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.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained