Business and Finance

Yang Ming quarterly loss widens

STRATEGIC DECISION: With a lessor in a distressed financial situation, Yang Ming had to recognize an estimated loss of NT$1.38 billion in its accounts for the third quarter

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 16, 2019
By: Kao Shih-ching  /  Staff reporter

Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運) has posted a widened quarterly loss for last quarter after a strategic decision not to exercise options with respect to two formerly chartered vessels cost it NT$1.38 billion (US$45.19 million).

Last quarter’s net loss deepened to NT$1.37 billion, compared with a net loss of NT$909 million in the same period last year.

That translated into losses per share of NT$0.53, it said.

Keelung-based Yang Ming has been struggling to turn a profit after it returned to the black briefly in the fourth quarter last year.    [FULL  STORY]

International Air Transport Association opens training center in Taiwan

Local airlines to benefit from reduced expenditures on personnel training with the establishment of the center

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/14
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – International Air Transport Association's (IATA) training center was

IATA Taipei branch opens (CNA photo)

inaugurated in Taipei on Thursday (Nov. 14), helping connect the island nation’s aviation industry with the world.

The trade association, founded in 1945 and boasting 290 airline members that account for 82 percent of global air traffic, supports aviation activity and helps draft industry policies. It provides training programs in terms of operational safety, work efficiency, and business expansion, tutoring over 100,000 students and professionals every year, reported CNA.

The center’s opening in Taiwan means less time and money to be spent by local airlines on training their staff. Otherwise they would need to go abroad to attend relevant courses.

Taiwan-based China Airlines, Mandarin Airlines, EVA Air, and Uni Air are all members of IATA, said Ma Tao (馬濤), regional vice president of IATA for North Asia. The newly-founded Starlux Airlines, which is slated to begin service in 2020, is also in the process of applying for membership to the association, he added.    [FULL  STORY]

Two firms approved to invest over NT$21 billion in Taiwan

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/14
By: Liao Yu-yang and Evelyn Kao

Photo taken from Supermicro Facebook

Taipei, Nov. 14 (CNA) The Ministry of Economic Affairs said Thursday it has approved NT$21.6 billion (US$720 million) in investment by two companies as part of a government program aimed at boosting investment by local firms in Taiwan, which could create 1,606 jobs.

Super Micro Computer, Inc., Taiwan, which operates overseas as Supermicro, plans to invest NT$20 billion to build a high-end server research and development center and software development facilities, expand its warehouse and logistics center and increase automated assembly lines. It also plans to recruit 1,700 employees in research and development-related areas, according to MOEA's InvesTaiwan Service Center.

Supermicro is an information technology company based in Silicon Valley, California. It was founded in 1993 by Taiwanese-American Charles Liang (梁見後 ) as a maker of computer server boards, power supplies, servers and a wide range of other components. It is one of the biggest players in the server board market.

Meanwhile, Sunrise Plastics Industries Co., Ltd., which produces IC packing trays and memory card lids, will invest over NT$1.6 billion to set up a new manufacturing factory and automated assembly lines, which it is estimated will create 47 jobs.    [FULL  STORY]

Innolux to invest NT$70bn: ministry

CHALLENGES IN CHINA: The company’s investment is by far the largest among the 153 applications submitted to a government program since the beginning of the year

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 15, 2019
By: Natasha Li  /  Staff reporter

Flat-panel maker Innolux Corp (群創) is to invest NT$70.1 billion (US$2.29 billion) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday, after approving the company’s plan to participate in a government program encouraging Taiwanese firms to return and invest at home.

Innolux’s investment is by far the largest among the 153 applications submitted to the program since the beginning of the year.

The applicants have pledged to invest NT$697.1 billion — of which NT$200 billion has been committed for this year — and create 56,294 job opportunities, the ministry said.

Facing rising production costs in China and an oversaturated flat-panel market, as well as trade difficulties due to US tariffs on Chinese-made goods, the Miaoli-based Innolux has decided to set up an automated “Zero Touch” production facility in Tainan’s Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區), the ministry said.    [FULL  STORY]

UPS adds Taiwan to new delivery system

10 Asian countries will see faster delivery times

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/13
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

UPS expands its new services to include Taiwan. (CNA photo)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – United States parcel delivery company UPS has added Taiwan and nine other Asian countries to a new online market distribution system, reports said Wednesday (November 13).

