ELECTRONICS
Hon Hai pay date unveiled
Key iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said it plans to distribute a cash dividend to shareholders on July 28. At the company’s annual general meeting on Wednesday last week, shareholders approved the company’s proposal to distribute a cash dividend of NT$5.3 per common share based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$10.21. The company is expected to distribute a total of NT$73.47 billion (US$2.39 billion) in dividends this year, with company founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) likely to receive NT$9.23 billion in dividend income as he owns about 1.74 billion shares.
ELECTRONICS
HTC sales up almost 20%
Smartphone maker HTC Corp’s (宏達電) consolidated sales for last month rose 19.67 percent month-on-month and 18.28 percent year-on-year to NT$359 million, the company said yesterday. As the company has managed to diversify its product mix and develop its virtual reality business to take the pressure off its lackluster smartphone sales, revenue for the first five months of the year grew 1.11 percent year-on-year to NT$1.64 billion. Analysts attributed the improvement in sales to the contribution from the company’s virtual reality headset Vive XR Elite, which it launched in late February.
TELECOMS
Sercomm sales up 9.1%
Sercomm Corp (中磊電子), which supplies telecommunications and broadband equipment, yesterday reported that consolidated sales for last month grew 9.1 percent to NT$5.02 billion from NT$4.6 billion a year earlier. Last month’s figure was the best May performance in the company’s history. The company attributed the increase to governments around the world investing in infrastructure construction, which has continued to drive demand for networking equipment. From January to last month, cumulative sales totaled NT$26.18 billion, up 18.1 percent from NT$22.16 billion for the same period last year, the company said in a statement.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Sigurd sees demand pickup
Chip testing and packaging services provider Sigurd Microelectronics Corp (矽格) yesterday reported that consolidated sales for last month rose 1.07 percent month-on-month, but declined 30.85 percent year-on-year to NT$1.21 billion. The company said last month’s sales were in line with expectations, adding that demand is expected to recover in the second half of the year as orders are slowly picking up. Sales in the first five months decreased 24.84 percent year-on-year to NT$6.03 billion, it said. Sigurd is to hold its annual general meeting today, at which shareholders are to vote on the company’s proposed cash dividend of NT$4.2 per common share.
MACHINERY
Hiwin bullish about Q3
Machinery maker Hiwin Technologies Co (上銀科技) posted revenue of NT$2.22 billion for last month, down 19.31 percent from a year earlier, the company said yesterday. On a monthly basis, revenue rose 2.98 percent due to more working days last month, it said. Cumulative revenue for the first five months of the year decreased 22.63 percent year-on-year to NT$10.1 billion, said the company, which makes ball screws and linear guideways. Hiwin’s order visibility has extended to three to four months from two months in the fourth quarter of last year, and its revenue growth is expected to turn positive from the third quarter of this year amid an upcycle.
Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea and other low-cost airlines are feeling the financial pain from high jet fuel prices as a result of the Middle East war and are cutting flights. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending the price of jet fuel soaring and triggering fears of shortages that could force airlines to cancel flights. Airlines are not waiting for a lack of supplies to react. “Travel alert: Airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now,” Travel Therapy host Karen Schaler said in an Instagram reel this past weekend.
MANAGING RISKS: Taiwan has secured LNG sufficient to cover 95 percent of electricity demand for next month, UBS said, describing the government’s approach as proactive UBS Group AG has raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 8 percent, up from 6.9 percent previously, and said expansion could reach as high as 8.6 percent if external energy shocks are avoided. The upgrade reflects a stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance and sustained momentum in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven exports, which UBS said are providing a firm foundation for growth despite geopolitical and energy risks. Taiwan’s GDP expanded 13.69 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the fastest growth since the second quarter of 1987, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Thursday. On a seasonally
The Fair Trade Commission’s (FTC) ongoing review of Grab Holdings Ltd’s US$600 million acquisition of Foodpanda Taiwan’s operations, announced on March 23, has taken on fresh urgency as industry experts warn that the transaction could embed significant Chinese cybersecurity vulnerabilities into Taiwan’s digital infrastructure through Grab’s deep ties to autonomous-driving firm WeRide (文遠知行). Less than 16 months after the FTC blocked Uber Eats’ direct attempt to acquire Foodpanda Taiwan — citing potential combined market shares of 80 to 90 percent — the emergence of Grab as the buyer has prompted questions about whether the same competitive harm is simply being rerouted
The list of Asian stocks that benefit from business partnership with Nvidia Corp is getting longer, as the region further integrates into the artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant’s business ecosystem. Just in the past week, South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc, Taiwan’s Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), as well as China’s Huizhou Desay SV Automotive Co (德賽西威) and Pateo Connect Technology Shanghai Corp (博泰車聯) have become the latest to rally on news of tie-ups, supply-chain participation or product collaboration with the US chip designer. Asian suppliers account for about 90 percent of Nvidia’s production costs, up from about 65 percent last year, data compiled
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