FINANCIAL SERVICES
Bank boosts Mega income
State-run Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) posted net income of NT$2.68 billion (US$87.4 million) last month, thanks to its banking arm, Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行), generating NT$2.29 billion, or 85.67 percent of the profit, the conglomerate said in a statement yesterday. The securities, bills finance and insurance units contributed NT$21 million, NT$236 million and NT$17 million respectively, the statement said. Mega Financial posted net income of NT$7.4 billion in the first quarter, or earnings per share of NT$0.54, it said.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
CTBC income up 19 percent
CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) posted net income of NT$2.92 billion last month, driven by stable growth in its core businesses, the bank-focused conglomerate said in a statement yesterday. Banking operations saw stable improvement, while margin related to investments by its life insurance arm made headway, the group said, adding that profit last month was up 19 percent compared with February when there were fewer working days. CTBC posted a profit of NT$11.02 billion in the first quarter, or earnings per share of NT$0.52, the statement said. The conglomerate said it expects growth to be sustained in the second quarter.
ELECTRONICS
Delta president to resign
The board of Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday approved the resignation of president and chief operating officer Johnson Lee (李忠傑) and said Lee’s positions would be taken by senior vice president and general manager of industrial automation Simon Chang (張訓海) from July 3. Lee’s departure is due to personal career planning, Delta said in a statement. The board also approved an organizational adjustment to divide its core business into three main categories — power electronics, automation and infrastructure — from May 2. The purpose of the reorganization is to better respond to rapid growth in global markets and enhance the company’s growth momentum, Delta chairman Yency Hai (海英俊) said in the statement.
BICYCLE MAKERS
Strong NT dollar hurts sales
Giant Manufacturing Co Ltd (巨大機械), the nation’s largest bicycle maker, yesterday reported sales of NT$5.27 billion for last month, down 5.08 percent year-on-year. In the first quarter, accumulated sales fell 5.4 percent to NT$13.5 billion from the same period last year, the company said in a statement. Giant, which sells its products in more than 80 nations, attributed the decline to the deprecation of the euro and the yuan against the New Taiwan dollar.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
SinoPac takes Huishan hit
SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) yesterday said its exposure to troubled Huishan Dairy Holdings Co (中國輝山乳業) is limited, as its shares in the company are owned by its brokerage clients in Hong Kong, but are not on the company’s books. Trading of Huishan Dairy shares was suspended in Hong Kong last month following a 85 percent plunge and SinoPac Financial was reported to be facing huge losses. However, SinoPac Financial said that it would allocate provisions of about HK$89 million (US$11.34 million) as its Hong Kong-based subsidiaries had provided HK$342 million in margin loans to their clients. The provision has led to a NT$171 million loss at SinoPac Financial’s brokerage firm, the company said. The company posted earnings of NT$76 million for last quarter, down from NT$347 million the previous year.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
RSS