BIODEGRADABLE POLYMER: The bank said that its iPass credit card, the first such card issued by a foreign bank, gives it access to stores that do not accept its credit cards
DBS Bank Taiwan (星展台灣) yesterday launched its first co-branded credit card with iPass Corp (一卡通票證), and said it expects its credit card business to fully recover in the second half of this year. The new “DBS eco card” is made of polylactic acid — a bio-based biodegradable polymer that can be produced from renewable resources — and is the bank’s first credit card to have the iPass electronic payment function, it said. The partnership would give the bank new business momentum, DBS Bank Taiwan general manager Lim Him-chuan (林鑫川) told a news conference in Taipei. That is because some stores and supermarkets in Taiwan accept a select number of credit cards, but they are usually more open to stored-value cards such as iPass because of government policy, Lim said, referring to Pxmart Co Ltd (全聯實業) supermarkets. “The partnership brings convenience to users as they can use the cards at more stores, while we also benefit by gaining access to stores that do not accept our credit cards,” he said. DBS is the first among the nation’s foreign banks to issue a co-branded iPass credit card, indicating that the Singaporean-based lender is committed to local development and digital transformation, he added. The new credit card offers cash points of up to 3 percent of each transaction, while users can decide whether to receive a cash rebate or to redeem their points for goods, the bank said. The card offers a cash point reward rate of 1.5 percent for domestic purchases and 2.5 percent for overseas purchases, but the rate would rise to 3 percent from tomorrow to the end of this year to attract new clients, it said. To encourage consumers to use green transportation, the bank offers a cash point reward rate of 5 percent for spending on vehicle sharing or scooter sharing services, or for charging electric
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled a four-year economic development plan with an aim to pursue GDP growth of 2.6 to 3.4 percent backed by 5G wireless communication, artificial intelligence and technology supply chain realignment. The council mapped out economic goals that also seek to bring the jobless rate down to 3.5 to 3.8 percent, with increases of 1 to 1.5 percent in consumer prices. “Different government agencies will jointly pursue the goals once the Cabinet gives its approval,” NDC Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. While China and the US vie for global technology leadership, Taiwan would press ahead with digital innovation and deepen its participation in regional economic integration, the council said. The government has offered favorable financing and tax terms to help expedite the supply chain realignment and the creation of a new industrial ecosystem, Kung said. COMING HOME Investment pledges of more than NT$1 trillion (US$33.8 billion) from companies returning from China to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and US-China trade tensions would fuel economic growth in the coming years and help build Taiwan into a global high-tech hub, he said. From semiconductors to servers, and from data centers to critical electronic components, the related sectors have been benefiting from a boom in demand for remote learning and working arrangements amid the outbreak, Kung said. “The virus will remain a threat to the global economy until the development of vaccines,” Kung said, adding that vaccines would be developed eventually. In the meantime, the government would continue to shore up the “five plus two” industries and take steps to overcome expected declines in consumer activity due to Taiwan’s fast-growing aged population, the council said. An NDC committee proposed a public works budget of NT$141.46 billion for next year to prop up the nation’s economy, Kung said. Public works intended to improve the transportation infrastructure account for 47.36 percent
Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大) yesterday said it is working with its e-commerce subsidiary Momo.com Ltd (富邦媒體) to offer 24-hour delivery and pickup services. The telecom said its pickup services would be available at its 760 brick-and-mortar stores nationwide, and the company aims to cut its normally two-day pickup time to 24 hours after consumers order on Momo.com. “The 24-hour pickup service is faster than those provided by convenience stores,” Taiwan Mobile said in a statement. The companies started the collaboration last year, allowing customers to pick up electronics, cosmetics or food products they bought on the Internet at Taiwan Mobile’s Myfone retail stores. Taiwan Mobile said it helped handle about 1,000 deals on average per day last year, adding that the number is accelerating amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past two months, the number of in-store pickups has grown two times compared with the same period last year, helping retain customers at Myfone stores, the company said. Taiwan Mobile reported that revenue last month increased 7.2 percent year-on-year to NT$10.61 billion (US$358.64 million) from NT$9.9 billion, with Momo.com contributing to more than half of its revenue. The e-commerce subsidiary last month made NT$5.47 billion in revenue, up about 36 percent from NT$4.03 billion a year earlier. However, Taiwan Mobile’s net profit last month fell 2.8 percent to NT$1.03 billion from NT$1.06 billion. Earnings per share fell to NT$0.36, from NT$0.38 a year earlier. In the first six months of this year, Taiwan Mobile’s net profit grew 1.4 percent annually to NT$6.36 billion, with earnings per share of NT$2.26, while revenue rose 6.2 percent to NT$63.19 billion. Meanwhile, Chunghwa Telecom Co’s (中華電信) net profit slid 0.4 percent to NT$16.86 billion during the first six months, compared with NT$16.92 billion a year earlier, with earnings per share falling from NT$2.18 to NT$2.17. Over the same period, revenue fell 5.4 percent
