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.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that its board of directors approved a proposal to subsidize employees’ purchases of TSMC shares by covering 15 percent of investments, the chipmaker’s latest effort to recruit and retain talent. Employees of TSMC and its fully owned subsidiaries would be allowed to allocate 15 to 20 percent of their monthly salary for share purchases, based on a company employee stock purchase plan, the chipmaker told the Taipei Times. The plan is to take effect in August or September, it said. The board also approved the distribution of a cash dividend of NT$2.75 per share for
This week’s undoing of the TerraUSD algorithmic stablecoin and its sister token, Luna, has ramifications for all of crypto. First, there is the immediate impact: The rapid collapse of a once-popular pair of cryptocurrencies sent a ripple effect across the industry, contributing to plummeting coin prices that wiped hundreds of billions of market value from the digital-asset market and stoked worries over the potential fragility of digital-asset ventures. Then there are the knock-on effects. In addition to delivering punishing losses to individual users and investment firms, the spectacular failure of a market darling like Terra threatens to have a cooling effect
PRODUCTION VALUE: The institute said production value of the foundry sector is expected to grow 28 percent this year after TSMC posted record revenue for April The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) yesterday raised its growth forecast for Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, expecting production value to expand about 19.4 percent to NT$4.88 trillion (US$164.24 billion) this year, primarily aided by stronger growth from foundry companies amid a chip crunch. That means the output of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry would again outpace that of its global peers, which collectively are expected to grow 10.4 percent this year, ITRI said. The institute three months ago estimated that the production value of the nation’s semiconductor industry would grow 17.7 percent annually to NT$4.81 trillion this year, compared with NT$4.08 trillion last year. The
Formosa Plastics Corp (台灣塑膠), the flagship entity of Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), yesterday said that it would build a new manufacturing site in Texas at a cost of US$207 million. When completed, the plant would have an annual capacity of 100,000 tonnes of alpha olefins, which are used to make high-density polyethylene (HDPE), among other products, the company said. About 63,000 tonnes would be used by Formosa Plastics, while the remaining 37,000 tonnes would be sold on the international market, it said. The projected completion date of the plant is October 2025, and mass production is scheduled for December that year after a
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