Tax revenues rise 8.3 percent
Tax revenues last month increased 8.3 percent from a year ago to NT$185.1 billion (US$5.68 billion), statistics released by the Ministry of Finance yesterday showed.
Buoyed by the stock market's rise as concerns over the impact of US subprime mortgage loan woes eased, securities transaction tax revenues posted the largest increase, up 57.7 percent to NT$9.4 billion from a year ago, the ministry said.
Income tax revenues also increased 21 percent to NT$96.1 billion last month.
Other tax categories, such as land value increment tax and commodity tax, saw decreases from the same period last year.
For the first nine months of the year, net revenue tax totaled NT$1.35 trillion, also an 8.3 percent increase from the year-earlier period, attaining 83.9 percent of the fiscal budget this year, the ministry said.
Securities transaction tax revenues saw the largest increase, rising 48 percent or NT$31.6 billion from the first three quarters last year. Income tax revenues also rose 13.7 percent or NT$72.2 billion, followed by revenues from land taxes, up 4.6 percent, and business taxes, up 1.5 percent.
Revenues from commodity taxes and estate and gift taxes were down 6.8 percent and 11.4 percent respectively.
Neo Solar makes stock debut
Neo Solar Power Corp (新日光能源科技), a subsidiary of Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體) and manufacturer of solar cells, made its debut on the Emerging Stock Market (興櫃市場) yesterday, with the stock soaring 57.7 percent to NT$183.11.
Founded in August 2005, Neo Solar Power started mass production in the fourth quarter of last year. Led by chief executive officer Quincy Lin (林坤禧), formerly a senior vice president at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the firm posted pretax earnings of NT$10.73 million, or NT$0.16 per share, on revenue of NT$380 million last year.
For the first eight months of the year, the solar cell maker reported pretax earnings of NT$287 million, or NT$3.15 per share, on sales of NT$1.95 billion.
Powerchip, the nation's largest maker of computer memory chips, has a 13.14 percent stake in Neo Solar Power, and Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) holds 2.37 percent of the company.
Neo Solar Power has a capacity of 30 megawatts and plans to expand to 90MW by adding two more production lines in January.
Shin Kong raising broker stake
Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) plans to buy up to 10 percent more of Masterlink Securities Corp (元富證券) by acquiring shares on the stock market, pending regulatory approval.
Shin Kong's board approved the plan yesterday, it said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, without giving details.
Shin Kong may buy more than half of Masterlink's shareholding, giving it management control of the stock brokerage, the Chinese-language Apple Daily reported on Sept. 11, citing senior Shin Kong executives it didn't identify.
Shin Kong Financial holds 23 percent of the Taipei-based brokerage, including a 9 percent stake owned by its life-insurance unit, as of Sept. 7, the paper said.
Shenhua soars on IPO
Shenhua Energy Co (神華能源), China's biggest coal miner, saw its shares soar 87 percent in its Shanghai trading debut yesterday after an initial public offering that raised 66.6 billion yuan (US$8.9 billion) -- a record for the Chinese bourse.
State-owned Shenhua Energy, which is also listed in Hong Kong, jumped to 70.50 yuan after the opening but fell back slightly to close at 69.30 yuan, up from its IPO price of 36.99 yuan.
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