Restaurant chain operator Wowprime Corp (王品) yesterday announced that it is shutting down two unprofitable brands, as it continue efforts to optimize its portfolio.
The company said it is winding down operations at Sufood (舒果), a vegetarian brand founded in 2010, as well as Ita Pasta & Risotto (義塔), founded in 2014.
Three of Sufood’s four branches are to be closed by the end of February, while a fourth branch on Taipei’s Fuxing N Road has been rebranded Su/Food, serving continental instead of all-vegetarian fare.
All four of Ita’s four restaurants would likewise close by the end of February, the company said.
The closures would lead to a one-time loss of about NT$200 million (US$6.48 million), with the amount to be booked this year, impacting earnings per share by NT$0.2, the company said in a statement.
The two brands have accumulated losses of between NT$250 million and NT$300 million, and the company would introduce stronger-performing brands at the commercial spaces they once occupied, it said.
Wowprime said that all employees at the affected restaurants would be transferred to positions at its other brands, and no changes would be made to their compensation, benefits and seniority within the firm.
Customers who have purchased gift certificates can either apply for a refund or redeem the same value at any of Wowprime’s restaurant chains, it said.
Since 2015, Wowprime chairman Chen Cheng-hui (陳正輝) has been looking to cull unprofitable brands, but the company has yet to return to the rapid growth of its heyday.
Chen last month announced that the company would continue expanding and would introduce up to three new brands and hire an additional 1,500 employees.
Analysts have welcomed the closures, saying the move would help the company cut recurring losses and focus its resources on stronger performing brands.
The company reported that revenue rose 1.27 percent month-on-month and 11.86 percent year-on-year to NT$1.25 billion last month, with its Taiwanese operations rising 15.25 percent year-on-year to NT$720 million, while its Chinese operations climbed 7.5 percent year-on-year to NT$530 million.
Revenue in the first 11 months of the year gained 2.89 percent year-on-year to NT$14.79 billion.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”