EQUITIES
Foreigners net buyers
Foreign investors last week bought a net NT$32.51 billion (US$1.17 billion) of local shares after they sold a net NT$41.57 billion the previous week, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. The top three shares bought by foreign investors last week were United Microelectronics Co (聯電), HannStar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶) and CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控), while the top three sold were Innolux Corp (群創), AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) and Acer Inc (宏碁), the exchange said. As of Friday last week, the market capitalization of shares held by foreign investors was NT$23.31 trillion, or 43.52 percent of total market capitalization, it said.
AUTOMOBILES
Pan German profit soars
Pan German Universal Motors Ltd (汎德永業汽車), which distributes BMW, Porsche and Mini vehicles in Taiwan, yesterday reported the highest revenue and profit for the first half of the year in six years on the back of stable sales, as well as strong demand for its vehicle repair and maintenance services. The company posted consolidated revenue of NT$22.32 billion for the first half, up 22 percent year-on-year, while operating profit grew 54.8 percent to NT$780 million and net profit expanded 42.5 percent to NT$618 million, or earnings per share of NT$7.65, it said in a statement. The company said it is positive about the second half of the year after the government downgraded the COVID-19 alert level to 2 on Tuesday last week.
RETAILERS
Scan-D profit up 63.37%
Scan-D Corp (詩肯), a retailer of furniture, bedding and kitchen appliances, yesterday posted a net profit of NT$34.85 million for the second quarter of this year, up 63.37 percent year-on-year, with revenue rising 23.71 percent to NT$488 million. Earnings per share were NT$0.74, higher than the previous year’s NT$0.47. The company, which designs and sells teak furniture under the Scanteak brand, said customer traffic and orders have continued to improve since late June, while the contribution from Nova Furnishing Holdings Pte Ltd (諾雅家具), its Singapore-based retailing unit, also lent support.
RETAILERS
FamilyMart income tumbles
Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店) on Sunday posted net income of NT$353.38 million for the second quarter of the year, down 41.68 percent from the previous year, or earnings per share of NT$1.58, down from NT$2.71. Consolidated revenue fell 2.89 percent year-on-year to NT$20.5 billion. The decrease came as an outbreak of domestic COVID-19 infections in May caused consumer traffic to drop significantly and some stores had to close, the company said.
SOFTWARE
Appier earnings improve
Artificial intelligence developer Appier Group Inc (沛星互動科技) on Thursday last week reported that its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization improved to minus-1 percent in the second quarter of this year, up from minus-24 percent a year earlier. The Tokyo-listed company said its revenue grew 50 percent year-on-year to ¥2.8 billion (US$25.4 million), while gross profit grew 77 percent to ¥1.4 billion. The company, which has not made an operating profit since 2013, attributed the increase in sales and gross profit to its efforts to help customers capitalize on opportunities in the new digital economy. Appier also revised its revenue forecast for the whole year to ¥11.7 billion from ¥10.9 billion.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last