Business and Finance

Hermes Microvision expects Q2 rebound

SEMICONDUCTOR LINKED:Chief executive Jack Jau said that the firm expects revenue to grow between 50 and 80 percent, allowing it to maintain margins and profitability

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 20, 2016
By: Lisa Wang / Staff reporter

Hermes Microvision Inc (HMI, 漢微科) yesterday said it expects revenues to soar as high as 80 percent sequentially this quarter, partly helped by a major client who is resuming using its inspection tools for next-generation semiconductor technology development.

Due to the slump in the semiconductor industry and growing technological barriers, customers became cautious about investing in equipment for next-generation technology, which dealt a blow to the tool-and-equipment maker’s businesses in recent quarters.

HMI’s net income last quarter plummeted 65 percent to NT$253 million (US$7.84 million), or NT$3.55 per share, from the previous quarter’s NT$726 million, or NT$10.22 a share.

On an annual basis, net income shrank 42 percent from NT$440 million, or NT$6.17 per share.     [FULL  STORY]

Industry group calls for power, investment

CLAMORING FOR ATTENTION:The group lamented the nation’s ‘lack of talented workers’ and said that worries over disruptions in power supply are stifling investment

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 19, 2016
By: Lauly Li / Staff reporter

An industry advocacy group yesterday urged incoming minister of economics Lee Chih-kung (李世光) to improve Taiwan’s investment environment and ensure the stability of the nation’s electricity supply, with the Democratic Progressive Party administration having pledged to phase out nuclear power by 2025.

“The top priority for the new minister of economics should be to raise investors’ confidence about Taiwan’s investment environment,” Chinese National Federation of Industries (CNFI, 全國工業總會) secretary-general Tsai Lien-sheng (蔡練生) said by telephone.

Taiwan’s investment environment is deteriorating, as the possibility of water, power, and land shortages are weighing on investments, Tsai said, adding that a lack of talented workers is also making investors hesitate.     [FULL  STORY]

Number of major stock players in Taiwan falls to 7-year low

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-18
By: Central News Agency

The number of major players active on Taiwan’s stock market in the first quarter of 2016 fell to a seven-year low, statistics compiled by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) showed Monday.

During the January-March period, only 530 major players participated in the local market, down from 547 during the same period last year and the fewest in seven years, the FSC data showed.

A “major player” is defined in Taiwan as an investor who trades at least NT$500 million in shares in a single quarter, and their numbers serve as an important indicator of investor confidence in the country’s capital market.

The number of major market players has been on the decline over the past four years because of a capital gains tax on stock gains targeting big investors that was never actually implemented, analysts have contended.     [FULL  STORY]

U.S. experts in Taipei to help Taiwan detect fake U.S. dollars

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/18
By: Bernie Chiu and Lilian Wu

Taipei, April 18 (CNA) Experts from the United States Secret Service began a 201604180027t0001three-day seminar on detecting counterfeit U.S. dollars in Taipei on Monday, the Central Bank of the Republic of China (CBC) said.

Yang Chin-long (楊金龍), the central bank’s deputy governor, said at a legislative hearing that counterfeit dollars have been of concern since a counterfeiting ring defrauded a local bank, Mega International Commercial Bank, of US$2 million in counterfeit US$100 bills earlier this year.

The counterfeit U.S. bills evaded detection by bank clerks and passed counterfeit money detectors, reports have said.     [FULL  STORY]

Aleees shares spike to 10% daily limit

ELECTRIC FRIENDS:Aleees primarily produces lithium ferrous phosphate used in batteries for electric cars, with the firm lately moving into producing the batteries

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 19, 2016
By: Staff writer with CNA

Shares of Adcaned Lithium Electrochemistry (KY) Co (Aleees, 立凱) rose to the daily limit of 10 percent yesterday after securing NT$2 billion (US$61.7 million) investment from FDG Electric Vehicles Ltd (五龍電動車), in which Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠) owns a major stake.

FDG, listed on the Hong Kong stock market, is to hold a 21.8 percent share of Aleees and become the biggest shareholder of the company after subscribing to 46 million new common shares of Aleees via a private placement, Aleees spokesman Huang An-pang (黃安邦) said in a telephone interview.
Aleees shares are priced at NT$35 each.

In addition, FDG is to spend an additional NT$420 million to buy Aleees’ “green” energy assets.

