PAPER
YFY to pay NT$0.7 dividend
Papermaking conglomerate YFY Inc (永豐餘控股) yesterday announced a cash dividend of NT$0.7 per common share, up from NT$0.6 per share last year and the highest payout since 2012, after its net income last year rose 58.7 percent to NT$2.29 billion (US$75.56 million), or earnings per share of NT$1.38, the highest since 2004. However, revenue last year dropped 2.2 percent annually to NT$74.76 billion due to fluctuations related to global economic conditions and raw material prices, YFY said, adding that it remained cautious about its business outlook in the short term due to the COVID-19 pandemic, after revenue in the first two months of this year fell 9.74 percent annually to NT$9.89 billion.
RESTAURANTS
Yummy Town income soars
Yummy Town Holdings Corp (雅茗天地集團), which operates restaurant and tea brands worldwide, yesterday reported that net income last year increased 25.5 percent year-on-year to NT$129 million, or earnings per share of NT$3.8, while revenue grew 2 percent annually to a record-high NT$2.22 billion. The company has proposed distributing a dividend of NT$3 per share and is planning a share buyback program to stop a decline in its stock price. Yummy said that it would purchase up to 1 million common shares on the open market at between NT$42 and NT$82, but did not specify the time frame. The company’s shares yesterday rose 9.62 percent to NT$58.1 in Taipei trading. They have dropped 9.22 percent this year.
MATERIALS
Aleees’ net losses narrow
Advanced Lithium Electrochemistry Co (Aleees, 立凱電能), a Taiwanese supplier of lithium iron phosphate cathode material used in electric vehicle batteries, yesterday reported net losses of NT$53 million for the first two months of the year, or losses per share of NT$0.22. The company said in a statement that the losses were less than net losses of NT$62 million a year earlier, suggesting that its operation is healthy. Combined revenue in the first two months decreased 8 percent annually to NT$24 million, which the company attributed to disruptions caused by the pandemic on industrial supply chains. Orders have not been cut by clients, but deferred to following months, the company said.
ELECTRONICS
Chaun-Choung income rises
Chaun-Choung Technology Corp (超眾), which supplies heat-dissipation modules for PCs and networking devices, on Wednesday reported that net income last year rose 17.79 percent to NT$702 million, or earnings per share of NT$8.12, while revenue increased 12.06 percent year-on-year to NT$8.59 billion. The company’s board has approved distributing a cash dividend of NT$4.87 per share and decided to start the construction of manufacturing facilities in Vietnam through a new subsidiary, Nidec Chaun Choung Vietnam Corp.
SMARTPHONES
Apple mulling delay: paper
Apple Inc is weighing a delay on the release of its 5G iPhone, as the pandemic threatens to sap demand and disrupt its product development schedule, the Nikkei reported yesterday, citing three unnamed people familiar with the matter. The company has held internal discussions on a possible delay of “months,” the newspaper said, citing the three people. Issues with the supply chain could also push back the handset’s release, it said, citing unnamed supply-chain sources. Apple is likely to make a final decision in about May, it added. Apple declined to comment.
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
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
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