PHARMACEUTICALS
Lotus upgrades facility
Generic drugmaker Lotus Pharmaceuticals Co (美時化學製藥) yesterday announced that it has begun upgrading its manufacturing facility in Nantou County to expand the production of oral oncology products. The upgrade is expected to be completed in five years and cost tens of millions of US dollars, the company said, adding that its board has approved capital expenditure of US$11 million for this year. The Nantou site has been audited by local, US, EU and Japanese regulatory authorities, enabling it to manufacture products for nearly every market in the world, the firm said. In addition to standard solid oral dose manufacturing, the company can produce hormonal products, soft gelatin capsules, and cytotoxic and high-potency molecules, it said.
TECHNOLOGY
Health2Sync launches app
Taipei-based Health2Sync (慧康生活科技) yesterday launched HealthPass, an app that grants its users full control of their health data using blockchain technology. The start-up teamed up with Bitmark Inc, a Taipei-based blockchain developer, to register users’ health data as their personal digital property. Users would be able to selectively allow certain companies and services to access their health data as part of a monetization scheme. The start-up has also tapped CTBC Bank (中信銀行) to use the lender’s blockchain-based solution to enable transactions resulting from monetization. With the help of health data analysis, insurers would be able to create tailored products based on each user’s health, the firm said.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Pharmally sales up 20.27%
Pharmally International Holding Co (康友製藥), a maker of large-volume parenteral solutions for vaccines and intravenous medicines, yesterday announced that net income last year rose 17.44 percent year-on-year to NT$1.1 billion (US$35.59 million), or earnings per share of NT$14.29, while sales rose 20.27 percent to NT$5.18 billion. Pharmally shares closed unchanged at NT$214 in Taipei trading yesterday. The shares last year saw a spike in volatility, surging to more than NT$500 on progress made at its Indonesian poultry vaccine production plant, before falling below NT$140 after a filing revealed that company officials were trimming their holdings.
ELECTRONICS
Pegatron revenue slumps
Pegatron Corp (和碩) on Monday reported that revenue last month dropped 33.4 percent month-on-month, but rose 6.2 percent year-on-year to NT$81.65 billion. Revenue in the first two months rose 3.2 percent year-on-year to NT$204.28 billion, it said. The Jakarta Post reported that Pegatron’s new plant in Indonesia is expected to begin operations next month. Separately, Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) on Monday reported that revenue last month declined 30.33 percent month-on-month and 16.6 percent year-on-year to NT$10.87 billion. Revenue in the first two months also fell 10.36 percent to NT$26.48 billion.
ELECTRONICS
Chungwa Picture shares fall
A plan to lay off 2,500 employees sent shares in Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (華映) into a tailspin yesterday, dealers said. The heavy selling emerged after the Taiwan Stock Exchange said that the financially troubled panel maker, which has filed for bankruptcy protection, would have to delist regardless of whether the restructuring plan is approved by the courts. Shares fell by the daily limit of 10 percent to close at NT$0.54.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday gave the green light to Good Way Technology Co’s (東碩資訊) application to invest up to NT$700 million (US$23.1 million) in Taiwan under a three-year program that provides incentives for overseas Taiwanese companies to invest back home. Good Way, which specializes in docking stations and counts Intel Corp among its major clients, plans to set up a manufacturing facility in New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止), the ministry said in a statement. Good Way, which has a research and development facility in Taiwan and only one manufacturing plant — in Kunshan, China — decided to expand its
Business sentiment in all industries last month weakened further as the number of COVID-19 infections escalated, threatening to push the global economy into a recession, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台經院) said yesterday. The business confidence gauge for local manufacturers fell 5.31 points to 88.73 from a month earlier, the lowest since January last year, a monthly survey by the Taipei-based institute indicated. Only 19.3 percent of manufacturers remained upbeat about their business outlook in the coming six months, 6 percentage points lower from a month earlier, while companies with a gloomy outlook rose 9.8 percentage points to 36.9 percent,
‘STAY CONNECTED’: Chairman Simon Lin dismissed the pandemic as a short-term issue and forecast a small increase in the firm’s top line and profit margin this year Wistron Corp (緯創), one of Apple Inc’s iPhone assemblers, yesterday said it was upbeat regarding business this year, despite production being halted in India due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “We are under a big threat of course, regarding the coronavirus outbreak, as we encountered a factory shutdown as well as material shortages from the supply chain [in China] … but we believe this is a short-term issue,” Wistron chairman Simon Lin (林憲銘) told investors at an earnings conference in Taipei. He forecast a small annual increase in the company’s top line this year, as well as an increase in its profit margin. The
ENTERTAINMENT Taipei Game Show canceled The Taipei Game Show has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Taipei Computer Association (台北電腦公會) said yesterday. The annual expo was originally scheduled for February, but the association on Jan. 31 postponed it until June 25 to 28 after the WHO declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. As the Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday advised against indoor gatherings of more than 100 people, the association said in a statement that it and most participating companies had agreed to call off the show this year. SEMICONDUCTORS China approves ASE merger The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s
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