ECONOMY
Money supply growth slows
Last month’s M1B — a measure of money in circulation — grew 5.97 percent year-on-year, decelerating from a 6.55 percent increase the previous month, while M2 — which includes M1B, time deposits, foreign currency deposits and mutual funds — increased 2.92 percent, compared with a 3.14 percent increase in January, the central bank said in a statement yesterday. Money supply growth decelerated because of a slowdown in bank loans and investments, the central bank said. In the first two months of this year, the average annual growth rates of M1B and M2 were 6.26 percent and 3.03 percent respectively, it said.
FOOD AND BEVERAGE
TTFB net profit rises 7.4%
Tai Tong Food & Beverage Group (TTFB, 瓦城泰統集團), which operates six restaurant chains in Taiwan and China, yesterday reported net profit of NT$353 million (US$11.5 million), or earnings per share of NT$15.17, for last year, up 7.4 percent from a year earlier. Consolidated revenue also grew 4.72 percent year-on-year to NT$4.3 billion. The company said that it is upbeat about its outlook for this year and plans to accelerate store expansion plans from the second quarter. Tai Tong last year operated 127 stores. The company is considering launching one or two new brands and adding 25 to 30 stores this year.
ELECTRONICS
Tul losses continue to mount
Tul Corp (撼訊), which supplies gaming and embedded graphics cards, yesterday reported a second consecutive loss for last quarter with losses per share of NT$4.24, compared with losses per share of NT$1.34 in the previous quarter. Tul benefited from demand for graphics cards for gaming computers and cryptocurrency mining early last year, but the company faced headwinds in the second half, mainly due to the piling up of inventories as the mining frenzy abated. For the whole of last year, Tul reported earnings per share of NT$4.09. The company has proposed a cash dividend of NT$2 per share, suggesting a payout ratio of 48.9 percent.
LIGHTING
Laster eyes smaller dividend
Laster Tech Corp Ltd (麗清), which produces automotive LED lighting components, has proposed cutting its cash dividend this year as the company takes into consideration future expansion plans and working capital needs. The company’s board plans to distribute a cash dividend of NT$1.66 per share, based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$2.71. That compares with a NT$2.5 cash dividend it paid a year earlier on earnings per share of NT$3.81. In the first two months of this year, Laster Tech’s cumulative revenue dropped 18.03 percent annually to NT$663.39 million. The company said that its business in the first quarter of the year would be affected by a slowdown in China’s auto market.
MATERIALS
Swancor launches new plant
Swancor Industry Co Ltd (上緯), which manufactures rotor resin for wind turbines and corrosion-resistant materials, yesterday held an opening ceremony for its Malaysian subsidiary, which is to become the company’s first production base for corrosion-resistant materials outside the greater China region. Swancor Ind (M) Sdn Bhd operates a vinyl ester resin plant with an annual capacity of 70 million tonnes. The plant is to start trial production this month and is expected to provide products to Southeast Asian markets, the company said in a news release.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
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