■ Computers
Cisco eyes 15% sales hikes
Cisco Systems Inc, the world's largest maker of computer-networking equipment, may increase sales as much as 15 percent annually in the next few years, Barron's reported, citing an interview with Chief Financial Officer Dennis Powell. If Cisco can maintain that rate of growth in sales, it should be able to achieve comparable growth in earnings per share, the report said, citing Powell. Cisco is expected to earn US$1.02 in its next fiscal year, which ends in July next year, up 12 percent from US$0.90 this fiscal year, the report said. As the company increases sales in its main networking business, and expands in newer areas such as voice-over-Internet-protocol, or VoIP, communications, Cisco is poised to gain favor with value investors, the paper said. Cisco's price-to-earnings ratio declined 89 percent in the past five years, to 18 times its forecast for this year's earnings per share of 95 cents.
■ Restaurants
McDonald's to expand
McDonald's Holdings Co, the Japanese unit of the global burger chain, will double its investment to ¥22 billion (US$211 million) to open and renovate outlets in Japan this year, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said yesterday, quoting company sources. The company, 50 percent owned by US-based McDonald's Corp, now plans to open 75 new premises and renovate 520 existing outlets by December. The planned openings will result in the first net year-on-year increase in the total number of McDonald's outlets in three years. The move reflects the company's renewed drive to expand aggressively following its return to profitability in the year to December last year for the first time in three years, the newspaper said. To carry out the shop network expansion, the company will also hire 600 regular full-time employees, equal to some 16 percent of its current workforce, it said.
■ Japan business
Companies fear takeovers
A majority of Japanese companies are concerned about hostile takeovers, according to a Yomiuri newspaper survey of 106 local companies. Some 35.8 percent of those polled said they were taking defensive measures against possible takeovers and 56.6 percent said they wanted to boost or add ways to counter such threats, according to the survey, which was compiled Saturday. Protective steps included securing the number of shares a company can buy back, boosting the amount of stock a firm can issue and being prepared with legal expertise. The survey also showed 73.6 percent of the companies were worried about hostile takeovers, of which 12.3 percent said they were very concerned, the newspaper reported.
■ Shipbuilding
Daewoo to get Qatar orders
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co expects to win more orders from Qatar for liquefied natural gas tankers, after the Gulf state expanded production facilities, Yonhap News said, citing Daewoo Chief Executive Jung Sung-leep. Daewoo Shipbuilding won contracts for at least 15 of the 44 LNG tankers that Qatar ordered from South Korean shipbuilders, Yonhap cited the head of the world's second-largest shipbuilder as saying. Daewoo, which plans to accelerate expansion into China and West Africa this year, is spending 200 billion won (US$198 million) to expand its Okpo shipyard to boost capacity to 14 ships a year from 8.5 ships, the report said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique