RETAIL
Momo.com net income rises
TV and online retailer Momo.com Inc (富邦媒體) yesterday reported that net income in the past year rose 19.24 percent annually to NT$1.45 billion (US$47.06 million), while revenue grew 26.4 percent to NT$42.02 billion. Earnings per share were NT$10.35, up from NT$9.07 a year earlier and the highest level in the past three years, the company said. During this quarter’s year-end shopping rush, net income totaled NT$410 million, or earnings per share of NT$2.92, while revenue rose 24.7 percent to NT$12.39 billion, it said. Momo.com said that its online shopping business grew 33.3 percent, with users increasing the frequency of purchases by about 24 percent and the size of transactions gaining 8.4 percent.
ELECTRONICS
Largan buys 3,500 ping plot
Largan Precision Co (大立光), a camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones, yesterday said that it has obtained 3,500 ping (11,570.25m2) of land and facilities in Taichung for NT$983.37 million after a long search. Largan said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange that it plans to use the new property to expand capacity. It was the second deal secured by the Taichung-based company after it spent NT$1.8 billion on a 7,300 ping plot of land in the central city on Jan. 18. The company said that it would continue to scout for new land in neighboring areas to cope with further capacity expansion over the next two years.
DISPLAYS
Coretronic profit rises 15.4%
Coretronic Corp (中光電), a manufacturer of LCD backlight modules, yesterday said that net profit last year rose 15.4 percent year-on-year from NT$1.75 billion to NT$2.02 billion, the highest level in four years, thanks to growth in the 4K TV display segment. Earnings per share rose to NT$4.65, compared with NT$4.03 in 2017, the firm said. Gross margin last year improved from 17.1 percent in 2017 to 18.6 percent, while revenue rose 4.8 percent year-on-year from NT$53.11 billion to NT$55.67 billion, it said. The company said that it expects backlight module shipments to drop 10 percent this quarter from 11.71 million units last quarter due to seasonal weakness and fewer working days during the Lunar New Year holiday, which starts on Saturday.
TRADE
TAITRA launches platform
The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) yesterday launched the Southern Star Club, an online platform that has attracted more than 1,400 local businesses seeking to tap into the markets targeted by the government’s New Southbound Policy. The platform provides members access to TAITRA’s resources and office staff for assistance, the council said. It also helps users harness the power of crowd-sourcing, identify their needs and conduct business among each other, it said, adding that the platform is part of digitization efforts and is aimed at filling gaps between trade shows.
EQUITIES
TAIEX slides after US drops
The TAIEX yesterday closed down 0.82 percent to 9,931.59 points, dragged down by large-cap shares after stocks in the US took a beating overnight. Turnover totaled NT$88 billion. In the bellwether electronics sector, Largan Precision Co rose 1.61 percent to end at NT$3,780, while iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) dropped 1.27 percent to close at NT$69.90. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the most heavily weighted stock on the local market, shed 2.84 percent to end at NT$222.50.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained