Shares of China Steel Corp (中鋼) showed a big fluctuation in yesterday’s trading and closed limit-up after the nation’s largest and only integrated steelmaker announced it would buy back 300 million shares.
The Kaohsiung-based company’s board approved the buyback yesterday and agreed to implement the plan starting today through Dec. 7.
The company will pay between NT$21.18 and NT$52.67 per share, China Steel executive vice president and spokesman Chung Lo-min (鍾樂民) said in a stock exchange filing.
The shares bought on the open market will account for 2.49 percent of the company’s outstanding shares. The company will spend up to NT$98.4 billion (US$3 billion) on buying shares, it said.
The steelmaker plans to transfer the repurchased shares to employees within three years, it said.
Shares of China Steel have declined 30.46 percent this year to NT$30.25 as of yesterday.
On Monday, the stock fell 2.9 percent to NT$28.30, which was its lowest closing level since Sept. 26, 2006, Taiwan Stock Exchange tallies showed.
The buyback plan will be the third time the company has bought back shares since August 2001, when it announced it would repurchase 150 million shares on the open market. Its second buyback program was in November 2005.
Analysts forecast China Steel would see a record NT$22 billion net profit in the third quarter, up 16.8 percent from NT$18.84 billion in the second quarter.
But SinoPac Securities Corp (永豐金證券) said in a client note: “We are cautious on China Steel, as pricing pressure is more severe than we thought amid the weakening demand in the global economy.”
China Steel said in late August it would raise domestic steel prices by an average of 3.92 percent for the fourth quarter — its 11th consecutive quarterly change since the second quarter of 2006 — to reflect rising raw material costs and shipping fees.
China Steel is among several local stocks that have announced plans to buy back shares recently to prop up their slumping stock prices and increase the interests of shareholders.
High Tech Computer Corp (HTC, 宏達電), the world’s biggest maker of handsets running Microsoft Corp’s operating system, also announced a buyback plan yesterday to boost its share price.
HTC said in a stock exchange filing that it would repurchase 10 million shares, or 1.32 percent of total outstanding shares, on the open market from today to Dec. 7.
The company expects to spend up to NT$41.3 billion on the shares, or NT$400 to NT$500 per share, HTC chief financial officer and spokesperson Cheng Hui-ming (鄭慧明) said in the filing.
Separately, Capital Securities Corp (群益證券) and Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) also announced plans to buy back shares over the same period. The companies said in stock exchange filings yesterday that they would eventually transfer the repurchased shares to their employees.
Shares of HTC closed 0.48 percent higher at NT$415.50 yesterday, while Capital Securities dropped 4.61 percent to NT$8.7. Taiwan Mobile shares were up 4.52 percent to NT$52.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS