Far EasTone Telecommunications Ltd (
Taiwan's fourth-largest mobile phone company plans to offer 10 million shares at a minimum price of NT$31 in a first time sale, spokeswoman Yvonne Lan said, confirming an earlier report in a Chinese language newspaper. Money raised in the share sale will be used to buy new mobile-telephone equipment.
Far EasTone last month slashed this year's profit forecast by 13 percent to NT$6.5 billion, blaming slowing economic growth and the high penetration levels of mobile phones in Taiwan. It also cut its sales forecast by 22 percent to NT$34.5 billion.
"There are already three mobile phone company shares trading in Taiwan," said Karl Tseng, who helps manage NT$3 billion in Taiwan investments at Zurich Securities Investment Trust Co. Far EasTone "can't deliver much growth over the next few years." Far EasTone's biggest rival Taiwan Cellular Corp's (
"I don't think NT$31 is very attractive," Cheng Yi-sheng, who helps manage NT$1.5 billion (US$43 million) in Taiwan investments at Taiwan Securities Ltd (
The Far Eastern Group (遠東集團), controlled by the Hsu family, one of Taiwan's wealthiest, owns about 50 percent of Far EasTone. AT&T Wireless Group has about 21 percent. Far EasTone officials said the Far Eastern Group is likely to sell some of its shares.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary