CONSTRUCTION
Kier wins three contracts
Kier Group PLC said the company, along with other supply chain partners, had since last month won three contracts worth more than ￡5 billion (US$6.6 billion) to carry out construction in the UK, easing fears that work had stalled across the sector after Britain’s vote to leave the EU. The company, whose activities range from building power stations to outsourcing work for local councils, said it had won contracts to do work for the British health department, University of Cambridge and Gatwick Airport. A survey earlier this month showed that the UK construction industry suffered its sharpest downturn in seven years last month following the vote, but others, including Irish building materials group Kingspan, have seen a rise in UK business since the vote. Kier yesterday said that the three new contracts had been won after July 4, when the company first said that Brexit had not impacted its business.
OIL
Oil Search profit dives
Oil Search Ltd posted a 89 percent decline in first-half profit as a drop in energy prices offset increased output at the Papua New Guinea-focused company. Net income was US$25.6 million, compared with US$227.5 million last year, the Sydney-based company said in a statement yesterday. The result compared with expectations for US$38 million, according to the average of three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg as lower commodity prices weighed on the profitability of the company. Oil Search shares fell as much as 2 percent to A$7.29 in Sydney before paring its loss to trade at A$7.395 at 12:43pm. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.9 percent.
MACHINERY
Doosan to test IPO demand
Doosan Bobcat Inc, an arm of South Korea’s biggest construction equipment maker, plans to start gauging demand early next month for a domestic initial public offering (IPO) that could raise at least US$1 billion, people familiar with the matter said. The manufacturer of excavators and loaders aims to begin testing investor interest as soon as Sept. 8, according to the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. The Korea Exchange last week said it approved Doosan Bobcat’s share sale. Doosan Bobcat, which is seeking to expand in emerging markets including China and Southeast Asia, joins Samsung Biologics Co in braving an IPO market with the second-worst performance among major Asian bourses.
SMARTPHONES
Lenovo to run Microsoft apps
Microsoft apps, such as Office and Skype, are to be installed on Lenovo mobile devices powered by Android software under the terms of a collaboration announced late on Monday. The US technology giant and the Chinese computer titan said they were “deepening their strategic relationship” with a move that could add to the ranks of people using Microsoft programs as services hosted in the internet cloud. “The marriage of Microsoft’s apps and Lenovo’s Android-based devices will enable customers around the world to be more productive, more connected and achieve even more,” Microsoft corporate vice president Nick Parker said in a statement. Lenovo is expected to ship millions of Android-powered devices in the next several years. The deal also includes cross-licensing that will allow patented Microsoft technology to be used in Lenovo and Motorola devices, according to the companies.
Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登精密), the sole extreme ultraviolet pod supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), yesterday said it has trimmed its revenue growth target for this year as US tariffs are likely to depress customer demand and weigh on the whole supply chain. Gudeng’s remarks came after the US on Monday notified 14 countries, including Japan and South Korea, of new tariff rates that are set to take effect on Aug. 1. Taiwan is still negotiating for a rate lower than the 32 percent “reciprocal” tariffs announced by the US in April, which it later postponed to today. The
MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR: Revenue from AI servers made up more than 50 percent of Wistron’s total server revenue in the second quarter, the company said Wistron Corp (緯創) on Tuesday reported a 135.6 percent year-on-year surge in revenue for last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, with the momentum expected to extend into the third quarter. Revenue last month reached NT$209.18 billion (US$7.2 billion), a record high for June, bringing second-quarter revenue to NT$551.29 billion, a 129.47 percent annual increase, the company said. Revenue in the first half of the year totaled NT$897.77 billion, up 87.36 percent from a year earlier and also a record high for the period, it said. The company remains cautiously optimistic about AI server shipments in the third quarter,
ELECTRONICS: Strong growth in cloud services and smart consumer electronics offset computing declines, helping the company to maintain sales momentum, Hon Hai said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday announced that its sales for last month rose 10 percent year-on-year, driven by strong growth in cloud and networking products amid the ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company, also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), reported consolidated sales of NT$540.24 billion (US$18.67 billion) for the month, the highest ever for the period, and a 10.09 percent increase from a year earlier, although it was down 12.26 percent from the previous month. Hon Hai, which is Apple Inc’s primary iPhone assembler and makes servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators, said its cloud
APPRECIATION: The central bank stepped in to stabilize the NT dollar after a surge in foreign institutional investment, triggered by optimism about tariffs and US Fed policy Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high at the end of last month, as the central bank intervened in the currency market to curb the New Taiwan dollar’s appreciation against the US dollar. Foreign exchange reserves increased by US$5.48 billion from May, reaching an all-time high of US$598.43 billion, the central bank said on Friday. While the central bank did not disclose the scale of its intervention, Department of Foreign Exchange Director-General Eugene Tsai (蔡炯民) said that the currency market remained relatively stable until the middle of last month. However, a shift occurred following the US Federal Reserve’s signal of a
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