BANKING
DBS launches app
DBS Bank (Taiwan) yesterday launched a mobile app that offers a one-stop solution for prospective homebuyers. The app provides property listings, home appraisals and mortgage applications for mobile devices, the company said. The bank is promoting the new app by offering mortgage rates as low as 1.75 percent, in addition to home loans of up to 80 percent of the property’s value and 40-year terms.
FOOTWEAR
Pou Chen profit rises 6.6%
Footwear manufacturer Pou Chen Corp (寶成工業) yesterday reported that net income for the first three quarters of the year climbed 6.6 percent year-on-year to NT$8.89 billion (US$278.3 million), or earnings per share (EPS) of NT$3.02. Gross margin during the same period increased from 23.2 percent to 25.2 percent on an annual basis, company data showed. The company attributed the improvement to stable growth in its shoemaking business, which accounts for nearly 70 percent of total revenue.
TECHNOLOGY
Synnex posts record profits
Synnex Technology International Corp (聯強), which distributes computers and handsets, yesterday reported a record-high net income of NT$1.22 billion for last quarter, a threefold increase from the NT$301.75 million it made in the same period last year and a 9.9 percent surge from the previous quarter’s NT$1.11 billion, according to the company’s filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday. Synnex attributed the earnings growth to robust sales of information technology products and components, such as gaming computers and virtual-reality-related devices. The launch of Apple Inc’s iPhone 7 series in September also benefited its operations last quarter, the company said in a press statement.
AIRLINES
TransAsia sells V Air assets
TransAsia Airways Corp (復興航空) has disposed of assets previously held under V Air (威航), its budget airline subsidiary, it said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday. TransAsia received one Airbus A321 jet worth NT$1.43 billion from V Air, while booking a loss of NT$16.38 million from the transfer. TransAsia also formed a sale and leaseback arrangement with Dubai Aerospace Enterprise Ltd for six ATR72-600 turboprop aircraft that is expected to net the company about US$8.08 million. V Air ceased operations last month after racking up massive losses since its launch in 2014.
ENERGY
Warm day sparks concern
Yesterday’s warm weather has renewed concerns over power supply, state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) said. Daytime highs reached 30°C, leading to a peak load of 29.245 megawatts and a reserve margin of 7.49 percent at 2:33pm, suggesting high electricity consumption and the company’s relative inability to react to increased demand for power in an emergency, Taipower said.
FOOD
TTFB’s profit up 13.1%
Tai Tong Food & Beverage Group (TTFB, 瓦城泰統集團) yesterday reported that net profit in the first three quarters rose 13.1 percent year-on-year to NT$264 million, or EPS of NT$11.37, supported by its continuous outlet expansion. The company, which operates 100 outlets in Taiwan and China, expects sales to grow significantly by the end of this year on the back of strong seasonal demand.
JITTERS: Nexperia has a 20 percent market share for chips powering simpler features such as window controls, and changing supply chains could take years European carmakers are looking into ways to scratch components made with parts from China, spooked by deepening geopolitical spats playing out through chipmaker Nexperia BV and Beijing’s export controls on rare earths. To protect operations from trade ructions, several automakers are pushing major suppliers to find permanent alternatives to Chinese semiconductors, people familiar with the matter said. The industry is considering broader changes to its supply chain to adapt to shifting geopolitics, Europe’s main suppliers lobby CLEPA head Matthias Zink said. “We had some indications already — questions like: ‘How can you supply me without this dependency on China?’” Zink, who also
At least US$50 million for the freedom of an Emirati sheikh: That is the king’s ransom paid two weeks ago to militants linked to al-Qaeda who are pushing to topple the Malian government and impose Islamic law. Alongside a crippling fuel blockade, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) has made kidnapping wealthy foreigners for a ransom a pillar of its strategy of “economic jihad.” Its goal: Oust the junta, which has struggled to contain Mali’s decade-long insurgency since taking power following back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, by scaring away investors and paralyzing the west African country’s economy.
Tax revenue from securities transactions last month increased 41.9 percent from a year earlier to NT$30.3 billion (US$975.8 million), rising on an annual basis for the third consecutive month and marking the highest for the month of October as Taiwanese stocks continued to perform strongly, data released by the Ministry of Finance showed yesterday. Last month, the TAIEX surged 2,412.81 points, or 9.34 percent, marking its largest-ever monthly rise for October as market sentiment was buoyed by a nearly 15 percent gain in contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which accounts for more than 40 percent of the
BUST FEARS: While a KMT legislator asked if an AI bubble could affect Taiwan, the DGBAS minister said the sector appears on track to continue growing The local property market has cooled down moderately following a series of credit control measures designed to contain speculation, the central bank said yesterday, while remaining tight-lipped about potential rule relaxations. Lawmakers in a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee voiced concerns to central bank officials that the credit control measures have adversely affected the government’s tax income and small and medium-sized property developers, with limited positive effects. Housing prices have been climbing since 2016, even when the central bank imposed its first set of control measures in 2020, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) said. “Since the second half of
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