Business and Finance

Japanese tour operator invests in Taiwan travel platform

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/02/22 
By: Wang Shu-fen and Ko Lin

Taipei, Feb. 22 (CNA) KKday, a Taiwanese travel e-commerce platform, announced on Thursday that it has received a new capital investment of US$10.5 million (NT$307 million) from one of the leading travel agencies in Japan in a strategic partnership aimed at providing a high quality and wide range of product offerings to consumers.

H.I.S. Co. Ltd. currently has branch offices in more than 130 cities globally, and is one of the leading travel agencies in Japan, according to KKday co-founder and CEO Ming Chen (陳明明).

“By utilizing H.I.S.’s global resources and integrating it with KKday’s strong marketing and big data programs, we will be able to change the in-destination travel operations model,” Chen said in a press statement.

The investment by the Japanese travel giant follows the injection of funds in KKday by companies in Singapore and Hong Kong last year.    [FULL  STORY]

HTC to merge US divisions, lay off staff

RESTRUCTURING: With revenue forecast to fall 13.05 percent year-on-year, the firm is realigning its US team, but had ‘nothing else to announce’ regarding layoffs elsewhere

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 23, 2018
By: Lauly Li  /  Staff reporter

HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday confirmed that it plans to reduce the number of employees on its US team, as the company merges its smartphone and virtual reality (VR) divisions to centralize its organizational structure and resources.

The confirmation came one week after HTC president of smartphone and connected devices Chang Chia-lin (張嘉臨) announced his departure from the company.

“Today [yesterday] we announced a restructuring of the HTC smartphone business in North America … In doing so, there has been a reduction of some employee positions to realign the business and empower the teams to share more resources,” HTC said in a statement.    [FULL  STORY]

Chen Nan-kuang appointed central bank deputy governor

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/02/21
By: Yeh Su-ping and Flor Wang

Taipei, Feb. 21 (CNA) National Taiwan University (NTU) Professor Chen Nan-kuang (陳南

National Taiwan University Professor Chen Nan-kuang (陳南光)/image taken from Department of Economics, National Taiwan University website www.econ.ntu.edu.tw

光) is to succeed Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) as deputy governor of Taiwan’s central bank, the Presidential Office announced Wednesday.

Chen, 53, will fill the vacancy left by Yang, who has been appointed by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to take over as central bank governor from Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) on Feb. 26.

Chen, who currently serves in NTU’s department of economics, is specialized in macroeconomics and monetary economics.

Perng, the country’s longest-serving central bank governor since Feb. 25, 1998 who has retained the title as one of the world’s top-tier central bankers for 14 consecutive years, will retire the day before Yang assumes his new post.     [SOURCE]

TAIEX starts ‘new year’ with a bang

PLAYING CATCH-UP: After missing out on the US rally during the Lunar New Year holiday, investors in Taiwan sent the local index soaring nearly 300 points yesterday

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 22, 2018
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The TAIEX yesterday rallied 2.81 percent, or 293.35 points, to close at 10,714.44, as

People dressed as “gods of fortune” to bring good luck to investors on the first business day after the Lunar New Year holidays hold up banners with Chinese blessings written on them in Taipei yesterday.  Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times

investors rebuilt their positions to catch up with gains on Wall Street over the Lunar New Year holiday, traders said.

The Dow Jones industrial average picked up more than 700 points during the Lunar New Year break in Taiwan, despite a 254-point drop on Tuesday after disappointing earnings results from major US corporations, while pressure over interest rate hikes escalated.

“The rebound in the TAIEX might be sustainable as the global economy improves, although uncertainty over capital movements and a potential market correction remains,” Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) senior manager Lee Cheng-yen (李政諺) said.

Yields on US 10-year bonds rose to 2.87 percent last week, driving fund managers to slash investment-grade corporate debts by US$2 billion and emerging market debts by US$2 billion, the worst capital flight in 60 and 64 weeks respectively, JPMorgan Asset Management Taiwan said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan government encourage innovation through creative event and regulation sandbox

Taiwan government encourage enterprises to think out of the box and break through the restriction for innovation. At the same time, Small and Medium Enterprise Administration promote innovation regulatory sandbox through creative way in Taiwan natural gourmet banquet.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/02/21

In order to make Taiwan a better place to do business, Taiwan government attend to Taiwan natural gourmet banquet for promoting regulation sandbox to encourage more innovation to be tested in the market.

Over 80 representatives from investor, entrepreneurial representative and diplomatic representative join together through tasting Taiwan cuisines made from Social Enterprises and cooked by Mr. Larry Chen, Three-star Restaurant chef, before Chinese New Year.

