FINANCE
Interest in mutual funds rises
Taiwanese investors showed slightly more interest in mutual fund products last quarter compared with three months earlier, indicating that the market might have bottomed out, although overall sentiment remains weak, JPMorgan Asset Management Ltd said yesterday. JPMorgan’s latest regular savings plan index, a gauge of investor interest in mutual funds, reached 47 in the April-June period, up from 46 in the preceding quarter. The mild increase ended three consecutive quarters of decline and was in line with an ongoing rally in local shares, buoyed by global funds seeking better returns worldwide. Funds on emerging market underpinned the pickup, as uncertainty over the long Brexit process drove money away from advanced markets, JPMorgan said.
PETROCHEMICALS
FPG’s to boost HK venture
Three Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) companies yesterday said they would increase their investment in a joint venture in Hong Kong. Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠) and Formosa Chemicals and Fibre Corp (台灣化學纖維) released a joint statement saying they would raise their individual investment in, Formosa Synthetic Rubber (Hong Kong) Corp Ltd (台塑合成橡膠工業香港) from US$30 million to US$70 million, thereby lifting their total investment to US$210 million to boost the venture’s operating capital.
ELECTRONICS
Sinbon cautious on Q3
Sinbon Electronics Co (信邦電子), which produces cables, connectors and modems, yesterday reported that sales for last month edged up 1.35 percent year-on-year, but declined 8.4 percent month-on-month to NT$1.07 billion (US$33.74 million). Cumulative sales in the first seven months of the year grew 9.73 percent annually to NT$7.9 billion, the company said in a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing. Sinbon reported a solid net profit of NT$308 million in the second quarter, up 22 percent from a year ago. Earnings per share reached NT$1.41. However, with macro headwinds, such as slower wind power demand in China, a weak outlook for industrial connector cables and a strong yen, the company said it is conservative about prospects this quarter.
HOTELS
Holiday Garden record sales
Hotel Holiday Garden (華園飯店) yesterday reported record sales of NT$144 million for last month, as it entered its peak season and booked contributions from its new US outlets. Sales for last month jumped from NT$72 million a year ago and NT$109 million in June. Cumulative sales in the first seven months surged 90.97 percent to NT$803 million from NT$420 million during the same period last year, the company said. Hotel Holiday Garden shares rose 5.06 percent yesterday in Taipei trading, outranking its peers in the tourism sector.
COMPONENTS
Yageo posts high July sales
Yageo Corp (國巨), the nation’s largest passive components manufacturer, yesterday said consolidated sales reached NT$2.5 billion last month, up 9.6 percent from a year ago and 2 percent from the previous month. Sales of components for computers and consumer electronics including mobile phones, slowed last month, while those for electronics manufacturing services and industrial items increased from the previous month. Aggregate sales in the first seven months of the year increased 7.2 percent from a year ago to NT$17.3 billion, according to the company’s filing with stock exchange.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) investment project in Arizona has progressed better than expected, but it still faces challenges such as water and labor shortages, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Yeh Chun-hsien (葉俊顯) said yesterday. Speaking with reporters after visiting TSMC’s Arizona hub and attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit in Maryland last week, Yeh said TSMC’s Arizona site turned a profit of NT$16.14 billion (US$514 million) last year in its first full year of mass production. “TSMC told me it was surprised by the smooth trial run of the first fab, which has left the company optimistic about the project’s outlook,”
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