GenMont Biotech Inc (景岳生物科技) yesterday found a buyer for White-Wood-House Foods Co Ltd (白木屋食), its bakery franchise that has been mired in the red for years.
Supermarket chain operator Pxmart Co Ltd (全聯實業) is to wholly acquire the ailing bakery in a NT$792 million (US$26.56 million) deal, GenMont said.
GenMont said it expects to book NT$99.04 million in disposal gains from the sale after halting the bakery chain’s operations last month.
Local media have estimated that the company might have accumulated losses of more than NT$500 million from its venture into the bakery market.
“There is little chance of a turnaround,” company spokesperson Maggie Wang (王美玲) said at a news conference at the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
In a separate statement, Pxmart said that the acquisition would aid an ongoing collaboration to supply bread to a bakery business in collaboration with Hankyu Bakery.
Acquiring White-Wood-House’s baking equipment and production bases would also help its efforts to expand the supermarket chain’s footprint in the bakery segment, it said.
Pxmart has long held off building its own bakery facilities, it said.
GenMont, one of Taiwan’s leading probiotics makers, acquired White-Wood-House in 2014 while the bakery franchise was still reeling from a plasticizer food scare in 2011.
The company hoped to leverage its expertise in probiotics to create a new line of healthy food products for the Chinese market.
Founded in 1997, White-Wood-House’s profit came under pressure from competitors ranging from Web shops and smaller specialty bakeries to a growing number of hobbyist bakers.
Apart from rising labor and rent expenses, the bakery franchise was also hampered by a narrow product mix focused on birthday cakes and an unclear brand identity.
GenMont said that it would meet all severance requirements and pay all labor violation fines for the estimated 200 bakery employees.
Whether affected employees would be rehired by Pxmart is up to the bakery’s new owner, GenMont added.
PROTECTIONISM: China hopes to help domestic chipmakers gain more market share while preparing local tech companies for the possibility of more US sanctions Beijing is stepping up pressure on Chinese companies to buy locally produced artificial intelligence (AI) chips instead of Nvidia Corp products, part of the nation’s effort to expand its semiconductor industry and counter US sanctions. Chinese regulators have been discouraging companies from purchasing Nvidia’s H20 chips, which are used to develop and run AI models, sources familiar with the matter said. The policy has taken the form of guidance rather than an outright ban, as Beijing wants to avoid handicapping its own AI start-ups and escalating tensions with the US, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the
Taipei is today suspending its US$2.5 trillion stock market as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed-income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Yesterday, schools and offices were closed in several cities and counties in southern and eastern Taiwan, including in the key industrial port city of Kaohsiung. Taiwan, which started canceling flights, ship sailings and some train services earlier this week, has wind and rain advisories in place for much of the island. It regularly experiences typhoons, and in July shut offices and schools as
Her white-gloved, waistcoated uniform impeccable, 22-year-old Hazuki Okuno boards a bullet train replica to rehearse the strict protocols behind the smooth operation of a Japanese institution turning 60 Tuesday. High-speed Shinkansen trains began running between Tokyo and Osaka on Oct. 1, 1964, heralding a new era for rail travel as Japan grew into an economic superpower after World War II. The service remains integral to the nation’s economy and way of life — so keeping it dazzlingly clean, punctual and accident-free is a serious job. At a 10-story, state-of-the-art staff training center, Okuno shouted from the window and signaled to imaginary colleagues, keeping
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
RSS