Messaging app Line hopes to cash in on the popularity of artist-created “stickers” by offering physical merchandise of fan favorites, Line Taiwan Ltd (台灣連線) said yesterday. The company has invited top sticker creators to start their own online boutiques where fans can take their favorite sticker characters home in the form of hats, pillows, plushy toys and more, the local unit of messaging and communication services supplier Line Corp said. Although Line is a popular app in Japan, Thailand and Indonesia, the most fanatical users are in Taiwan, where there are about 21 million accounts for a population of 23 million people. The average user in Taiwan spends more than an hour per day on the app, the company said. A big part of the app’s popularity in Taiwan is the sticker store, which features sets of animated messages and emoticons. Stickers have become increasingly sophisticated after the company encouraged artists to create and sell their own sets on its store, it said. The average Taiwanese user purchases 18 sticker sets per year, more than twice the average in Japan. In the past year, the number of Taiwanese sticker creators grew from 280,000 to 450,000, and the number of sticker sets grew 84 percent to a whopping 6.7 million, the company said. The top-selling sticker set in Taiwan for three years running is “The Haughty Smelly Cat — Troll Edition,” featuring a lazy, cynical cat with narcissistic tendencies created by a Taiwanese artist known as “Mochi Dad.” The top 10 Taiwanese creators have generated, on average, NT$290 million (US$9.8 million) in cumulative sticker sales, the company said. Line Taiwan yesterday also announced a bevy of upgrades and redesigns for the app, including a new karaoke function, a more personalized home page, and “special effect” stickers that trigger background effects. Additionally, The Black Cat Knows (黑喵知情), the first Taiwanese idol
HOLIDAY TIME: Hotels outside Taipei are seeing business return to normal, with one at Sun Moon Lake saying that reservations for weekends this summer are close to 90%
Hotels and travel agencies last month saw their revenue pick up significantly from a month earlier, signaling that the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are tapering off. However, on an annual basis, sales still left much to be desired, as lingering border controls continue to curtail inbound and outbound travel. Formosa International Hotels Corp (FIH, 晶華國際酒店集團) reported revenue of NT$381 million (US$12.88 million) for last month, a modest increase of 4.15 percent from May, after local consumers demonstrated more confidence and interest in domestic travel and social gatherings, the group said in a statement. Business might gain more traction this month and next month, when domestic travelers have no choice but to spend their summer in Taiwan, with virus infections spiking abroad and authorities maintaining travel restrictions. Hotels outside Taipei have by and large returned to normal operations, but occupancy rates remain low for facilities in Taipei, as people prefer to escape to suburban and rural destinations, FIH said. FIH has sought to take advantage of the trend by launching twin-city packages that feature a two-night stay at luxury Regent Taipei (台北晶華酒店) and Silks Club in Kaohsiung (晶英國際行館) for NT$9,999. FDC International Hotels Corp (雲品國際) reported NT$109 million in revenue, a 39 percent increase from a month earlier, backed by robust demand for its Fleur de Chine Hotel (雲品溫泉酒店) near Nantou County’s Sun Moon Lake (日月潭), it said in a statement. Occupancy rates at the resort property reached 95 percent during the Dragon Boat Festival and reservations are approaching 90 percent for weekends in the summer, the company said. Compared with a year earlier, sales last month plummeted 43.05 percent, the company said, but added that it expects to come out of the woods in the second half of the year as private consumption continues to recover. Farglory Hotel (遠雄悅來大飯店) and affiliate Farglory Ocean Park (遠雄海洋公園) in Hualien
Banks had approved NT$1.25 trillion (NT$42.25 billion) in loans for 176,663 companies and individuals affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as of Wednesday last week, Financial Supervisory Commission data showed. The amount of loans is expected to continue rising later this month, as the government’s relief programs have been extended to September, a commission official said by telephone yesterday. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ (MOEA) relief program, which subsidizes interest payments on loans, is to expire by the end of this month, but the ministry is considering allocating another NT$100 billion to help companies that are still reporting declining revenue in the third quarter. