ELECTRONICS
Merry Electronics shares fall
Shares in speaker and earphone supplier Merry Electronics Co (美律) plunged yesterday after Credit Suisse downgraded its rating on the stock to “neutral” from “outperform” on dim sentiment toward the company’s likely entertainment-product sales and its limited prospects for margin improvement this year. Merry shares declined 6.86 percent to NT$85.6 in Taipei trading. They are down 17.58 percent so far this year, compared with the benchmark TAIEX’s 3.76 percent rise. “Despite a favorable product mix migration, we believe any benefits from this shift are likely to be offset by pricing pressure and an increase of 10 to 15 percent in labor costs in China,” Credit Suisse said in a note. The brokerage cut its earnings forecasts by 14 percent and 19 percent for this year and next year respectively, and lowered its share price target to NT$97 from NT$140.
FOOD AND BEVERAGE
Wowprime’s Day to retire
The head of restaurant chain operator Wowprime Corp (王品集團) has a message for its shareholders this year — he will retire in three years. At the company’s annual general meeting in Taichung on Thursday, Wowprime chairman Steve Day (戴勝益) said he would hand over the company’s top post to a policymaking management team on Dec. 10, 2018, when he turns 65. Apart from Day, the management team also includes Wowprime co-founder Chen Cheng-hui (陳正輝), vice chairman Endy Wang (王國雄), Wowprime China CEO Lobo Lee (李森斌) and two other company executives.
E-COMMERCE
PChome eyes B2C market
Online shopping portal PChome Online Inc (網路家庭) is set to launch a new business-to-consumer (B2C) platform next week, as the company seeks to further engage with the nation’s small and medium-sized suppliers. The company plans to hold a press conference next week, at which PChome chairman Jan Hung-tze (詹宏志) would formally introduce the new platform, the Chinese-language United Evening News reported yesterday. PChome’s B2C sales saw 22 percent annual growth last year, driven mainly by more non-information technology product offerings.
Pharmaceuticals
TWi obtains US licenses
TWi Pharmaceuticals Inc (安成), a developer of specialty generic drugs, yesterday said its fully-owned subsidiary, TWi Pharmaceuticals USA, has obtained sales licenses from all 50 US states. The company said it has been in close contact with the major retail pharmacy distributors and wholesalers in the US and expects to have its own-label specialty generic products soon sold through these channels. TWi Pharmaceuticals shares fell by the maximum daily limit of 7 percent to NT$190 yesterday, after the company said on Thursday the release of its new drug, Lidoderm, might be delayed until next year.
Aviation
EVA Air to expand flights
EVA Airways Corp (EVA, 長榮航空), the nation’s second-largest airline, yesterday said it is expanding its market base in North America by opening up new routes and increasing the number of flights on existing ones. From June 19, the airline is set to launch three flights per week between Taoyuan and Houston, Texas, and is scheduled to increase the number to four from July 1. In addition, EVA is to increase the number of weekly flights to Toronto and Vancouver from Taiwan starting from Dec. 12. On Thursday, the airline said it would add more flights to its route between Taiwan and Singapore from June 21.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
UNCERTAINTY: Investors remain worried that trade negotiations with Washington could go poorly, given Trump’s inconsistency on tariffs in his second term, experts said The consumer confidence index this month fell for a ninth consecutive month to its lowest level in 13 months, as global trade uncertainties and tariff risks cloud Taiwan’s economic outlook, a survey released yesterday by National Central University found. The biggest decline came from the timing for stock investments, which plunged 11.82 points to 26.82, underscoring bleak investor confidence, it said. “Although the TAIEX reclaimed the 21,000-point mark after the US and China agreed to bury the hatchet for 90 days, investors remain worried that the situation would turn sour later,” said Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the university’s Research Center for
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