AUTO PARTS
BizLink sales slump
Wire harness maker BizLink Holding Inc (貿聯) yesterday posted consolidated sales of US$54.95 million for last month, a 4.27 percent month-on-month and 10.72 percent year-on-year decrease. The company blamed the fall on the COVID-19 pandemic that has caused many nations to impose a variety of restrictions, negatively affecting global supply chains. BizLink, an exclusive harness supplier to US electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc, said cumulative sales in the first quarter were US$164.41 million, down 7.35 percent from the same period last year.
INTERNET
Vivotek sees weak demand
Internet security solutions provider Vivotek Inc (晶睿科技) yesterday posted revenue of NT$589 million (US$19.48 million) for last month, an 18.47 percent month-on-month increase, but down 6.7 percent from a year earlier. As the firm’s three major plants are in Taiwan and it has a sufficient supply of raw materials, the COVID-19 pandemic has not had a substantial impact on production, Vivotek said. However, the escalating outbreak, and lockdowns in the US and Europe, would likely lead to weakening demand, it said. Revenue in the first quarter was NT$1.58 billion, up 17.04 percent quarter-on-quarter, but down 7.76 percent year-on-year.
MEMORY CHIPS
Adata revenue soars
Adata Technology Co (威剛科技), the world’s second-largest memory module supplier, yesterday posted revenue of NT$2.86 billion for last month, up 16.82 percent from NT$2.45 billion in February, as it benefited from rising shipments in the DRAM and solid-state drive (SSD) segments. That was 25.96 percent higher than NT$2.27 billion the previous year and the highest in 20 months, company data showed. Adata revenue rose 12.13 percent year-on-year to NT$7.19 billion in the first quarter, with the DRAM segment contributing 45.5 percent of sales, SSD 31.2 percent and NAND flash memory 12.85 percent.
PERIPHERALS
Chicony bullish on Q2
Chicony Power Technology Co (群光電能), which makes computer peripherals, yesterday posted consolidated revenue of NT$2.76 billion for last month, an 82.2 percent month-on-month and 2.2 percent year-on-year increase, and the highest level for March in the company’s history. Consolidated revenue in the first quarter decreased 7.2 percent year-on-year to NT$6.71 billion, less than the company’s guidance of a fall of 8 to 10 percent. The company resumed full production in China at the end of last month, which would help boost shipments this quarter, Chicony Power president Peter Tseng (曾國華) said. The company could benefit from rush orders for power supplies used in commercial and education-based laptops as remote working and online teaching become more prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic, analysts said.
ELECTRONICS
HTC sales inch higher
HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday posted consolidated sales of NT$432.25 million for last month, a 3.13 percent increase from a month earlier and ending two consecutive months of decline. However, last month’s sales were 67.07 percent lower than the same period last year. HTC attributed the decline to lower shipments. Cumulative sales in the first quarter were NT$1.33 billion, down 54.83 percent year-on-year, the company said in a regulatory filing.
From the customer’s perspective, car rental is a straightforward business. The only uncertainty is whether the hire company will charge you for the scratch they discover when you hand back the vehicle. Hertz Global Holdings Inc’s bankruptcy protection filing on Friday last week was a reminder that today even the simplest business models are underpinned by a lot more financial complexity than meets the eye. The proximate cause of Hertz’s demise was of course the sudden collapse in bookings caused by COVID-19 travel restrictions. The company’s monthly revenue last month fell 73 percent year-on-year, a shortfall that even the most resilient
Uber Technologies Inc, Lyft Inc and Airbnb Inc have slashed thousands of jobs. Salesforce.com Inc and Visa Inc are letting employees work remotely for months; Twitter Inc and Square Inc are allowing them to do so for good. For the companies’ hometown of San Francisco, the moves are early signs of a dire blow. In a city with a long history of booms, busts and natural calamities, the COVID-19 pandemic has suddenly upended nearly a decade of prosperity. While municipalities across the US are grappling with economic fallout from the virus, San Francisco stands to take a deeper hit given its high
BULK PURCHASE: The French chain and Hong Kong-based Dairy Farm International reached a deal covering 224 stores, which is expected to be finalized by year’s end Carrefour SA yesterday announced it would acquire Wellcome Taiwan Co (惠康百貨) for 97 million euros (US$108.33 million), and bring all the Wellcome supermarkets (頂好超市) and Jasons Market Place stores nationwide under its banner within 12 months of the deal closing. The France-based hypermarket chain reached an agreement with Hong Kong-based Dairy Farm International Holdings (牛奶國際控股), the pan-Asian retailer that launched Wellcome Taiwan in 1987. The transaction involves 199 Wellcome supermarkets, which have average sales areas of 420m2 and 25 high-end Jasons Market Place stores, which have an average sales area of 820m2, as well as a warehouse in Taoyuan, Carrefour Taiwan (家樂福)
‘ONE-STOP SHOP’: A Miaoli official said that the factory in the Jhunan section of the Hsinchu Science Park would create more than 1,000 jobs and boost prosperity A new high-end IC packaging and testing plant planned by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in Miaoli County is expected to start operations in the middle of next year, Miaoli County Commissioner Hsu Yao-chang (徐耀昌) said. Hsu wrote on Facebook that TSMC, the world’s largest pure wafer foundry operator, would invest NT$303.2 billion (US$10.1 billion) to build the plant, the largest-ever single investment in Taiwan. However, TSMC declined to disclose the financial terms of the deal, while a company board meeting on May 12 approved a spending plan worth NT$168.2 billion as part of its investment plans. Construction of the
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