SARS taking toll on stores
More than 90 percent of companies in the tourism industry and department-store business said they have been hard hit by the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), according to an opinion poll of 129 department stores, shopping centers and amusement and recreation parks released yesterday.
About 30.23 percent of the respondents said their businesses had slid by 40 percent to 50 percent over the last two months.
The poll, conducted May 5 to May 7 by the Pan Asia Human Resource Corp (泛亞人力銀行), showed 18 percent of the respondents had witnessed a fall of 30 percent to 40 percent in turnover.
Those who suffered a business downturn 50 percent to 60 percent accounted for 11 percent of the respondents, compared with 10 percent who said their operations shrank by 60 percent to 70 percent and 12 percent who said their businesses had fallen by 70 percent to 80 percent, the poll said.
Loan extensions offered
The nation's financial institutions have agreed to extend loan roll-overs to SARS-hit companies for another year, Gary Tseng (曾國烈), director general of the Bureau of Monetary Affairs, said at a press conference yesterday. But the one-year extensions apply only to businesses whose borrowings are due by the end of this year and who had paid their interest and principle on schedule in February, Tseng said.
Farmers Bank gets new chief
The Ministry of Finance yesterday appointed Lin Peng-lang (林彭郎), president of Land Bank of China (土地銀行), to serve as chairman of the Farmers Bank of China (農民銀行), it said in a statement.
Chao Chieh-chien (趙捷謙), former chairman of Farmers Bank, will be taking the chairmanship post of Small and Medium Business Credit Guarantee Fund (中小企業信保基金), the ministry said.
Farmers Bank reported non-performing loan ratio at 13 percent in December and plans to reduce that figure to under 10 percent by the end of the year by writing off NT$6 billion problem assets, said executive vice president Chen Kao-chi (陳高吉).
The bank's president, Huang Chin-chi (黃清吉), has been detained on charges of bribery in connection with loans to a real estate developer. The bank claims that a large portion of the loans in question had been written off and the rest have been classified as non-accrual assets.
Oil searched halted by SARS
Chinese Petroleum Corp (中油) and Beijing-controlled China National Offshore Oil Corp (中國海洋石油), have indefinitely delayed a joint search for oil because of the outbreak of SARS, a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday.
The companies had planned to drill their first exploration well in the Tainan Basin by the end of last month, the paper said, citing an unidentified official at Chinese Petroleum.
Chinese Petroleum also postponed a plan to set up its first representative office in Beijing in the first half of the year, the paper said.
UMC sales rise sharply
Local chipmaker United Microelec-tronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) said yesterday that sales last month rose sharply on the back of strong growth in the personal computer and telecommunications sectors.
UMC's April sales rose 39.73 percent to NT$7.32 billion (US$210 million) from NT$5.24 billion a year ago. The figure was up 3.68 percent from March's NT$7.06 billion.
NT dollar loses ground
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday continued to lose ground against its US counterpart, dropping NT$0.056 to close at NT$34.775 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$257 million.
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday received government approval to deploy its advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process at its second fab currently under construction in Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a news release. The ministry green-lit the plan for the facility in Kumamoto, which is scheduled to start installing equipment and come online in 2028 with a monthly production capacity of 15,000 12-inch wafers, the ministry said. The Department of Investment Review in June 2024 authorized a US$5.26 billion investment for the facility, slated to manufacture 6- to 12nm chips, significantly less advanced than 3nm process. At a meeting with
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
RSS