Banks' shareholders meet
Several Taiwanese banks held shareholders meetings yesterday to finalize their distribution of cash dividends.
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) agreed to distribute a cash dividend of NT$1.5 per share to shareholders while Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控) announced a cash dividend of NT$1 per share.
Also, Yuanta Financial Holding Co (元大金控) decided to give NT$0.65 in cash dividends per share and the Industrial Bank of Taiwan (台灣工銀) NT$0.55 per share.
Meanwhile, EnTie Commercial Bank (安泰銀行) yesterday finalized its plan to cut its capital by NT$22 billion, or 55.26 percent, to total at NT$17.8 billion, after writing off NT$20.6 billion-worth bad loans for last year.
After raising NT$4 billion last year, Union Bank of Taiwan (聯邦銀行) yesterday claimed that its capital adequacy ratio has risen to 9.44 percent in the third quarter.
Formosa to press on with plant
Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), Taiwan’s biggest diversified industrial company, said accelerating inflation in Vietnam will not deter it from constructing a steel plant there next month.
Formosa is also considering building an oil refinery and ethylene plant in the country, chief executive officer William Wong (王文淵) said yesterday. He didn’t give details about the new projects being considered.
Vietnam is trying contain an inflation rate that’s at its highest level since at least 1992. Pacific Hospital Supply Co (太平洋醫材) and Taiwan Sugar Corp (台糖) have postponed plans to invest in Vietnam, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported on Wednesday.
“We’ll be careful, while investment in Vietnam will continue,” Wong said after a shareholders’ meeting for unit Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠). “We remain confident.”
Taiwan files dispute against EU
Taiwan joined the US and Japan on Thursday in filing a WTO dispute claiming that the EU has failed to fulfill its commitment to eliminate tariffs on certain technology products.
The Taiwanese delegation to the WTO said it sent a consultation request to its EU counterpart, an action the US and Japan took on May 28.
The products in question are flat panel displays, set-top boxes with a communication function, “input or output units” and fax machines.
In its consultation request, Taiwan says that according to the Information Technology Agreement (ITA), these products should be duty-free, but the EU and member states still impose duty on them.
The EU, however, maintains that certain products are taxed because they possess additional functions and are therefore not covered by the ITA.
Wang gets Acer thumbs-up
Acer Inc’s annual shareholders meeting approved a proposal yesterday to have the company’s chairman Wang Jeng-tang (王振堂) also serve as the chief executive officer of the Acer Group, the Chinese-language business news Web site cnYes.com reported.
Wang will continue his chairmanship at the world’s third-largest PC vendor, the report said.
Shareholders also agreed in the meeting to appoint the company’s president Gianfranco Lanci as the chief executive officer for his contribution to the firm. Lanci will still remain the company’s president, the report said.
NT dollar unchanged
The NT dollar remained unchanged against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, closing at NT$30.451.
A total of US$1.001 billion changed hands during the day’s trading.
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