Business and Finance

Shares in Taiwan tumble following US election polls

The China Post
Date: November 3, 2016
By: CNA

TAIPEI — Taiwan’s shares tumbled on Wednesday following overnight losses on Wall Street and European markets as investors turned cautious amid mounting uncertainty about next week’s U.S. presidential election, dealers said.

Cautious sentiment dominated the global stock markets because some of the poll numbers have tightened over the past week, according to dealers.

While some of the latest presidential polls showed Democrat Hillary Clinton maintaining a big lead over Donald Trump, a poll by ABC News showed Trump leading by one point and the Los Angeles Times put the Republican candidate more than two points ahead.

On Wednesday, the Taiwan Stock Exchange’s main index closed down 133.66 points, or 1.44 percent, at 9,139.04 after moving between 9230.23 and 9139.04, on turnover of NT$63.64 billion (US$2.01 billion).    [FULL  STORY]

Wowprime plans to hire 1,500 in Taiwan

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 02, 2016
By: Kuo Chia-erh / Staff reporter

Wowprime Corp (王品集團), a leading restaurant chain operator, plans to hire 1,500 employees next year

Wowprime Corp staff take part in the company’s annual tray-walking contest in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA

Wowprime Corp staff take part in the company’s annual tray-walking contest in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA

as it extends its local footprint, company chairman Park Chen (陳正輝) said yesterday.

The company is to accelerate its expansion, as its restructuring of local outlets has begun to bear fruit, Chen told reporters, adding that three new brands would be launched next year.

Wowprime began adjusting its operating strategy after a string of food safety issues in 2014, including a case involving one of its suppliers. It closed 35 inefficient restaurants in Taiwan last year.

Opening more restaurants offering Chinese cuisine would be its next focus, a company official said.

Wowprime hopes to increase the presence of its brands featuring Chinese cuisine in Taiwan, especially Madam Goose (鵝夫人), which in September was named a Michelin recommended restaurant.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s manufacturing activity expands for 8th consecutive month

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/01
By: Tsai Yu-chu and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Nov. 1 (CNA) The purchasing managers index (PMI) for Taiwan’s manufacturing sector edged 201611010011t0001lower in October but still signaled expansion for the eighth consecutive month, the Chung-hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER) said Tuesday.

The manufacturing sector’s purchasing managers index (PMI) for October dropped 2.0 points from a month earlier to 54.5, but remained above 50, indicating continued expansion.

Scores below 50 signal contraction.

Taiwan’s manufacturing PMI last fell below 50 in February, but its last prolonged stretch below 50 was from July to December 2015 when the country’s economy posted negative economic growth.    [FULL  STORY]

TPK posts stronger-than-expected net profit

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 02, 2016
By: Lisa Wang / Staff reporter

TPK Holding Co (宸鴻), which supplies touch panels for Apple Inc’s iPhones and Apple Watches, yesterday posted stronger-than-expected net profit for last quarter, benefiting from increased demand as clients launched new products.

Net profit totaled NT$684 million (US$21.67 million) in the quarter ended Sept. 30, reversing a loss of NT$2.5 billion in the second quarter, a TPK financial statement showed. Earnings per share improved to NT$1.97, from minus-NT$7.28 in the prior quarter.

Demand came back as customers finished inventory digestion and placed more orders ahead of new product launches, which helped boost factory utilization well above the break-even point, TPK said. Shipments of touch panels used in smartphones and wearable devices surged 1.8-fold last quarter from a quarter earlier.

Apple, TPK’s No. 1 client, launched its iPhone 7 and new Apple Watch devices in early September.    [FULL  STORY]

Central Taiwan Science Park sees small dip in sales

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/01
By: Hao Hsueh-chin and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Nov. 1 (CNA) Firms in the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP) saw a smaller decline in sales 201611010020t0001revenues over the first eight months of this year from the same period of last year and are expected to post positive growth in business turnover for 2016, with double-digit growth next year, Chen Ming-huang (陳銘煌), director-general of the CTSP administration, said on Tuesday.

Although revenue dipped 1.18 percent year-on-year to NT$322.27 billion (US$10.22 billion) from January to August, the fall narrowed compared with the previous year, according to statistics released by the administration.

In addition, firms in the park saw 159.43 percent growth in imports from January to September due mainly to investment from semiconductor industry giants in advanced process technologies and solutions, high-end production equipment and raw materials, resulting in increased imports of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, according to Chen.

Chen said that an estimated NT$550 billion is to be invested in expanding park facilities in the near future, creating about NT$300 billion in the annual output and 6,900 jobs.    [FULL

  STORY]

PMI expands in eighth straight month of gains

Q4 UPTURN?Economist Annabel Fiddes said that the manufacturing industry had a solid start to the quarter, with the upturn looking broad-based and sustainable

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 02, 2016
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) was 54.5 last month, marking its eighth consecutive month of expansion, although growth slowed from September’s reading of 56.5, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday.

The PMI is a gauge of the health of the manufacturing industry, with scores above 50 indicating expansion and scores below the threshold suggesting contraction.

