HANDSETS
Silitech to reduce capital
Handset keypad supplier Silitech Technology Corp’s (閎暉) board on Monday approved a proposal to reduce the company’s capital by 66.55 percent to refund cash to shareholders and adjust the company’s capital structure to increase returns on equity. In a regulatory filing, Silitech said it would cut its capital by NT$1.19 billion (US$38.7 million) by canceling 119.38 million shares and return NT$6.66 per share to shareholders. The company also decided not to propose distributing a cash dividend for last year because of losses, although net losses per share narrowed from NT$0.46 in 2017 to NT$0.19 last year. Revenue decreased 1.49 percent year-on-year to NT$2.25 billion.
COMPUTERS
Getac to pay NT$3 dividend
Rugged PC vendor Getac Technology Corp (神基) said its board of directors yesterday approved a proposal to distribute a cash dividend of NT$3 per share. The dividend payout was based on the company’s earnings of NT$2.21 billion last year, or earnings per share of NT$3.83, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The proposed cash dividend translates to a payout ratio of 78.33 percent and a dividend yield of 6.41 percent based on stock’s closing price of NT$46.8 yesterday. The dividend proposal is to be voted on at the annual shareholders’ meeting on May 31.
PHARMACEUTICALS
SynCore enrolls US patient
SynCore Biotechnology Co (杏國新藥) yesterday announced that SB05PC, its new pancreatic cancer drug, has enrolled its first patient in the US for a global phase III clinical trial across seven nations. The company said that progress made with the US Food and Drug Administration would help with its approval efforts in other markets and that SB05PC has been granted orphan drug status due to a lack of available alternative second-line treatments. Last month, the company enrolled patients in Hungary, Israel and France. It said that its patient enrollment is on track and expected to produce an interim report in the second half of this year.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Milestone payment received
Anxo Pharmaceutical Co Ltd (瑩碩生技) has received its first milestone payment from its unidentified Chinese partner in Guangzhou, the company said yesterday. Anxo did not reveal the amount of the milestone payment. The company has inked collaborations with six Chinese companies to work on 18 new drug projects and they are aiming to take advantage of ongoing regulatory reforms in China to expand the availability of generic drugs in the nation. Drug developers are heading toward a cutthroat battle to make it into the top three for a certain drug class as China adopts harmonized approval standards and requirements. Anxo said that it and the Guangzhou-based company are working on two cardiovascular drugs and a pediatric respiratory drug with a combined potential market value of about 10.5 billion yuan (US$1.57 billion).
MONEY SUPPLY
M1B grows 6.55 percent
Last month’s M1B — a measure of money in circulation — grew 6.55 percent year-on-year, accelerating from a 5.69 percent increase the previous month, while M2 — which includes the M1B, time deposits, foreign-currency deposits and mutual funds — increased 3.14 percent from 3.07 percent the previous month, mainly because of growth in bank loans, investments and net foreign capital inflows, the central bank said in a statement yesterday.
Hypermarket chain Carrefour Taiwan and upscale supermarket chain Mia C’bon on Saturday announced the suspension of their partnership with Jkopay Co (街口支付), one of Taiwan’s largest digital payment providers, amid a lawsuit involving its parent company. Carrefour and Mia C’bon said they would notify customers once Jkopay services are reinstated. The two retailers joined an array of other firms in suspending their partnerships with Jkopay. On Friday night, popular beverage chain TP Tea (茶湯會) also suspended its use of the platform, urging customers to opt for alternative payment methods. Another drinks brand, Guiji (龜記), on Friday said that it is up to individual
UNCERTAINTIES: Exports surged 34.1% and private investment grew 7.03% to outpace expectations in the first half, although US tariffs could stall momentum The Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) yesterday raised its GDP growth forecast to 3.05 percent this year on a robust first-half performance, but warned that US tariff threats and external uncertainty could stall momentum in the second half of the year. “The first half proved exceptionally strong, allowing room for optimism,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “But the growth momentum may slow moving forward due to US tariffs.” The tariff threat poses definite downside risks, although the scale of the impact remains unclear given the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump’s policies, Lien said. Despite the headwinds, Taiwan is likely
READY TO BUY: Shortly after Nvidia announced the approval, Chinese firms scrambled to order the H20 GPUs, which the company must send to the US government for approval Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) late on Monday said the technology giant has won approval from US President Donald Trump’s administration to sell its advanced H20 graphics processing units (GPUs) used to develop artificial intelligence (AI) to China. The news came in a company blog post late on Monday and Huang also spoke about the coup on China’s state-run China Global Television Network in remarks shown on X. “The US government has assured Nvidia that licenses will be granted, and Nvidia hopes to start deliveries soon,” the post said. “Today, I’m announcing that the US government has approved for us
The National Stabilization Fund (NSF, 國安基金) is to continue supporting local shares, as uncertainties in international politics and the economy could affect Taiwanese industries’ global deployment and corporate profits, as well as affect stock movement and investor confidence, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement yesterday. The NT$500 billion (US$17.1 billion) fund would remain active in the stock market as the US’ tariff measures have not yet been fully finalized, which would drive international capital flows and global supply chain restructuring, the ministry said after the a meeting of the fund’s steering committee. Along with ongoing geopolitical risks and an unfavorable
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