RETAIL
FamilyMart ‘not in Ting Hsin’
Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店) yesterday said that the company is not part of the Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團), as a controversial court ruling that acquitted executives of charges related to violations of the nation’s food safety law once again sparked boycotts against businesses operated by the conglomerate. Taiwan FamilyMart Co said that it is primarily controlled by its Japan-based parent company, FamilyMart Co, Ltd, which holds a 47.44 percent stake. Other major shareholders include Taisun Enterprises (泰山企業) with a 20.51 percent stake, Kuang-chuan Dairy Farm (光泉牧場) with 5.29 percent and Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽) with 2.45 percent.
SEMICONDUCTORS
TSMC sells Motech stake
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the nation’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday said it has sold a 6 percent stake in local solar cell maker Motech Industries Inc (茂迪) for NT$1.2 billion. TSMC books a gain of NT$202 million from the deal, the company said in a filing submitted to the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp. After the sale, the chipmaker still owns 12 percent of the solar cell maker, according to the filing. TSMC plans to gradually sell all of its stake in Motech.
MACROECONOMY
Slowdown hits graduates
The slow economy has affected the chances of employment for new college graduates, with 35 percent of them still looking for their first full-time jobs, according to the results of a survey by online job broker 1111 Job Bank published yesterday. In its survey of this year’s college graduates, found that the figure represented an increase of 6 percentage points from the 29 percent in the same period last year. Also, up to 28.7 percent of them have changed their jobs more than once, or 1.6 jobs in average. The three major reasons for leaving their jobs were dissatisfaction with the salary and fringe benefits, low sense of achievement and lack of opportunity for promotion. Monthly wages for new graduates this year averaged NT$27,324 (US$837), a new high in three years, the survey found. That was an increase of NT$1,180, or 4.5 percent, from NT$26,144 last year.
ENTERTAINMENT
‘Star Wars’ attracts investors
For about a decade, ever since the DVD market started to implode, movie studios have been investor afterthoughts. However, at Walt Disney Co, at least for the moment, that conventional wisdom has been flipped. Movies — in particular Star Wars: The Force Awakens — have started to drive Disney’s stock. Wall Street expects Star Wars: The Force Awakens to take in at least US$1.5 billion worldwide. The exuberant expectations have, in effect, shifted the conversation about Disney, analysts say, toward a movie’s potential to deliver otherworldly riches and away from the challenges buffeting the broader cable and broadcast television businesses.
STOCK MARKET
TAIEX falls 0.93%
The TAIEX yesterday shed 0.93 percent to 8,320.61, as the market was overshadowed by fear of a possible interest rate rise in the US and by global index provider MSCI Inc’s cutting of Taiwan’s weighting in three of its indices. Turnover during the session was NT$132.32 billion (US$4.05 billion), the largest volume since late August. The weighting cut imposed an impact on most large-cap stocks. However, biotech stocks had a rather eye-catching performance, led by OBI Pharma, Inc (浩鼎), which surged 9.92 percent.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
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