In turn, Aleees is to buy a 4.2 percent stake in FDG for HK$490 million (US$63.18 million) to set up a strategic partnership with the Hong Kong company.     [FULL  STORY]

CAL cancels flight to southern Japan in wake of strong earthquake

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/16
By: Wei Shu, Chen Wei-ting and Elaine Hou

Taipei, April 16 (CNA) China Airlines (CAL), Taiwan’s largest airline company, has canceled its flight on Sunday from Kaohsiung to Kumamoto in southern Japan, in the wake a magnitude 7.3 quake early Saturday that forced the shutdown of the airport in that prefecture.

The airline operates flights from southern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung to Kumamoto on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Due to the strong earthquake, the carrier said the flight on Sunday has been canceled. When the flight service is resumed will depend on when the airport is re-opened, it added.

The earthquake was also felt in the neighboring prefecture of Fukuoka in the Kyushu region.

Following the quake, two Taiwanese budget airlines — V Air and Tigerair Taiwan — also announced Saturday that they will allow customers to reschedule flights to Fukuoka due to safety reasons.     [FULL  STORY]

New drug might help lymphoma patients

ALTERNATIVE:The frontline treatment for lymphoma is chemotherapy, but cancer cells become resistant to the treatment, professor Owen A. O’Connor said

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 18, 2016
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

Clinical studies have shown poor prognoses for patients with most subtypes of

Mackay Memorial Hospital consultant hematologist and oncologist Chang Ming-chih, left, and Owen A. O’Connor, professor of medicine and experimental therapeutics and director of the Center for Lymphoid Malignancies at Columbia University Medical Center, are pictured in an undated photograph. Photo: Ruby Chang

Mackay Memorial Hospital consultant hematologist and oncologist Chang Ming-chih, left, and Owen A. O’Connor, professor of medicine and experimental therapeutics and director of the Center for Lymphoid Malignancies at Columbia University Medical Center, are pictured in an undated photograph. Photo: Ruby Chang

peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL), especially for those who have received conventional chemotherapy, as well as high relapse and low overall survival rates, but doctors said a new antifolate could be an effective alternative to traditional treatments.

Chang Ming-chih (張明志), consultant hematologist and oncologist at Mackay Memorial Hospital, said an average of about 330 PTCL cases were reported in Taiwan each year in the past few years and the numbers appear to be growing, adding that there are many different types of PTCL and most of them are aggressive.

Chang said that a study conducted overseas in 2013 showed that the three-year survival rate of PTCL patients after their first relapse was only 18 percent, adding that survival rates can be increased significantly for those who receive hematopoietic stem cell transplantations (HSCT).

However, patients are sometimes too weak to undergo HSCT due to age or the side effects of conventional chemotherapy, or they are unwilling to accept treatment due the to high relapse rate, he said, adding that the average lifespan of PTCL patients after their first relapse or progression is about five-and-a-half months without HSCT.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese banks’ Chinese yuan deposits down for 2nd consecutive month

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-16
By: Chiu Po-sheng and Frances Huang, Central News Agency

Taipei, April 16 (CNA) Chinese yuan-denominated deposits held by banks operating in Taiwan fell for the second consecutive month in March in the wake of the Chinese currency’s depreciation against the U.S. dollar, according to the central bank.

Citing statistics, the bank said that the balance of yuan deposits, including negotiable certificates of deposit (NCDs), held by banks in Taiwan totaled 314.32 billion (US$48.36 billion) as of the end of March, down 2.503 billion yuan or 0.79 percent from a month earlier, marking the second consecutive monthly drop.

The fall in March pushed down the balance of yuan deposits taken by banks in Taiwan to a new 14-month low.     [FULL  STORY]

Formosa Petrochemical announces fuel price hike for next week

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/16
By: Wei Shu and Frances Huang

Taipei, April 16 (CNA) Formosa Petrochemical Corp. (台塑石化), a private 201604160019t0001gasoline supplier in Taiwan, said Saturday that it will raise its fuel prices for next week in reflection of a strong rebound in international crude oil prices seen this week.

Formosa Petrochemical said that it will hike gasoline and diesel prices by NT$1.1 (US$0.03) per liter, effective from 1 a.m. Monday, after a cut of NT$0.2 per liter for gasoline and a reduction of NT$0.1 per liter for diesel this week.

International crude oil prices staged a rebound this week amid optimism that oil producing countries will reach an agreement to freeze production in a bid to reduce the impact from a supply glut and give a boost to oil prices, analysts said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan shares open lower

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-15
By: Central News Agency

Taipei, April 15 (CNA) The Taiwan Stock Exchange’s main index opened down 33.48 points Friday at 8,634.23 on turnover of NT$1.283 billion (US$39.62 million).     [SOURCE]