EXCHANGES
TWSE names new chairman
The Taiwan Stock Exchange’s (TWSE) board members yesterday appointed Sherman Lin (林修銘), former chairman of Taiwan Depository and Clearing Corp (台灣集保), as its new chairman, while Chien Lih-chung (簡立忠) remains as TWSE president. Lin would take office today, the board said. Aged 57, Lin would be the youngest TWSE head in 60 years, its records showed. Meanwhile, the board directors of Fundrich Securities Co (基富通證券), a Taiwan Depository and Clearing unit, yesterday appointed Chu Han-chiang (朱漢強), a legal representative of the parent firm, as its new chairperson.
TELECOMS
Taiwan Mobile hikes wages
Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) yesterday said it has stepped up salary hikes for employees to 7 percent this year in an effort to retain talent and help employees amid rising inflation. The wage hikes are higher than the 5.5 percent increases offered by Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) for new employees, Taiwan Mobile said in a statement. On average, Taiwan Mobile employees receive about 18 months of salary a year, the statement said. The telecom operator said that it has a hybrid working model, with employees allowed to work from home 10 days a month.
ENERGY
HD dividend approved
HD Renewable Energy Co (泓德能源) yesterday said that shareholders have approved a cash dividend distribution of NT$2 per common share, a payout ratio of 66.23 percent based on the company’s earnings per share of NT$3.02 last year. Shareholders also approved a plan to list the company’s shares on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. With new green energy facilities launching operations this year, HD Renewable Energy’s revenue was NT$550 million (US$18.5 million) in the first quarter, almost tripling from the same period last year. Earnings per share soared to NT$1.03. The company said it has started building three new solar energy facilities in Tainan and Penghu County with total installed capacity of 100 megawatts a year. The facilities would be completed and connected to the grid by the end of this year, it said.
MANUFACTURING
Returning firms boost rate
Local manufacturers, mostly electronics companies, returning production to Taiwan last year, raised the proportion of locally made products to 48.4 percent of overall output, up 2.4 percentage points from the previous year, a survey conducted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed. Last year’s result was the highest since 2013, the ministry said. Last year’s proportion of goods made in China, including Hong Kong, was 42.4 percent, down 3.1 percentage points from 2020, it said. The ministry attributed the shift to a US-China trade dispute and restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Lower manufacturing costs were also a factor, it said. ASEAN members were favored among local manufacturers when shifting production out of China, with 3.2 percent of goods made in such nations last year, up 0.3 percentage points from a year earlier, it said. That made ASEAN the third-biggest manufacturing region for local manufacturers, the survey showed. About 70 percent of the 127 companies that have expanded production lines did so in Taiwan, the ministry said, adding that Southeast Asian countries were second with about 27 percent.
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
The US said it plans to help build a first-of-its-kind industrial hub in the Philippines to boost production of inputs crucial to US supply chains. The 4,000-acre hub is intended to be “a purpose-built platform for allied manufacturing” and “an investment acceleration hub where the specific industrial activities are shaped by market demand,” the US Department of State said on Thursday. The project — touted as an “economic security zone” — would be within the Luzon Economic Corridor, a flagship economic project backed by the US and Japan on the main Philippine island. The project was also described as “the first artificial intelligence
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