AUTO PARTS
Tong Yang profit falls 37%
Citing a weak global automotive market, Tong Yang Industry Co (東陽實業) yesterday reported that first-quarter pretax income declined 37 percent annually to NT$383 million (US$12.75 million), its lowest level in 19 quarters. Earnings per share were NT$0.73, it said. The company supplies bumpers, grilles and fenders to global brands through the aftermarket channel or as an original equipment manufacturer. Tong Yang said it would continue developing water-based coating and electroplating products to enhance added value, while investing in lightweight auto products.
RETAIL
Pinkoi sales decline 30%
Taipei-based e-commerce start-up Pinkoi.com (果翼科技) yesterday said that online sales fell 30 percent last month compared with February due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company, which specializes in original design goods and holds fairs, said that offline sales also fell by more than 50 percent sequentially last quarter. It did not disclose exact sales figures. With more than 16,000 individual brands on its Web site, Pinkoi said it would lower its commissions for orders under US$10, while investing more than US$660,000 in advertising this quarter. The company is launching various workshops and classes as it seeks to boost offline sales for designers.
ELECTRONICS
Silitech reports losses
Handset keypad supplier Silitech Technology Corp (閎暉) yesterday posted net losses of NT$373 million for last month, including NT$363 million in impairment losses and layoff expenses from its Shenzhen-based Xurong plant. Losses per share were NT$6.22, the company said in a regulatory filing. Silitech released the results at the request of the regulator due to an unusual spike in its share price. Its shares closed unchanged at NT$26.7 in Taipei trading yesteday. They have surged 33.83 percent in the past seven sessions, compared with the TAIEX’s 3.06 percent rise over the same period.
MANUFACTURING
Yageo to list GDRs
Yageo Corp is to list global depositary receipts (GDRs) in Luxembourg next week to raise funds to boost its production capacity and repay debts, it said yesterday. Yageo, which makes chip resistors, inductors and multilayer ceramic capacitors, said in a statement that it would issue 12.68 million GDRs on Monday next week, each of which represents five Yageo common shares. The GDRs have been priced at US$51.25 per unit, translating to NT$308.1 per common share, an 8.84 percent discount on Yageo’s closing price of NT$338 on Tuesday. Based on the pricing, Yageo is expected to raise about US$650 million, it said.
BANKING
Banks mull requiring masks
Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) yesterday said that the Bankers Association of the Republic of China (銀行公會) had proposed requiring visitors to bank branches to wear masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The plan requires approval from the Central Epidemic Command Center, Koo said at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee. Most banks take people’s temperature at bank entrances. Koo said the commission would suggest the plan to the center tomorrow and start implementing it at more than 3,000 bank branches next week at the earliest.
SETBACK: Apple’s India iPhone push has been disrupted after Foxconn recalled hundreds of Chinese engineers, amid Beijing’s attempts to curb tech transfers Apple Inc assembly partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has recalled about 300 Chinese engineers from a factory in India, the latest setback for the iPhone maker’s push to rapidly expand in the country. The extraction of Chinese workers from the factory of Yuzhan Technology (India) Private Ltd, a Hon Hai component unit, in southern Tamil Nadu state, is the second such move in a few months. The company has started flying in Taiwanese engineers to replace staff leaving, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named, as the
The prices of gasoline and diesel at domestic fuel stations are to rise NT$0.1 and NT$0.4 per liter this week respectively, after international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to rise to NT$27.3, NT$28.8 and NT$30.8 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to rise to NT$26.2 per liter at CPC stations and NT$26 at Formosa pumps, they said. The announcements came after international crude oil prices
A German company is putting used electric vehicle batteries to new use by stacking them into fridge-size units that homes and businesses can use to store their excess solar and wind energy. This week, the company Voltfang — which means “catching volts” — opened its first industrial site in Aachen, Germany, near the Belgian and Dutch borders. With about 100 staff, Voltfang says it is the biggest facility of its kind in Europe in the budding sector of refurbishing lithium-ion batteries. Its CEO David Oudsandji hopes it would help Europe’s biggest economy ween itself off fossil fuels and increasingly rely on climate-friendly renewables. While
SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) is weighing whether to add a life insurance business to its portfolio, but would tread cautiously after completing three acquisitions in quick succession, president Stanley Chu (朱士廷) said yesterday. “We are carefully considering whether life insurance should play a role in SinoPac’s business map,” Chu told reporters ahead of an earnings conference. “Our priority is to ensure the success of the deals we have already made, even though we are tracking some possible targets.” Local media have reported that Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽), which is seeking buyers amid financial strains, has invited three financial
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