Hon Hai plans GDR
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world’s largest contract maker of electronics, plans to sell as many as 370 million new shares overseas.
Hon Hai will seek shareholder approval for the issue of global depositary receipts at its annual shareholders’ meeting on April 16, the Taipei-based company said in a stock exchange filing on Wednesday.
The company will raise as much as NT$21.8 billion (US$650 million) from the share sale, based on the stock’s closing price on Wednesday.
Taishin delays share offer
Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控), the nation’s second-worst performing financial stock last year, yesterday postponed a share sale plan after halving the offer.
The company said on Nov. 27 that the board had approved plans to sell 1.4 billion shares in the first quarter to raise funds to boost its capital adequacy ratio.
However, in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday, Taishin Financial said it would only offer 700 million new shares at NT$5 each to raise NT$3.5 billion (US$104 million) and would delay the issuance to the second quarter,
Siliconware books losses
Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密), the nation’s second-largest chip packaging and testing company, said yesterday it booked a loss of NT$2.6 billion (US$77.5 million) to reflect the decline in value of its investments in ChipMOS Technologies (Bermuda) Ltd (南茂科技) and Phoenix Precision Technology Corp (全懋精密).
Siliconware Precision said in a statement it booked a loss of NT$2.14 billion for its holdings in ChipMOS shares, and a loss of NT$454 million for its Phoenix holdings.
Singapore unveils stimulus
The Singaporean government unveiled a multibillion dollar plan to boost spending and cut taxes in a bid to ease the worst recession in the city-state’s history.
The government will lower corporate taxes, subsidize wages, guarantee bank loans and spend more on infrastructure as part of the S$20.5 billion (US$13.6 billion) stimulus package, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said in a televised speech yesterday.
The spending surge will widen this year’s fiscal deficit to a record for Singapore and will be partly paid for by tapping S$4.9 billion in reserves, he said.
Singapore on Wednesday slashed its growth forecast for this year, saying the economy could shrink as much as 5 percent as global demand for the country’s exports collapses.
Nokia’s Q4 profit plummets
Nokia, the world’s leading mobile phone maker, yesterday reported a nearly 69 percent drop in its fourth-quarter net profit to 576 million euros (US$749 million) amid falling sales and lower prices for its handsets.
Nokia chief executive officer Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said the global financial crisis had dampened demand for mobile phones, but insisted the company would continue to invest in future growth, although it needed to cut costs.
“We are taking action to reduce overall costs and to preserve our strong capital structure. This is clearly our top priority in the current economic environment,” Kallasvuo said in a statement.
Kallasvuo said the financial crisis had made the macroeconomic situation worse in recent weeks and the company cut its guidance for this year for global mobile device volumes.
Nokia said it now expects such volumes to decline some 10 percent this year from last year’s level compared with its previous forecast of a 5 percent fall.
NetApp tops employers
NetApp tops the list of the 100 best companies to work for, most of which have open positions and are hiring, Fortune magazine said yesterday.
Coming in second on Fortune’s 12th annual list was Edward Jones, followed by Boston Consulting Group. The list was published online on fortune.com/bestcompanies and contained in an issue set to hit newsstands on Monday.
NetApp, based in Sunnyvale, California, provides storage and data management services to businesses.
It employs 5,000 people and topped the list because of its “employee enthusiasm for the legendary egalitarian culture,” Fortune said.
CHANGE OF FORTUNES: Concern over a pricey valuation and the risk of tighter US curbs on chip sales to China have poured cold water on TSMC’s bullish momentum Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares fell the most in three months yesterday upon trading resumption, joining a global technology rout as investors dramatically soured on the promises of artificial intelligence (AI). The shares declined 5.62 percent to close at NT$924 in Taipei, dragging down the benchmark TAIEX, which fell 3.29 percent to 22,119.21 points amid a technical correction, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Other chip stocks also fell, with ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) plunging 9.86 percent, MediaTek Inc (聯發科) dropping 2.35 percent, Realtek Semiconductor Corp (瑞昱) falling 1.33 percent and United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) retreating 1.17 percent, while Apple
Taipei is today suspending work, classes and its US$2.4 trillion stock market as Typhoon Gaemi approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Authorities had yesterday issued a warning that the storm could affect people on land and canceled some ship crossings and domestic flights. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) expects its local chipmaking fabs to maintain normal production, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp said it has activated routine typhoon alert
GROWTH: TSMC increased its projected revenue growth for this year to more than 25 percent, citing stronger-than-expected demand for AI devices and smartphones The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year from 3.29 percent to 3.85 percent, as exports and private investment recovered faster than it predicted three months ago. The Taipei-based think tank also expects that Taiwan would see a 8.19 percent increase in exports this year, better than the 7.55 percent it projected in April, as US technology giants spent more money on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and development. “There will be more AI servers going forward, but it remains to be seen if the momentum would extend to personal computers, smartphones and
South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd is slowing construction of its third plant with General Motors Co (GM) in Michigan amid lackluster demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and worries about political change in the US. LG Energy is “adjusting the speed of overall investment” and “seeking ways for the flexible operation” of its plants, the company told Bloomberg News yesterday, but added that it does not mean the company is suspending construction. LG and General Motors started construction of the facility in 2022, pledging to spend about US$2.6 billion. Operations were supposed to begin in the first half of