Hana Financial Group Inc fell to its lowest level in almost four months in Seoul trading on a report that it may have to pay more than 1 trillion won (US$1.1 billion) in back taxes and penalties, an amount almost equivalent to last year's profit.
Hana, South Korea's fourth-largest financial services company by market value, closed down 4.2 percent at 42,150 won, the lowest since Oct. 25. That compared with the benchmark Kospi index's 1.4 percent gain.
"If you consider Hana's annual net income is just over 1 trillion won, the taxes it faces are a huge amount," said Koo Kyung-hwe, a Seoul-based analyst at Hyundai Securities Co.
South Korea's tax authorities are seeking between 1.3 trillion won and 1.7 trillion won in taxes and penalties from Hana, saying tax benefits its Hana Bank unit received for acquiring Seoul Bank in 2002 were inappropriate, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported yesterday. The Finance Ministry told revenue authorities it was permissible to tax Hana Financial, the report said.
Hana Bank was advised by a Seoul tax office of the imposition of additional corporate taxes related to the merger with Seoul Bank in 2002, parent Hana Financial said in a regulatory filing yesterday.
"We will first pay the taxes if asked and take appropriate follow-up measures later," a Hana Financial spokesman said.
The National Tax Service argues that Hana illegally received tax reductions allowed for unprofitable companies by making it appear as though money-losing Seoul Bank took over Hana, the JoongAng report said. The deadline to pay taxes is the end of next month.
TECH TITANS: Amazon’s latest chip joins Google in competing for the 90 percent market share held by Nvidia, which claims it is ‘a generation ahead of the industry’ Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Tuesday launched its in-house-built Trainium3 artificial intelligence (AI) chip, marking a significant push to compete with Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market for AI computing power. The move intensifies competition in the AI chip market, where Nvidia dominates with an estimated 80 to 90 percent market share for products used in training large language models that power the likes of ChatGPT. Google last week caused tremors in the industry when it was reported that Facebook-parent Meta Platforms Inc would employ Google AI chips in data centers, signaling new competition for Nvidia. This followed the release last month of
INSULATED: The company said it is less exposed to global complications, as it has built a strong footprint worldwide, and has multiple sources of rare earths and raw minerals Merck Group yesterday said it would ramp up production next year at its new flagship facility in Kaohsiung’s Lujhu District (路竹) to satisfy growing demand for advanced semiconductor materials and specialty gases, and to address supply resilience issues amid mounting geopolitical risks. Merck made the remarks during a news conference before the inauguration of its 500 million euros (US$582.1 million) facility, which is also to supply other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, it said. Merck executive board deputy chair and electronics CEO Kai Beckmann told reporters the company adopted a “local-for-local” strategy about seven years ago to address the cycle time of
Two companies wholly owned by the daughter of the founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Monday reported to the Taiwan Stock Exchange that they would dispose of all of the Hon Hai shares they hold. In filings with the exchange, Hong Wei Investment Co (鋐維) said it would sell the 2.771 million Hon Hai shares it holds and Frontier Investment Corp (承鋒投資) said it would sell its 2.409 million Hon Hai shares from tomorrow until Jan. 3 next year. The two companies are wholly owned and chaired by Shirley Gou (郭曉玲), the eldest daughter of Hon Hai founder Terry
RIDING THE WAVE: The race to build AI infrastructure has lifted the valuations of top memory makers, such as Micron, amid dwindling inventories and supply challenges Micron Technology Inc is to spend ￥1.5 trillion (US$9.6 billion) to build a plant in western Japan to make memory chips for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, the Nikkei reported on Saturday. The move comes as Micron seeks to diversify advanced chip production outside of Taiwan, the Nikkei article said, citing people familiar with the matter. The new factory will manufacture high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component for working with AI processors such as those made by Nvidia Corp, the report said. Micron would build the facility within the compound of its Hiroshima plant, starting in May next year, with plans to launch
RSS