Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團) is to reduce its year-end bonus for employees due to weaker profits resulting from falling product prices, a source within the industrial conglomerate said yesterday.
FPG’s year-end bonuses are closely watched by the market, because they tend to set the benchmark for the private sector.
An executive who asked not to be named said that the group expects to issue year-end bonuses equivalent to 4.6 to 4.8 months of salary, down from 5.83 months of salary a year earlier, as the aggregate net profit of the group’s four major entities — Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑), Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠), Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (台灣化學纖維) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) — plunged 46.9 percent in the first nine months of the year to NT$109.82 billion (US$3.64 billion).
The four subsidiaries’ sales were hurt by lower raw material prices amid a trade dispute between the US and China, which weakened demand, analysts said.
The source said that whether the year-end bonus would hit an equivalent of five months of salary would depend on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings, which it is scheduled to report early next month.
However, the target would not be easily attained based on current operations, the source said.
After the release of the fourth-quarter earnings report, executives would sit down with union representatives to discuss the year-end bonus, the source said.
FPG added a cash gift of NT$15,000 to the previous to the year-end bonus, but the group decided to scrap the gift after raising the ceiling for year-end bonuses to seven months of salary from six months, the source said.
However, the union might request that the cash gift be maintained this year because of the reduction to the year-end bonus, the source said.
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
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
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
RSS