EQUITIES
TAIEX recovers early losses
The TAIEX yesterday closed little changed, recouping earlier losses as investors picked up large-cap tech stocks that had been battered in early trading by a plunge among tech companies on Wall Street on Monday. Old-economy and financial stocks continued to increase on rotational buying, giving additional support to the broader market, but market sentiment was still restrained by a spike in US Treasury yields, dealers said. The TAIEX ended up 32.98 points, or 0.21 percent, at 15,853.09, on turnover of NT$322.2 billion (US$11.35 billion), from NT$291.18 billion on Monday. Foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$3.10 billion in shares.
ELECTRONICS
Panel makers’ revenue up
Flat-panel makers Innolux Corp (群創光電) and AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電) yesterday reported robust revenue growth for last month as prices rose due to short supply. Innolux saw its revenue surge 79.3 percent to NT$25.34 billion, compared with NT$14.13 billion a year earlier. The Miaoli-based company said that the growth was also due to a lower comparison base as it shut down Chinese factories temporarily due to COVID-19 pandemic last year. On a monthly basis, revenue dropped 7.9 percent from NT$27.51 billion. AUO said that its revenue jumped 44.7 percent to NT$25.6 billion from NT$17.69 billion a year earlier, but decreased 3.8 percent from NT$26.62 billion in January. The company said it shipped 5.9 percent fewer panels last month as the Lunar New Year holiday reduced the number of working days.
ELECTRONICS
Quanta revenue down 15.1%
Contract laptop maker Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) yesterday reported revenue of NT$80.15 billion for last month, down 15.1 percent month-on-month, but up 62.9 percent year-on-year. As the Lunar New Year holiday reduced the number of working days, Quanta said it shipped 6 million laptops last month, 400,000 less than in January. Separately, PC brands Acer Inc (宏碁) and Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) announced that their revenue rose last month from a year earlier, but fell month-on-month due to the holiday. Acer’s revenue rose 80.92 percent annually to NT$20.32 billion, while Asustek’s revenue increased 57.56 percent to NT$33.54 billion.
MANUFACTURING
YC Group borrows NT$3.6bn
YC Group (炎洲集團), which mainly manufactures thin films, adhesive tapes and packaging materials, yesterday signed a NT$3.6 billion syndicated loan with 10 local banks. The company said it plans to use the funds to repay bank loans and bolster its working capital. The syndicated loan was arranged by Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行), with participating banks including Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行), First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) and Jih Sun International Bank (日盛銀行), it said.
HOSPITALITY
LDC proposes NT$1 payout
L’Hotel de Chine Group (LDC, 雲朗觀光) has proposed a cash dividend distribution of NT$1 per common share, although it is still struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposal represented a 69 percent payout ratio based on earnings per share of NT$1.44 last year, the hotel and restaurant operator said on Thursday last week. The dividend distribution, which still needs to be approved by shareholders, was a huge retreat from the combined cash and stock dividend payout of NT$2.5 per share that it paid a year earlier. The company reported net profit of NT$109 million for last year.
TEMPORARY TRUCE: China has made concessions to ease rare earth trade controls, among others, while Washington holds fire on a 100% tariff on all Chinese goods China is effectively suspending implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminating investigations targeting US companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced. The White House on Saturday issued a fact sheet outlining some details of the trade pact agreed to earlier in the week by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that aimed to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Under the deal, China is to issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of US end users and their suppliers
Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV’s China unit yesterday said that it had established sufficient inventories of finished goods and works-in-progress, and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies. The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant a week ago, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported on Friday last week. Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible,” adding that the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive,” according to a statement
The Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data center projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically made artificial intelligence (AI) chips, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. In recent weeks, Chinese regulatory authorities have ordered such data centers that are less than 30 percent complete to remove all installed foreign chips, or cancel plans to purchase them, while projects in a more advanced stage would be decided on a case-by-case basis, the sources said. The move could represent one of China’s most aggressive steps yet to eliminate foreign technology from its critical infrastructure amid a
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ￥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples
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