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) plans to allocate NT$13 billion to help hotels that are unable to recover from the impact of the pandemic this quarter. As relief loans provided to firms under the MOEA’s and MOTC’s programs accounted for 99.9 percent of all loans under the government’s programs, it is very likely that if the two ministries extend support, there would be an increase in relief loans in the third quarter, the official said. As of Wednesday last week, 44,886 firms received new loans or loan extensions totaling NT$449 billion under the MOEA’s program, while 1,063 tourism agencies, hotels and transportation firms obtained loans of NT$106 billion, the commission’s data showed. As for affected companies that did not qualify for the government’s relief program, banks approved 90,093 applications for loan extensions or new loans totaling NT$503 billion, the data showed. Banks also lent NT$192 billion to 40,602 individuals who were affected by the pandemic, the data showed. State-run banks continued to be the main source of relief loans, with their combined lending totaling NT$968 billion, or 77 percent of the total. They have extended loans to 118,454 firms and individuals, averaging NT$8.17 million per application, which is higher than private-sector banks’ average
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the BIO Asia-Taiwan International Conference and Exhibition is to combine on-site and virtual presentations when it opens on Wednesday next week, the organizers said yesterday. The pharmaceutical and biotechnology trade fair is expected to bring together industry executives and investors from Taiwan and abroad, with about 500 exhibitors at 1,100 booths, said the Taiwan Bio Industry Organization, one of the organizers. The on-site displays at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center are to feature products for smart healthcare and innovative medicine, while exhibitors from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, Poland, Switzerland, the US and the UK would have special international pavilions, it said. More than 2,000 one-on-one virtual meetings would also take place during the five-day show, to help promote business opportunities between Taiwan and the rest of the world, said Taiwan Bio, which is hosting the exhibition in collaboration with the US-based Biotechnology Innovation Organization. The show’s theme is “Finding Cures in the Crisis,” and the exhibition, now in its second year, is to include online seminars and panel discussions on five major topics: combating the pandemic, advanced therapies, precision medicine, digital health, and investment and collaboration, the organizers said. The show is to run until Sunday next week.
EQUITIES TAIEX closes above 12,200 The TAIEX yesterday rose 1.14 percent to close above 12,200 points, helped by gains on US markets on Friday amid optimism over the development of drugs to fight COVID-19. Interest focused on the technology sector led by semiconductor stocks, in particular contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), but buying also spread to select old-economy stocks with sizeable property assets, dealers said. The TAIEX ended up 137.88 points at 12,211.56. Turnover was NT$209.252 billion (US$7.07 billion). Foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$4.38 billion of shares, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said. SEMICONDUCTORS TSMC stock at new high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC) market capitalization continued to rise yesterday, after the company last week reported record-high revenue for last month. Shares of TSMC rose 1.72 percent to close at the day’s high of NT$354.5, vaulting the stock’s market cap to a new high of NT$9.19 trillion. TSMC on Friday reported consolidated sales of NT$120.88 billion for last month, up 28.8 percent from a month earlier and 40.8 percent from a year earlier. TSMC remains a favorite among foreign institutional investors, who bought a net 111.71 million of the company’s shares in the nine trading sessions prior to yesterday. LISTED COMPANIES Revenue increases 6.05% Publicly listed companies reported combined revenue of NT$2.72 trillion for last month, up 6.05 percent from a year earlier, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said yesterday. A total of 425 companies experienced revenue growth, while 519 firms experienced declines in revenue, the stock exchange said. The main sectors reporting revenue growth last month were the building materials and construction, finance and insurance, and semiconductor sectors, while the tourism, oil, gas and electricity, and shipping and transportation sectors reported declines in revenue, the exchange said. In the first half of the year, all listed companies reported combined revenue of NT$14.68
‘GAME CHANGER’: Almost half of the respondents in a survey said that the possibility of extradition to China changed Hong Kong’s status as a trusted financial center
