Eslite Spectrum Corp (誠品生活), a subsidiary of the Eslite Group (誠品集團) that focuses on operating department stores, plans to open its second store in Hong Kong early next year as part of the group’s broader overseas expansion plan.
The group opened its first bookstore in Hong Kong — its first overseas store — in the second half of 2012, a two-floor location in Causeway Bay’s Hysan Place (希慎廣場).
Taking over a space originally planned for Wing On Department Stores (HK) Ltd (永安百貨), Eslite Spectrum will have two stories of lettable floor area spanning more than 4,552.25m2 in Cityplaza for its second store in Hong Kong.
“We are excited to be working with an original and trend-setting brand such as Eslite Spectrum, and we are confident that our shared creative vision will bring about a refreshing shopping center experience for our visitors at Cityplaza,” Alvin Kong (江璣若), retail director at Swire Properties Ltd (太古地產), one of the territory’s biggest developers and the operator of Cityplaza, said in a statement on Thursday.
Cityplaza has undergone a HK$100 million (US$12.9 million) facelift that upgraded its facilities, enhanced interior finishing and introduced more than 30 local and international retail brands, the statement said.
Swire Properties said Eslite’s lifestyle bookstore and shopping complex might further enhance Cityplaza’s trade mix and quality retail offerings, reinforcing the mall’s position as the largest shopping and entertainment center in Hong Kong.
Eslite Spectrum said it hopes the new store would continue to bring the energy of reading and cultural creativity to the territory.
Eslite Spectrum president Mercy Wu (吳旻潔), who is also vice chairwoman of the Eslite Group, last year said that the group plans to launch two or three outlets in Taiwan and at least one store in an overseas market per year, most likely in China and Hong Kong.
The group is scheduled to open two stores in China later this year in Suzhou and Shanghai.
The group is also ready to open its first boutique hotel in Taipei’s Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, with a media opening of the 104-room facility on Friday next week.
Eslite Spectrum reported consolidated sales in the first month of the year of NT$304.79 million (US$9.69 million), slightly up 0.01 percent from a year earlier. Its overall revenue for last year stood at NT$3.51 billion, up 2.07 percent from 2013, company data showed.
The company posted a net profit of NT$239.85 million, or NT$5.32 per share, for the first nine months of last year, up from a net income of NT$234.14 million, or NT$5.24 per share, recorded in the same period in 2013, statistics said.
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
‘IMMENSE SWAY’: The top 50 companies, based on market cap, shape everything from technology to consumer trends, advisory firm Visual Capitalist said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the 10th-most valuable company globally this year, market information advisory firm Visual Capitalist said. TSMC sat on a market cap of about US$915 billion as of Monday last week, making it the 10th-most valuable company in the world and No. 1 in Asia, the publisher said in its “50 Most Valuable Companies in the World” list. Visual Capitalist described TSMC as the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry operator that rolls out chips for major tech names such as US consumer electronics brand Apple Inc, and artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers Nvidia Corp and Advanced
Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco), the Saudi state-owned oil giant, yesterday posted first-quarter profits of US$26 billion, down 4.6 percent from the prior year as falling global oil prices undermine the kingdom’s multitrillion-dollar development plans. Aramco had revenues of US$108.1 billion over the quarter, the company reported in a filing on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange. The company saw US$107.2 billion in revenues and profits of US$27.2 billion for the same period last year. Saudi Arabia has promised to invest US$600 billion in the US over the course of US President Donald Trump’s second term. Trump, who is set to touch
SKEPTICAL: An economist said it is possible US and Chinese officials would walk away from the meeting saying talks were productive, without reducing tariffs at all US President Donald Trump hailed a “total reset” in US-China trade relations, ahead of a second day of talks yesterday between top officials from Washington and Beijing aimed at de-escalating trade tensions sparked by his aggressive tariff rollout. In a Truth Social post early yesterday, Trump praised the “very good” discussions and deemed them “a total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner.” The second day of closed-door meetings between US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) were due to restart yesterday morning, said a person familiar
RSS