The recovery failed to extend to service-oriented firms, with the non-manufacturing index sliding to 49.4, despite the high sales season, ending four months of gains.

“The manufacturing industry is still on course for recovery, despite the slowdown in pace,” CIER president Wu Chung-shu (吳中書) told reporters.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese firms need more R&D investment: PwC

INNOVATION REPORT:Local firms reviewed in the study spent a total of just 3% of their revenues on R&D, compared with 5.1% by Japanese and 8.3% by Swiss

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 01, 2016
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

Taiwanese firms should spend more on research and development (R&D) to boost their profitability, as global companies are shifting resources away from physical products to software and services and the change is paying off, accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) said in a report yesterday.

Thirty-two Taiwanese firms made this year’s Global Innovation 1000 Study — two fewer than last year’s report — with R&D spending totaling NT$392.8 billion (US$12.44 billion), or 3 percent of their combined revenues, PwC Taiwan said.

The figure represents a 0.1 percent year-on-year increase in R&D investment, but the nation still lags behind the 3.5 percent investment seen in South Korea, 4.1 percent in Japan, 6.1 percent in the US and Switzerland’s 8.3 percent, the report said.

“The figures suggest room for improvement on the part of the nation’s firms, given the close and positive relationship between spending on R&D and profitability,” PwC Taiwan executive vice president Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said.    [FULL  STORY]

Cabinet approves green energy technology park in Tainan

Taiwan Today
Date: October 28, 2016

The Executive Yuan approved Oct. 27 a plan to establish a green energy technology

Premier Lin Chuan is confident that the government’s plan to build a green technology park in southern Taiwan’s Tainan City will boost job creation and foster the nation’s renewable energy industry. (CNA)

Premier Lin Chuan is confident that the government’s plan to build a green technology park in southern Taiwan’s Tainan City will boost job creation and foster the nation’s renewable energy industry. (CNA)

park in the Shalun area of southern Taiwan’s Tainan City, marking a significant step in government efforts to foster the renewable power sector and boost innovative development.

“The future is in green technology, and particularly solar and wind power,” Premier Lin Chuan said at the Cabinet meeting. He added that renewable energy is a top priority for the government and this initiative will help pave the way for robust growth in the sector.

Under the plan presented by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the green energy technology park will be built next to the Taiwan High Speed Rail Tainan Station. Estimated to cost NT$10.5 billion (US$331.6 million), the site will span 22.3 hectares and include renewable energy R&D centers, testing sites, as well as conference and exhibition facilities and a new campus for the College of Photonics at Tainan’s National Chiao Tung University.

The park is expected to attract a total of NT$1.2 trillion (US$37.9 billion) in investment and create 100,000 job opportunities by 2025, according to the MOST. Operations at the site will focus on developing solar, biomass and offshore wind power technology; energy storage devices, such as lithium battery, fuel cell and grid energy storage systems; and energy conservation technologies for electric vehicles.   [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan shares edge lower, affected by U.S. election

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/10/31
By: Tien Yu-pin and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Oct. 31 (CNA) Taiwan shares ended lower to fall back below the 9,300-point 201610310013t0001mark on Monday amid new uncertainty over the United States presidential election, dealers said.

The market’s benchmark index, the Taiex, fell more than 100 points in the first half hour after the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Friday that it was taking a fresh look at Hillary Clinton’s e-mail use, narrowing her lead in the race.

But the Taiex later rebounded thanks to stable trading in large-cap stocks but could not quite get back to the previous session’s close.

It ended down 16.8 points, or 0.18 percent, at 9,290.12, after moving between 9,194.48 and 9,314.34, on turnover of NT$58.94 billion (US$1.87 billion).    [FULL  STORY]

TaiGen in hepatitis C drug joint venture

COCKTAIL TIME:Executives told a news conference in Taipei that it is forecasting profits of US$20 million for its 49 percent stake before the second half of next year

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 01, 2016
By: Ted Chen / Staff reporter

A day after announcing an agreement with a Chinese firm to develop and commercialize a new drug cocktail treatment for chronic hepatitis C, TaiGen Biopharmaceuticals Holdings Ltd (太景醫藥研發控股) provided more details of the link-up.

TaiGen and YiChang HEC ChangJiang Pharmaceutical Co Ltd (HEC, 宜昌東陽光長江藥業) have agreed to establish a joint venture to produce a treatment cocktail of two oral direct-acting antiviral agents (DAA) — TaiGen’s furaprevir (TG-2349), a NS3/4A protease inhibitor, and HEC’s yimitasvir (DAG-181), a NS 5 protein inhibitor.

The joint venture is to be established before the end of this year with capitalization of 680 million yuan (US$102 million), of which 348.4 million yuan would be provided by HEC in cash in exchange for a 51 percent stake.

TaiGen will receive a 49 percent stake for its licensing rights to TG-2349, which is appraised at about US$50 million, company officials said yesterday at a news conference in Taipei.    [FULL  STORY]