E-COMMERCE
Shopee adds flagship stores
Shopee Taiwan Co Ltd (樂購蝦皮) yesterday announced the addition of more than 100 flagship stores to its Web site. The well-known brands would help retain customer attention and lengthen browsing times, Shopee business and intelligence director William Liang (梁日威) said, adding that the company is seeking to increase customer loyalty. The Singapore-based e-commerce retailer said that the collaborations would help it take full advantage of the mid-year shopping festival that begins on June 18, adding that it would offer promotional sales through the brands.
RESTAURANTS
Wowprime sales surge 61%
Restaurant chain operator Wowprime Corp (王品) yesterday reported that sales last month rose 61.4 percent month-on-month to NT$1.39 billion (US$46.45 million) as people began to feel more comfortable dining out. Sales at its Taiwanese operations rose 57.2 percent to NT$960 million from April — the highest since 2016 — while sales at its Chinese operations increased 71.57 percent to NT$430 million. However, last month’s overall sales remained 3.94 percent lower than a year earlier, highlighting the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, cumulative sales in the first five months of this year fell 24.02 percent annually to NT$5.22 billion.
ELECTRONICS
Sercomm sales soar 52%
Telecom equipment maker Sercomm Corp (中磊) yesterday reported sales of NT$3.05 billion for last month, up 19.12 percent month-on-month and 52.2 percent year-on-year. Cumulative sales from January to last month totaled NT$12.42 billion, a 16.53 percent increase from the same period last year, the company said in a statement. Sercomm reported earnings per share of NT$0.35 in the first quarter, the lowest in 10 years, due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the company expects demand for home gateway, smart home and fixed mobile products to become major growth drivers this year.
ELECTRONICS
Sinbon sales hit NT$1.78bn
Sinbon Electronics Co (信邦電子), which produces cables, connectors and modems, yesterday reported record sales of NT$1.78 billion for last month, up 2.42 percent month-on-month and 9.44 percent year-on-year. Combined sales in the first five months of this year reached NT$8.02 billion, up 10.4 percent from the same period last year. Sinbon said that it had growth in shipments of components for medical and personal care devices, automotive products, green energy-related devices, and communications and electronics peripherals. Cable assemblies accounted for 78.47 percent of last month’s sales, company data showed.
APPAREL
Makalot revenue falls 30%
Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽) on Wednesday reported consolidated revenue of NT$1.44 billion for last month, down 30.26 percent from a year earlier, but up 26.92 percent from the previous month. The company’s sales hit bottom in April due to the COVID-19 pandemic, although the monthly increase in sales came from shipments of protective gowns. Combined revenue in the first five months of this year reached NT$8.702 billion, down 17.91 percent year-on-year, a company regulatory filing said. The outbreak situation is easing and clients have begun to request that previously deferred orders be shipped in sequence, Makalot said, adding that operations are expected to improve month by month.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
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