APPAREL
Roo Hsing probe hits shares
Shares of denim jeans maker Roo Hsing Co Ltd (如興) yesterday fell by the daily maximum to NT$13.25 after investigators searched the company’s offices on Friday last week over its US$388 million acquisition of Chinese apparel maker JD United Holdings Co (玖地集團) in 2017. Roo Hsing chairman Chen Shih-hsiu (陳仕修) was questioned by prosecutors on Friday over NT$1.4 billion (US$45.01 million) the firm accepted from the National Development Fund to make the acquisition, when allegedly JD United is taking control of Roo Hsing, which would be a breach of the Securities and Exchange Act (證交法). Chen was released on NT$5 million bail on Saturday. Roo Hsing said that the investigation would not affect its business.
CHIPMAKERS
ASE unit wins award
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (日月光半導體), a unit of ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投資控股), yesterday said that US chip designer Analog Devices Inc (ADI) named it one of its top suppliers. The chip packaging and testing service provider said it received a top award at ADI’s inaugural suppliers’ day on Friday last week. ADI named Advanced Semiconductor Engineering its top contract manufacturer in the back-end category, joining 18 other award winners. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) was named its top contract manufacturer in the front-end category, ADI said.
STEEL
CSC income falls 41%
China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼) yesterday reported that its operating income dropped by 41 percent to NT$1.06 billion last month on a monthly basis, while net profit declined 14 percent to NT$1.47 billion. China Steel sold 805.204 tonnes of carbon steel last month, with domestic sales contributing 68 percent. Revenue fell 9 percent to NT$29.35 billion, it said. In the first six months, operating income and net profit declined 29 percent and 24 percent respectively to NT$10.56 billion and NT$10.53 billion. Cumulative revenue in the period was NT$191.11 billion, down 1 percent from NT$193.71 billion a year earlier, it said.
REAL ESTATE
Sinyi Q2 profit surges
Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋), the nation’s only publicly listed real-estate broker, yesterday said its second-quarter net profit reached NT$405.97 million, or earnings per share (EPS) of NT$0.55. Net profit in the same period last year was NT$255.91 million, or EPS of NT$0.37, company data showed. Sinyi’s revenue rose 46.75 percent from a year earlier to NT$3.32 billion. The company’s net profit in the first half of the year was NT$827.46 million, an annual increase of 77.55 percent, or EPS of NT$1.12, the company said.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Mobiletron announces sales
Mobiletron Electronics Co (車王電子), which manufactures battery management systems for vehicles, yesterday said it sold 11 electric buses to South Taiwan Bus Co (南台灣客運) in the first half of the year and would deliver three more this year. The company sold 12 units last year. A company official told the Taipei Times that Mobiletron is confident it would win contracts for government-run electric bus projects this year once new subsidy plans are announced next month. The company plans to start construction of a new plant at the Port of Taichung Export Processing Zone next month, with a trial run scheduled in the fourth quarter next year and mass production expected in early 2021, it said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last