ELECTRONICS
Yageo profit up 384 percent
Passive components maker Yageo Corp (國巨) yesterday posted net profit of NT$4.52 billion (US$145.78 million) for last month, up 384 percent from a year earlier, or earnings per share of NT$10.81. Revenue last month was up 242 percent annually to NT$10.25 billion, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Yageo released the figures after the Taiwan Stock Exchange requested that it disclose its latest results, as its stock price has been volatile in recent sessions. The shares closed up 2.69 percent at NT$324 yesterday in Taipei trading. They declined 17.77 percent for the week.
ENERGY
Chunghwa denies bad debt
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) on Thursday said it did not see any “abnormal” increases in bad debt from its new solar panel installation business, dismissing reports that bad debt would soar. The company said it had as of the second quarter accumulated NT$768 million in bad debt. The remarks came after Chinese-language online news outlet Stone Media reported that the company might have to book another NT$3 billion in bad debt for the third quarter from a solar panel installation project in Changhua County for Taiwan Power Co (台電) due to a scandal linked to its contractor.
INVESTMENT
EPZA approves HomeMash
The Export Processing Zone Administration (EPZA) on Thursday said that it has approved an investment by the first Taiwanese enterprise that is to return from China. HomeMash Wood Co Ltd (峰美木業) is to invest about NT$722.14 million in the Chungkang Export Processing Zone in Taichung and create 170 jobs, the EPZA said. The firm, which manufactures a type of vinyl wood flooring known as FirmFit, is to bring advanced production and management processes to Taiwan, it said. EPZA Deputy Director-General Chao Chien-min (趙建民) said that many Taiwanese businesses have applied for approval to invest in Taiwan’s export processing zones, but there is little space left for new factories.
ECONOMY
Trade fears drive uncertainty
Manufacturing sentiment weakened last month as there was no sign that the US-China trade dispute would be resolved soon, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) said on Thursday. The composite index for the manufacturing sector fell 4.49 points from a month earlier to 93.76, the lowest level since February 2016, the institute said. Sentiment in the service sector also weakened due to volatility in equity markets amid concerns over global trade issues, it said. The composite index for the service sector fell 2.38 points from a month earlier to 95.62, the lowest since April, it added.
APPLIANCES
V3 Group IPO withdrawn
Singaporean entrepreneur and tycoon Ron Sim (沈財福) has “aborted” plans to list V3 Group Ltd in Hong Kong amid intense volatility and weakness in the global stock market. Sim, who created Asia’s largest maker of massage chairs, has shelved plans for an initial public offering (IPO) after letting the application lapse at the end of June, he said by telephone. The entrepreneur in 2016 took Osim International Ltd (傲勝國際) private in a S$326.7 million (US$236.1 million) buyout. V3 Group comprises the Osim business and other consumer product units.
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