■ Mobile phones
Nokia shares `undervalued'
Nokia Oyj's American Depositary shares are worth almost twice their current price because of the amount of cash the world's largest maker of mobile telephone generates, an analyst told Barron's. Albert Lin, a San Francisco-based analyst with American Technology Research, says the Finland-based phone maker's American shares are worth US$30, based on his analysis of the cash the company generates relative to its capital spending needs and shares outstanding and debt. Nokia shares have slipped 2 percent this year as the NASDAQ rose 34 percent. The stock trades for 19 times the company's expected earnings per share next year, a low level for the company. Nokia ADR's rose US$0.19 to US$15.26 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
■ Real estate
HK's land prices climbing
Hong Kong's property prices are starting to climb after years of sliding, Agence France Presse reported, citing Asia's wealthiest businessman Li Ka-shing. Li said the property market was seeing signs of a "gradual" rebound, though he complained about low profit margins stemming from the high cost of land and development, the report said. The businessman declined to comment on whether he would support further intervention by the Hong Kong government to revive the local property market, the report said. Hong Kong home prices have fallen about two-thirds in the last six years, forcing developers to write down the value of properties and sell some housing units at a loss.
■ Airlines
Virgin Blue halves NZ fares
Richard Branson's Virgin Blue Airlines Pty could cut fares for travel within New Zealand to as little as half those available from its rivals, the Sunday Star Times reported, citing the British entrepreneur. Virgin Blue plans to offer flights within New Zealand by the middle of next year, the newspaper said. The airline announced this month it will start services between Australia and New Zealand in February. Branson said Virgin Blue's operating costs are about 40 percent less than Air New Zealand Ltd and Qantas Airways Ltd -- the only airlines operating jetliners on New Zealand domestic routes, the newspaper reported. Virgin Blue is targeting a 30 percent share of the domestic air travel market, about the same share it won off Qantas on routes within Australia, Branson said according to the newspaper.
■ Media
BSkyB hires headhunters
British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc, the UK pay-television company chaired by Rupert Murdoch, hired headhunters to find a successor to chief executive officer Tony Ball, the Sunday Telegraph reported without citing its sources. British newspapers including the Financial Times have said that Murdoch wants his 30-year-old son James to replace Ball. Executive recruitment firm Spencer Stuart will search for other candidates, the paper said. BSkyB will also consider Martin Stewart, the company's chief financial officer, and Richard Freudenstein, its chief operating officer, for the position, the paper said. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp owns 35 percent of BSkyB, which has a market value of ?11.9 billion (US$19.7 billion). James Murdoch joined Star, News Corp's Asian satellite business, as chairman and CEO in May 2000.
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
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
‘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)