A majority of US businesses operating in Hong Kong are worried about the effects of Beijing’s controversial national security legislation imposed on the territory, a survey from the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) showed. The lobby group said 76 percent of companies were concerned about the sweeping measures barring subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign collusion, with most being “extremely concerned.” The poll of member companies — which AmCham described as a “temperature test” of sentiments rather than a scientific study — received responses from 183 firms, more than half of which have headquarters in the US. When asked what concerned them most about the law, companies largely echoed concerns voiced by foreign governments and civil society groups, saying they are worried about the ambiguity of the legislation’s scope and enforcement, the threat it poses to Hong Kong’s prized independent judicial system and the risk the territory could lose its status as a global financial hub. “The potential for arbitrary application of the national security law is frightening to many and Hong Kong’s judiciary is powerless to protect the people and rule of law,” one respondent told AmCham. “Some of our employees have already voted with their feet to leave for safer countries. Many others are very concerned and considering their options.” Hong Kong and mainland Chinese officials have defended the legislation as a necessary step to curb months of sometimes-violent unrest that rocked the territory last year before the global COVID-19 pandemic quieted its protest movement. Roughly 26 percent of firms said the new law made them feel safer, echoing the government’s arguments about the need for stability — compared with slightly more than 50 percent who said it made them feel less safe. About 22 percent of respondents said they were not concerned about the legislation. Companies expressed worry about data security issues, retaliatory measures from
CHANGE OF HEART: In January, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson rebuffed US warnings on Huawei, but the mood in London has shifted since COVID-19 and a row over Hong Kong
BT Group PLC CEO Philip Jansen yesterday urged the British government not to move too fast to ban China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) from the 5G network, cautioning that there could be outages and even security issues if it did. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to decide this week whether to impose tougher restrictions on Huawei, after intense pressure from the US to ban the Chinese telecoms behemoth from Western 5G networks. Johnson in January defied US President Donald Trump and granted Huawei a limited role in the 5G network. However, the perception that China did not tell the whole truth over the COVID-19 crisis and a row over Hong Kong has changed the mood in London. “If you are to try not to have Huawei at all, ideally we would want seven years and we could probably do it in five,” Jansen told BBC radio. Asked what the risks would be if telecoms were told to do it in less than five years, Jansen said: “We need to make sure that any change of direction does not lead to more risk in the short term.” “If we get to a situation where things need to go very, very fast, then you are into a situation where potentially service for 24 million BT Group mobile customers is put into question — outages,” he said. In what some have compared to the Cold War antagonism with the Soviet Union, the US is worried that 5G dominance is a milestone toward Chinese technological supremacy that could define the geopolitics of the 21st century. The US says Huawei is an agent of the Chinese Communist Party and cannot be trusted. Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment, has said the US wants to frustrate its growth because no US company could offer the same range of technology at
Analog Devices Inc is close to an all-stock agreement to acquire Maxim Integrated Products Inc, people familiar with the matter said. The semiconductor companies are talking about a deal that values San Jose, California-based Maxim at more than its current market capitalization of roughly US$17 billion. Norwood, Massachusetts-based Analog has a market value of US$46 billion and also has a large office in the San Jose area. The deal could be announced as early as Monday, although discussions could still fall apart, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing private negotiations. Representatives for Analog Devices and Maxim declined to comment on the deal, first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Acquisitions are starting to return after a lull of several months caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This comes on the heels of Uber Inc announcing a US$2.65 billion deal for Postmates Inc, Allstate Corp agreeing to a record US$4 billion takeover of National General Holdings Corp and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc spending roughly the same amount on a gas pipeline and storage assets. Some chip deals have either been delayed or abandoned if they require approval in China, the world’s largest market for semiconductors. The process has been complicated by the ongoing trade dispute between the US and China. Analog Devices is currently less than half the size of market leader Texas Instruments Inc by revenue. While Maxim would not allow it to close the gap totally, it would broaden the range of products in its analog portfolio, something that Texas Instruments has touted as helping to cement its dominance. All three companies specialize in analog and embedded computing components. Once a sleepy backwater of the industry, this segment has enjoyed a resurgence as the list of uses and customers has grown in the past few years. Analog chips convert real-world things like sound and pressure
