PANELS
Monitor shipments tumble
Taiwan’s PC monitor shipments dropped 7 percent to 1.32 million units last year from a year earlier, eroded by the declining demand for desktop computers and increased adoption of mobile devices, International Data Corp (IDC) said yesterday. In addition, the weak demand for consumer electronics products weighed on PC monitor shipments from Taiwan last year, IDC said. The market researcher said Taiwan would see another 8 percent annual decline in PC monitor shipments this year as the aforementioned negative factors are expected to persist.
PLASTICS
FPC proposes payout
Formosa Plastics Corp (FPC, 台塑), the nation’s largest producer of polyvinyl chloride, yesterday said that the company’s board has proposed a cash dividend of NT$3.6 per share, the highest in four years. Based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$4.85, the company’s dividend payout ratio is about 74 percent. The cash dividend proposal for last year hit the highest level since 2011, when the company issued a NT$4 cash dividend. The payout proposal is subject to shareholders’ approval at a meeting scheduled for June 17. Based on yesterday’s closing share price of NT$79, Formosa Plastics’ dividend yield would be 4.55 percent.
TELECOMS
APT reports net loss
Asia Pacific Telecom Co (APT, 亞太電信) yesterday announced it would not be paying a dividend to shareholders, despite narrowing losses last year, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The company reported a net loss of NT$1.6 billion (US$48.92 million) for last year, or net losses per share of NT$0.41, which represents an improvement from a net loss of NT$8.4 billion in 2014, or NT$2.35 in net losses per share. The company has pledged to turn around its business this year.
TEXTILES
Eclat approves dividends
Textile manufacturer Eclat Textile Co (儒鴻) yesterday said its board has approved the distribution of NT$2.82 billion, or NT$10.5 per share, in cash dividends based on last year’s earnings. The company has not reported its annual earnings result for last year, but its earnings per share in the first three quarters of last year was NT$11.41. The planned dividend suggests a dividend yield of 2.47 percent, based on its closing price of NT$425 yesterday.
COMPUTERS
Payout ratio hits 65.16%
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) yesterday said it plans to distribute a cash dividend of NT$15 per share for last year. That translated into a payout ratio of 65.16 percent, based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$23.02, and was slightly higher than the payout ratio of 64.86 percent in 2014. The dividend yield would be 5.2 percent based on Asustek’s closing price of NT$288 yesterday.
RETAIL
Record dividend proposed
President Chain Store Corp (PCSC, 統一超商), the nation’s top convenience store operator, on Wednesday said the company’s board has proposed issuing a NT$7.2 cash dividend, the highest-ever in the company’s history, even though its net profit fell to NT$8.24 billion last year from NT$9.09 billion in 2014. The proposed cash dividend for last year is higher than NT$7 for 2014 and NT$6 in 2013. The cash dividend proposal still needs approval from shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting scheduled for June 15.
OpenAI has warned US lawmakers that its Chinese rival DeepSeek (深度求索) is using unfair and increasingly sophisticated methods to extract results from leading US artificial intelligence (AI) models to train the next generation of its breakthrough R1 chatbot, a memo reviewed by Bloomberg News showed. In the memo, sent on Thursday to the US House of Representatives Select Committee on China, OpenAI said that DeepSeek had used so-called distillation techniques as part of “ongoing efforts to free-ride on the capabilities developed by OpenAI and other US frontier labs.” The company said it had detected “new, obfuscated methods” designed to evade OpenAI’s defenses
NEW IMPORTS: Car dealer PG Union Corp said it would consider introducing US-made models such as the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Stellantis’ RAM 1500 to Taiwan Tesla Taiwan yesterday said that it does not plan to cut its car prices in the wake of Washington and Taipei signing the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade on Thursday to eliminate tariffs on US-made cars. On the other hand, Mercedes-Benz Taiwan said it is planning to lower the price of its five models imported from the US after the zero tariff comes into effect. Tesla in a statement said it has no plan to adjust the prices of the US-made Model 3, Model S and Model X as tariffs are not the only factor the automaker uses to determine pricing policies. Tesla said
Australian singer Kylie Minogue says “nothing compares” to performing live, but becoming an international wine magnate in under six years has been quite a thrill for the Spinning Around star. Minogue launched her first own-label wine in 2020 in partnership with celebrity drinks expert Paul Schaafsma, starting with a basic rose but quickly expanding to include sparkling, no-alcohol and premium rose offerings. The actress and singer has since wracked up sales of around 25 million bottles, with her carefully branded products pitched at low-to mid-range prices in dozens of countries. Britain, Australia and the United States are the biggest markets. “Nothing compares to performing
It is not just people — in China, the robots are also getting ready to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Friday was dress rehearsal day for four cute humanoid robots, each about 95 centimeters tall, at a mall in western Beijing. Curious onlookers stopped to watch. Each robot got a colorful lion costume and within minutes the moves started: Bend the knees, up, to the left, to the right, shake the mask, and do it all again. Ahead of the Lunar New Year, and as part of different “fairs” and activities around Beijing, some venues have been busy setting up their stages and
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