RETAIL
Eslite approves dividends
Eslite Spectrum Corp (誠品生活) on Tuesday said its board has approved a plan to distribute cash dividends of NT$6.8 (US$0.22) per share, representing a payout ratio of 92.9 percent based on last year’s earnings per share (EPS) of NT$7.32. Last year, the company paid cash dividends of NT$7.56 per share against EPS of NT$8.91 in 2017. Revenue last year edged up 5.2 percent from the previous year to NT$4.5 billion, while net income fell 17.98 percent to NT$347 million. Shareholders are to vote on the dividend proposal at an annual general meeting on May 29, the company said.
ELECTRONICS
Cub Elecparts profits rise
Cub Elecparts Inc (為升), which makes electric switches and sensors for cars, on Tuesday reported net profit of NT$1.09 billion for last year, up from NT$1.01 billion a year earlier, but EPS declined from NT$10 to NT$9.48, as shares issued last year diluted its earnings. Gross margin also dropped by 4.85 percentage points to 48.4 percent, while revenue rose 14.3 percent to NT$4.02 billion, it said. The company’s board approved the distribution of a cash dividend of NT$8.3 per common share and a stock dividend of NT$0.5 per share. The firm plans to hold a shareholder meeting on April 17.
BANKING
Interest rates fall 0.113%
The five major state-run banks last month saw their average lending interest rates fall to 1.245 percent, down 0.113 percentage points from 1.358 percent in December last year. The five are Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行), Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合庫銀行), Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行), Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行) and First Commercial Bank (第一銀行). The decline reflects falling interest rates for consumer loans and those intended for corporate working capital, the central bank said on Monday. Excluding government loans, interest rates averaged 1.341 percent, down 0.017 percentage points from 1.358 percent in December, it said.
EMPLOYMENT
Migrant hiring rules to ease
The Ministry of Labor yesterday said that is has completed draft rules to ease regulations on hiring migrant workers to support the return of China-based or overseas-based businesses. The quota on the proportion of migrant worker has been raised 10 percent, with the new cap set at no more than 40 percent, it said. Qualified employers must contribute a NT$7,000 employment security fee and can begin hiring up to half of their quota of migrant workers. The ministry is also drafting separate amendments to allow dairy farmers to hire more seasonal workers.
EQUITIES
Late buys ensure flat close
Shares closed flat yesterday in Taipei after late-session buying boosted select large-cap stocks to help the broader market recoup most of its earlier losses, dealers said. While the electronics sector remained sluggish, the financial sector got a boost from bargain hunting, they said. The TAIEX ended down 2.38 points, or 0.02 percent, at 10,389.17, after moving between 10,343.56 and 10,403.05. Turnover was NT$133.16 billion. “Today’s narrow fluctuations showed caution toward the slower pace of economic growth at home and abroad,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投信) analyst Alex Huang (黃國偉) said. “As optimism toward a possible deal between the US and China to resolve their trade dispute has been largely factored into share prices, investors shifted their attention back to economic fundamentals.”
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
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
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
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