Every dish brings an entrepreneur to make a presentation on the table instead of making presentation with PPT slides. The first dish is a gift box with red envelope to be representative of innovation regulatory sandbox, new policy by Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, MOEA.    [FULL  STORY]

Fulgent to see sales trampled due to strong currency

‘WORSE THAN EXPECTED’: The shoemaker’s performance last month fell short of analysts’ predictions, despite a traditional peak season, with sales falling 24.2 percent

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 21, 2018
By: Kuo Chia-erh  /  Staff reporter

Fulgent Sun Group (鈺齊國際), an outdoor footwear supplier to global brands such as Timberland, is this quarter expected to post a 15.1 percent quarterly decline in sales as a strong New Taiwan dollar might continue to weigh on the company’s revenue growth, Jih Sun Securities Investment Consulting Co (日盛投顧) said in a report earlier this month.

In light of the foreign-exchange factor, the brokerage said it has cut its sales estimate for Fulgent Sun to NT$2.33 billion (US$7.94 million) from the NT$2.74 billion it previously estimated.

The company posted sales of NT$2.75 billion for last quarter.

Net profit is expected to fall 1.5 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$1.91 billion, Jih Sun said.    [FULL  STORY]

Economy to hold steady this quarter

SHIFTING TRENDS: Artificial intelligence and Internet of Things applications are to offset slowing demand for smartphones as the market becomes satiated, analysts said

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 21, 2018
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

Taiwan’s economy is likely to hold steady this quarter on the back of a favorable global landscape, but the outlook for private investment and consumption is dull, the Germany-based Ifo Institute said in its latest quarterly World Economic Survey.

The Munich-based institute arrived at the observations for the first quarter of this year after surveying 1,199 experts in 120 nations.

The confidence gauge for the global economic climate rose from 17.1 to 26 quarter-on-quarter, the highest in more than 10 years and the fifth consecutive increase, according to the survey released on Wednesday last week.

The rosy view might extend into the first half of the year with the six-month outlook gauge printing 23.9, up from 16.9 three months earlier, the survey said.    [FULL  STORY]

Hsinchu County looking to turn used diapers ‘into gold’

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/02/20
By: Lu Kang-chun and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Feb. 20 (CNA) The northern county of Hsinchu, home to Taiwan’s first science park,

Photo courtesy of Hsinchu County government

is working with industry and academia to make used diapers recyclable, reducing them to raw materials such as pulp and plastic for industrial use.

The county government has established a “Turning Diapers Into Gold” team with local companies and researchers that are devoted to the development of green industry, said Huang Shih-han (黃士漢), head of the Hsinchu County Environmental Protection Bureau, in a recent interview with CNA.

The technology the team has developed to recycle diapers and turn them into products with a high commercial value won a national industrial design award in the area of environmental protection last year, Huang said.    [FULL  STORY]

NT$658 million Power Lottery winning ticket sold in Tainan

The NT$658 million (US$22.57 million) winning ticket for Monday’s Power Lottery was sold bya lottery store in southern Taiwan’s Tainan City, Taiwan Lottery said that day

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/02/20
By:  Central News Agency

Taipei, Feb. 20 (CNA) The NT$658 million (US$22.57 million) winning ticket for Monday’s

(By Central News Agency)

Power Lottery was sold bya lottery store in southern Taiwan’s Tainan City, Taiwan Lottery said that day.

The huge jackpot went to one winner, who purchased the ticket at the Wan Ke Lai lottery store in Tainan’s Lioujia District, it said.

The winning numbers were 05, 26, 36, 12, 08 and 30, plus the special number 04.

Meanwhile, the NT$242 million Grand Lottery 6/49 jackpot was also won by one person on Monday, Taiwan Lottery said.    [FULL  STORY]

Gas and diesel prices to dip slightly: CPC

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-02-18

Taiwan’s state-owned petroleum company announced a slight dip in gas prices that will go into effect at midnight Sunday, going into Monday morning.

CPC Corporation, Taiwan announced that it was cutting gas prices by NT$0.6 and diesel prices by NT$ 0.7 per liter (both about US$0.02 per liter).

The CPC had said that it would not adjust gas prices during the Lunar New Year holidays this week, but the company cited a drop in international oil prices as the reason for the latest adjustment.

The new prices per liter will be: for super diesel, NT$23.6; for 92 octane unleaded, NT$25.8; for 95 octane unleaded, NT$27.3; and for 98 octane unleaded, NT$29.3 per liter.    [SOURCE]