FINANCE
AEON leaving Taiwan
The Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday confirmed that AEON Credit Card (Taiwan) Co Ltd (台灣永旺信用卡) began winding down its business in December last year. By June 1, about 50,000 credit cards issued by the local unit of the Japanese retail giant would be taken out of circulation, it said. After arriving in 2002, the company lacked the required scale to be profitable, the commission said.
MANUFACTURING
Giant upbeat on year ahead
Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大機械) is upbeat about its sales this year as bicycle demand recovers in China while demand for electric bicycles continues to grow steadily, chairwoman Bonnie Tu (杜綉珍) said at a trade show in Taipei yesterday. The company last year reported that net income rose 39.4 percent annually to NT$2.86 billion (US$92.69 million), or earnings per share of NT$7.64, while sales rose 9.1 percent annually to NT$60.24 billion. Sales of electric bicycles are expected to grow 30 percent this year and contribute up to 25 percent of total sales this year, up from last year’s 19 percent, Giant said. The company said it is planning to spend about NT$5 billion this year on overhauling its headquarters in Taichung and expanding its logistics and manufacturing capabilities in Taiwan.
ENTERTAINMENT
VHQ plans NT$7 payout
Singapore-based visual effects and post-production company VHQ Media Holdings Ltd yesterday announced plans to distribute a cash dividend of NT$7 per share, representing a yield of 4.4 percent. The Taipei Exchange-listed company, whose customers include Netflix Inc and Facebook Inc, last year reported net income of NT$505 million last year — a record high. Post-production revenue also rose 23 percent annually to NT$1.6 billion, with gross margin reaching 56 percent, besting 2017’s showing by 3 percentage points. The company said that it is collaborating with Netflix on an Asian-led science fiction series, which would begin contributing to its top line next quarter.
ENERGY
UREC bests battling peers
United Renewable Energy Co (UREC, 聯合再生能源) yesterday reported that it ended last quarter NT$1.43 billion in the black, besting its peers, which reported massive losses, and bucking a persistent downturn in the solar power sector. Revenue last quarter rose 76.47 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$4.83 billion, the company said. However, it ended last year with a net loss of NT$468 million — 88.7 percent less than a year earlier. UREC was formed last year after solar cell makers Neo Solar Power Energy Corp (新日光能源), Gintech Energy Corp (昱晶能源) and Solartech Energy Corp (昇陽光電) merged.
COMPUTERS
Clevo reports income spike
Computer maker Clevo Co (藍天電腦) yesterday reported that net income last year surged 102 percent annually to NT$1.46 billion, while sales dipped 5 percent annually to NT$19.8 billion. Earnings per share were NT$2.32 — a four-year record. Laptop shipments last year rose 0.8 percent to 128.2 million units, despite challenges because of key component shortages. The company said that as Intel’s 14-nanometer fabrication stabilizes, laptop shipments should rise to 164 million units this year. Shipments of gaming desktop computers and laptops are expected to reach 9.8 million units this year, up from 8.5 million units last year and 4.7 million in 2016, the firm said.
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