■ Bigger bonuses paid
The economy's recovery has encouraged more employers to pay bonuses for the Dragon Boat Festival, according to a poll released yesterday by an online job bank. Some 72.83 percent of the companies polled said they would provide employees a bonus -- NT$1,279 per person, on average -- for this year's festival, which occurs today, the 9999 Job Bank said. Those figures are increases on the 66.38 percent of employers who paid bonuses averaging NT$1,161 per person last year, the job bank said. Among employers who planned to give out cash bonuses, 21.29 percent said the payments would come in under NT$500 and 43.61 percent said the bonuses would be between NT$501 and NT$1,000. In addition to cash, about 14 percent of employers planned to give rice dumplings to employees, while 8.56 percent planned to provide gift coupons, according to the survey. The poll was based on 935 respondents polled between June 6 and June 17.
■ China Airlines gets financing
China Airlines (CAL, 華航) yesterday signed a US$ 235 million (US$7.12 million) financing contract with Calyon, a leading French bank, for the airline's acquisition of three new Airbus A330-300 aircraft, the company said in a statement. China Airlines ordered 14 A330-300s from Airbus Industrie in 2002, and will take delivery between this year and 2007. The A330s will eventually replace the carrier's A300-600Rs on Asian regional routes departing from Taipei and Kaohsiung. "We are pleased to entrust Calyon as the manager, underwriter and security trustee for this financing," said Phillip Wei (魏幸雄), president of CAL, during a ceremony. Wei declined to disclose the interest rate for the 12-year loan contract, but said the financing is guaranteed by European export credit agencies. The first three aircraft are to be delivered late this month, next month and in December. Despite high fuel prices, CAL has managed to keep fuel costs low through hedging. As a result, the carrier foresees solid growth for this year, and expects to post an after-tax profit of NT$ 3.1 billion for the year.
■ Chi Mei denies rumor
Chi Mei Group (奇美), whose founder was criticized by the Chinese state media for supposed pro-independence views, denied reports that it planned to close a plastics plant in eastern China after the government issues a ban on river shipments of a key raw material. China's decision this month to ban transportation of acrylonitrile on the Yangtze River and to impose a US$10 per tonne surcharge on ground shipments will force the company to raise prices or find ways to cut costs at the plant in Zhenjiang, a company official said. Acrylonitrile is a toxic raw material used to make acrylic rubber and fibers. "Chi Mei intends to continue the Zhenjiang operation even though China's environmental protection measures will increase our costs," the official said, denying a report in a Chinese-language newspaper that the plant may shut down.
■ NT dollar rises
The NT dollar strengthened for the first time in three days after Morgan Stanley Capital International Inc (MSCI) said it would include the nation's stocks in its global indexes, a step that will encourage overseas investors to buy local shares. Fund managers who control US$3 trillion use MSCI's indexes to gauge performance. Foreign investors will need to buy local currency to pay for their equity purchases. The NT rose NT$0.010 to close at NT$33.775 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$515.5 million.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
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