Chunghwa Telecom profits rise
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) posted an 8 percent gain in last year's profit on rising sales from Internet and data services.
Net income last year climbed to NT$48.47 billion (US$1.5 billion) from NT$44.89 billion a year earlier, the Taipei-based company said in a statement yesterday. The company was expected to post a profit of NT$48.72 billion, according to the average estimate of 16 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Sales advanced to NT$186.3 billion from NT$184.5 billion in 2006, the company said.
Taiwan Mobile stake for sale
Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大), the nation's second-largest telecom operator, said yesterday that its fixed-line subsidiary Taiwan Fixed Network Co (台灣固網) plans to sell a 6 percent stake in Taiwan Mobile to raise operational funds.
"The board of Taiwan Fixed Network approved the proposal today [Friday]. They have reached agreements with interested investors," Taiwan Mobile spokesperson Josephine Juan (阮淑祥) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
Taiwan Fixed Network was scheduled to wrap up the deal between Monday and next Thursday, Juan said.
After the sale of 300 million Taiwan Mobile shares, Taiwan Fixed Network's holding of parent company will drop from 27 percent to 21 percent.
Foxconn stocks soar in HK
Foxconn International Holdings Ltd (富士康), the world's biggest contract manufacturer of mobile phones, set a Hong Kong trading record after customer Nokia Oyj reported sales and profit that beat analysts estimates.
Foxconn stock surged 17 percent to HK$14.52 (US$1.86), the biggest jump since the company was listed in February 2005. Before today, the Shenzhen-based company had declined 29 percent in Hong Kong trading this year.
Nokia, the world's biggest handset maker, yesterday reported its fourth-quarter profit increased 44 percent to 1.84 billion euros (US$2.7 billion) as sales rose at the fastest pace since 2000. Revenue jumped 34 percent after Nokia shipped a record 133.5 million mobile phones in the quarter.
Foxconn may derive 48 percent of sales from Nokia this year, Bear Stearns Co's analyst Jack Tse wrote in a report yesterday. The Finnish company overtook Motorola Inc to become Foxconn's largest customer last year, Tse said.
BYD Electronic (International) Co, a supplier of mobile-phone parts to customers including Nokia, climbed 9.1 percent to HK$11, the largest gain this year. Nokia accounted for 76 percent of BYD Electronic's sales in last year's first half, the Chinese company said in the prospectus for its listing last month.
Powertech shares gain
Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技), the Taiwanese memory-chip packaging provider whose investors include Intel Corp, saw its shares make their biggest gain in Taipei trading in two-and-a-half years after Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) raised its estimates for this year.
Powertech shares climbed by the daily limit of 7 percent, their largest increase since July 19, 2005, to NT$91.80.
Yesterday Fubon raised its profit forecast for Powertech this year to NT$14.93 a share from NT$14.36, and increased its sales estimate to NT$31.84 billion from NT$31.64 billion. The revision came after Powertech posted a 23 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit to NT$1.78 billion from a year earlier in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
NT dollar gains
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday advanced by NT$0.052 to trade at NT$32.30 against the greenback on turnover of US$932 million.
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
The US said it plans to help build a first-of-its-kind industrial hub in the Philippines to boost production of inputs crucial to US supply chains. The 4,000-acre hub is intended to be “a purpose-built platform for allied manufacturing” and “an investment acceleration hub where the specific industrial activities are shaped by market demand,” the US Department of State said on Thursday. The project — touted as an “economic security zone” — would be within the Luzon Economic Corridor, a flagship economic project backed by the US and Japan on the main Philippine island. The project was also described as “the first artificial intelligence
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