Eastern Media International Corp (東森國際) yesterday outlined plans to double down on its new retail projects and media content businesses as the company continues to diversify.
The company, which operates e-commerce platform ETMall (東森購物), has centered its long-term growth strategy on expanding its online and offline retail footprints, company chairman Liao Shang-wen (廖尚文) told an investors’ conference in Taipei yesterday.
The firm in October bought a 30 percent stake in Hong Kong-listed Natural Beauty Bio-Technology Ltd (自然美) to tap into the market for beauty centers and spas, as well as skincare products and services, with 240 in Taiwan and about 700 franchise stores in China.
The acquisition aims to create a synergy between the company’s digital and brick-and-mortar retail channels and create cross-selling opportunities, Liao said.
With its extensive resources and product catalog, the company hopes to revitalize Natural Beauty’s slowing franchise growth, Liao said.
To set an example for prospective franchisees, Eastern Media plans to expand the number of directly operated Natural Beauty centers from two to 10, he added.
In October, the company also took over an insolvent pet supply store chain with 17 locations in Taiwan, of which 12 have been reopened, with more to be reopened to capitalize on the market segment.
The company in January acquired Strawberrynet.com, an online store that carries discount cosmetics and skincare products in 230 countries. The online store’s contribution increased ETMall’s revenue 33.45 percent year-on-year to NT$13.48 billion (US$436.67 million), from NT$10.1 billion.
ETMall is to begin carrying the company’s in-house health supplement and skincare products to improve its gross margin, Liao said.
ETToday (東森新聞雲), the firm’s online news and media platform, contributed 3.27 percent in revenue by the end of the first three quarters, further diversifying the firm’s portfolio, Liao said.
ETToday is to produce a singing competition show and put on a theater production in an attempt to develop new revenue streams, Liao said, adding that substantial production costs are partly offset by government subsidies.
However, ETToday’s net losses in the first three quarters surged 58.82 percent annually to NT$108 million, while revenue rose 25 percent to NT$443 million.
“We are looking at long-term prospects and expect ETToday to remain in the red through the end of next year as the platform continues to develop,” Liao said.
The company is to finish winding down its shipping business in 2020, Liao said.
For the first three quarters, the company reported net income of NT$1.66 billion, up from a net loss of NT$220 million a year earlier, helped by a US$60 million windfall from the sale of a Shanghai-based subsidiary in the second quarter.
Revenue rose 33.46 percent annually to NT$13.48 billion, while earnings per share was NT$2.61.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure