1.11, compared with NT$0.26 in the same month last year. Cumulative net profit totaled NT$372 million for July and August, up 389 percent year-on-year, with EPS of NT$2.16, PDC said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
ELECTRONICS
Parade approves buyback
Parade Technologies Ltd (譜瑞), which specializes in designing and selling high-speed signal transmission interfaces and display chips, yesterday said its board of directors has approved a share buyback scheme and would transfer the repurchased shares to its employees. The company plans to repurchase 500,000 shares on the open market from yesterday to Dec. 11 at NT$282.5 to NT$677 per share, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The repurchased shares would account for 0.63 percent of its total issuance, Parade said. The company’s shares yesterday closed up 8.92 percent at NT$403 in Taipei trading. They have declined 31.58 percent this year. The firm reported sales of NT$7.25 billion in first nine months, down 5.8 percent year-on-year.
ELECTRONICS
Ichia Q3 earnings strong
Handset keypad maker Ichia Technologies Inc (毅嘉科技) on Thursday released unaudited operating results for last quarter showing pretax profit of NT$93 million, the highest for the period in four years. Shipments, product prices, yield rates and operating efficiency improved last quarter from the second quarter, the company said. From January through last month, cumulative pretax profit totaled NT$59 million, the company said in a statement. In the first nine months, consolidated revenue grew 1.68 percent annually to NT$5.34 billion, with gross margin of 6 percent and operating losses of NT$7 million, Ichia said.
ENERGY
Tatung OKs solar plant
Home appliance supplier Tatung Co (大同) on Thursday said its board of directors voted to invest in a 133 megawatt (MW) solar power plant in Tainan’s Cigu District (七股), in addition to a 120MW solar plant in the area that the board approved earlier. Overall, Tatung said it plans to install 253MW of solar capacity in Tainan, as it strives to enhance its market share in solar power plants and assure long-term revenue and profit stability, the company said in a statement. Tatung has been aggressively inviting large-scale financial investors to participate in the investment, it added.
Elon Musk’s lieutenants have reached out to chip industry suppliers, including Applied Materials Inc, Tokyo Electron Ltd and Lam Research Corp, for his envisioned Terafab, early steps in an audacious and likely arduous attempt to break into the production of cutting-edge chips. Staff working for the joint venture between Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) have sought price quotes and delivery times for an array of chipmaking gear, people familiar with the matter said. In past weeks, they’ve contacted makers of photomasks, substrates, etchers, depositors, cleaning devices, testers and other tools, according to the people, who asked not to
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
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