■ 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.
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
ENHANCED SECURITY: A Japanese report said that the MOU is about the sharing of information on foreign nationals entering Japan from Taiwan in the event of an emergency The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed that Taiwan and Japan had signed an agreement to promote information exchanges and cooperation on border management, although it did not disclose more details on the pact. Ministry spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said the ministry is happy to see that the two nations continue to enhance cooperation on immigration control, in particular because Taiwan and Japan “share a deep friendship and frequent people-to-people exchanges.” “Last year, more than 7.32 million visits were made between the two countries, making it even more crucial for both sides to work closer on immigration and border control,” he said. Hsiao
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