The new free-of-charge system will help online traders simplify the management of orders and the sending of items, the Central News Agency reported.

Customers have been making more demands due to the changing nature of supply lines, company managers said, in a suspected allusion to the moving of corporations out of China to avoid U.S. tariffs.    [FULL  STORY]

Hon Hai Q3 net profit rises 80% quarter-on-quarter

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/13
By: Chung Jung-feng and Frances Huang

Taipei, Nov. 13 (CNA) Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the world's largest contract electronics maker, reported Wednesday that net profit for the third quarter soared 80 percent from a quarter earlier on the back of peak season effects.

At an investor conference, Hon Hai said its net profit for the July-September period stood at NT$30.66 billion (US$1.01 billion), up 80 percent from NT$17.05 billion in the second quarter. The third quarter figure was also up 23 percent from a year earlier.

The company's earnings per share rose from NT$1.23 in the second quarter to NT$2.21 for the third quarter, while also growing from NT$1.57 in the same period of last year, Hon Hai said.

Due to the improving bottom line, Hon Hai said its future cash dividend payout ratio is expected to be at least 40 percent.    [FULL  STORY]

Asustek Q3 profit surges 235%

GROWTH DRIVERS: Gross margin improved in the third quarter, bolstered by new product launches and a better product portfolio, chief financial officer Nick Wu said

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 14, 2019
By: Natasha Li  /  Staff reporter

Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) yesterday reported a 235 percent quarterly surge in its unaudited standalone profit for last quarter, while revenue increased 24 percent on a quarterly basis, thanks to strong sales in Europe and the Asia-Pacific.

The unaudited profit of NT$5.63 billion (US$184.6 million) for Asustek’s brand-name business translated into earnings per share of NT$7.6 for last quarter, it said.

Third-quarter revenue reached NT$88.47 billion — better than its guidance of a 20 percent increase from NT$71 billion in the second quarter, it said.

Gross margin improved from 13.8 percent in the second quarter to 15.3 percent, aided by new product launches and a better product mix, Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told investors through an online conference.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan, Iraqi trade group ink MOU to boost investment

Taiwan sees significant potential in doing business with countries in Middle East and Africa

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/12
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taiwan, Iraqi trade group ink MOU to boost investment (CNA photo)\

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The government-sponsored Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Sulaimany Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI) of the Iraqi Kurdistan region on Tuesday (Nov. 12), in a bid to promote bilateral trade.

The document was inked by SCCI President Sirwan Mohammed Mahmood and TAITRA Executive Vice President Leonor F. M. Lin (林芳苗), reported LTN. The Iraqi mission is visiting Taiwan for the procurement of machine tools, ICT products, food packaging machinery, and more.
[FULL  STORY]

Regular monthly wages post slowest growth in September in 2 years

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/12
By: Pan Tzu-yu and Frances Huang

Taipei, Nov. 12 (CNA) Average regular monthly wages in September grew less than 2 percent from a year earlier, the first time in seven months they did not grow more than 2 percent, according to the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).

Regular monthly wages in September averaged NT$41,854 (US$1,376), up 1.72 percent year-on-year, the lowest monthly growth since May 2017 when regular wages grew 1.59 percent, data compiled by the DGBAS showed.

Pan Ning-hsin (潘寧馨), deputy director of the DGBAS census department, said the lower growth was largely the result of lower regular performance bonuses issued on a monthly basis by the financial and insurance sectors.

Average regular salary growth in the financial and insurance sectors was only 1.45 percent in September, DGBAS data showed.    [FULL  STORY]

Yageo seeks leverage via acquisition

‘CREAM OF THE CROP’:The acquisition of Kemet is the last piece of Yageo’s MLCC portfolios to break into automotive and industrial devices, Yageo’s chairman said

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 13, 2019
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

ageo Corp (國巨) yesterday said its US$1.64 billion acquisition of Kemet Corp would help it break into

Yageo Corp chairman Pierre Chen, right, speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday following the company’s conference call, as chief operating officer David Wang looks on.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times

the high-end automotive, industrial and 5G components segments.

The deal is expected to boost the company’s net profit by at least 80 percent and double its revenue to about US$3 billion when it is completed in the second half of next year, the world’s third-largest supplier of multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC) told a media briefing in Taipei.

It announced earlier in the day that it would acquire all of Kemet’s common shares at US$27.2 per share in an all-cash transaction.
[FULL  STORY]