RETAIL
Beitou Costco to open
US company Costco Wholesale Co will open a new store in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) on Saturday next week, its second outlet in Taipei and the 12th in Taiwan. Richard Chang (張嗣漢), senior vice president of Costco Wholesale in Asia, said the new Beitou store, with NT$1 billion (US$31 million) in investment, is aimed at reducing the client overload at the company’s Neihu outlet, while targeting consumers living in the Tamsui (淡水), Zhuwei (竹圍) and Guandu (關渡) areas. Costco opened its first outlet in Taiwan in 1997.
EMPLOYMENT
Tech, medicine lead
Technology, medicine and consumer-related businesses will dominate the job market this year, while younger and female employees are increasingly filling middle and high-ranking executive positions for the past two years, an online recruitment agency 104 Job Bank (104人力銀行) said yesterday. Consumer-oriented establishments supply 27 percent of jobs, followed by technology firms at 25 percent and medicine and health at 18 percent, 104 vice president Jason Chin (晉麗明) told a media briefing. People aged between 30 and 39 filled 47.4 percent of executive positions last year, from 34.5 percent in 2013, the job bank said.
CEMENT
Asia Cement plans dividend
Asia Cement Corp (亞洲水泥) yesterday said its board plans to distribute a cash dividend of NT$1.1 per share based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$1.55, equivalent to a payout ratio of 70.97 percent. The Far Eastern Group (遠東集團) subsidiary reported net profit of NT$4.93 billion for last year, down 54.75 percent from NT$10.91 billion in 2014. Affected by weak downstream demand and persistent oversupply in China, Asia Cement’s consolidated revenue fell to NT$66.29 billion last year from NT$77.68 billion a year ago.
FOODSTUFFS
Wei Chuan loses NT$1.92bn
Wei Chuan Foods Corp (味全食品) yesterday said net loss increased from NT$304 million in 2014 to NT$1.91 billion last year, with losses per share expanding from NT$0.24 to NT$3.78, the worst since 2000. Total revenue last year fell almost 20 percent to NT$20.05 billion, as major products encountered a serious boycott by customers due to the cooking oil scandal at its former biggest shareholder, Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團). The company said it would not pay a dividend.
HOSPITALITY
FX Hotels loses NT$149m
FX Hotels Group Inc (富驛酒店集團), which manages more than 40 directly operated and franchise hotels in Taiwan and China, incurred losses of NT$149 million, or losses of NT$3.91 per share, for last year because the hotelier shut down unprofitable outlets and recognized bad debts from operation losses in China. In 2014, FX Hotels posted a record profit of NT$59.02 million, or NT$1.55 per share. The hotelier, which faced overdue accounts receivables at some Chinese corporate customers, closed two hotels in Tianjin and Beijing.
CONSTRUCTION
Shining net income plunges
Taichung-based Shining Building Business Co (鄉林建設) on Wednesday reported NT$225 million in net income for last year, or earnings of NT$0.25 per share. That was a significant slowdown from net profit of NT$1.1 billion in 2014, or NT$1.37 per share, a year earlier. The builder attributed the retreat to accounting rule changes under which developers cannot recognize income from projects until they are completed.
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
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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