Companies around the world are to take on as much as US$1 trillion of new debt this year, as they try to shore up their finances against the COVID-19 pandemic, a study of 900 top firms showed. The unprecedented increase is to see total global corporate debt jump by 12 percent to about US$9.3 trillion, adding to years of accumulation that has left the world’s most indebted firms owing as much as many medium-sized countries. Last year also saw a sharp 8 percent rise, driven by mergers and acquisitions, and by firms borrowing to fund share buybacks and dividends. This year’s jump would be for an entirely different reason — preservation as the virus saps profits. “COVID has changed everything,” said Seth Meyer, a portfolio manager at Janus Henderson, the firm that compiled the analysis for a new corporate debt index. “Now it is about conserving capital and building a fortified balance sheet.” Companies tapped bond markets for US$384 billion between January and May, and Meyer estimates that recent weeks have set a new record for debt issuance from riskier “high yield” firms with lower credit ratings. Lending markets in March slammed shut for all but the most trusted firms, but have been opened up wide by emergency corporate debt buying programs from central banks such as the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and Bank of Japan. Companies included in the new debt index already owe almost 40 percent more than they did in 2014, and growth in debt has comfortably outstripped growth in profits. Pretax profits for the same group of 900 companies have risen a collective 9.1 percent to US$2.3 trillion. Gearing, a measure of debt relative to shareholder finance, last year hit a record 59 percent, while the proportion of profit devoted to servicing interest payments also rose to a new high. US companies owe
US Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Director Peter Navarro on Sunday said he expected US President Donald Trump to act firmly against TikTok and WeChat, amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing. Trump last week had said he is considering banning the wildly popular TikTok app as a way to punish China over the COVID-19 pandemic. In an interview with Fox News, Navarro said that “what the American people have to understand is all of the data that goes into those mobile apps that kids have so much fun with... goes right to servers in China, right to the Chinese military, the Chinese Communist Party.” He said these apps could be used to steal intellectual property. “So expect strong actions on that” by Trump, Navarro said. The fast-growing video-sharing app belongs to the Chinese group ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動) and has nearly 1 billion users worldwide. TikTok has sought to distance itself from its Chinese owners, pointing out it has an American CEO and consistently denying allegations that it shares data with Beijing. WeChat, owned by Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊), is the main messaging application in China with more than 1 billion users. Navarro also accused TikTok’s new boss Kevin Mayer, former head of Disney’s streaming platforms, of being a US puppet. On Friday Amazon said it mistakenly sent workers an e-mail telling them to dump the TikTok app from their cellphones because of security concerns. An Amazon spokesperson later said “there is no change to our policies right now with regard to TikTok.” Democratic campaign teams for the US presidential election have been asked to avoid using TikTok on personal devices and, if they do, to keep it on a nonwork device. The research firm eMarketer estimates TikTok has more than 52 million US users, having gained about 12 million since the outbreak of the pandemic. TikTok is especially popular with
French gaming giant Ubisoft SA is parting ways with its creative director and two other executives and promising zero tolerance for “toxic” staff behavior following an internal investigation of misconduct and media reports of sexual harassment and other workplace abuse. In a statement on Sunday, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said the developer of Assassin’s Creed and other games “has fallen short in its obligation to guarantee a safe and inclusive workplace environment for its employees.” “This is unacceptable, as toxic behaviors are in direct contrast to values on which I have never compromised — and never will,” Guillemot said. Ubisoft announced the immediate resignation of Serge Hascoet as the firm’s powerful chief creative officer. Hascoet joined Ubisoft in 1987, the year after Guillemot founded the company with his four brothers. Ubisoft had previously described Hascoet as its “creative leader” whose “unique vision has infused every game released by the company.” The director of Ubisoft’s Canadian studios, Yannis Mallat, is also leaving immediately, because “recent allegations that have come to light in Canada against multiple employees make it impossible for him to continue in this position,” the company said. Cecile Cornet is being replaced as Ubisoft’s global head of human resources. Guillemot also promised further “profound changes across the company to improve and strengthen our workplace culture.” Investigations by French daily Liberation and other media reports have pointed to alleged sexual harassment targeting female employees, and other workplace misconduct, and a growing willingness by some in the industry to speak up against abuses in the wake of the #MeToo movement. The management shake-up at Ubisoft follows its announcement last month of an internal investigation and an apology “to everyone affected by this.” “We must do better,” it said.
TECHNOLOGY Qualcomm to buy Jio stake A Qualcomm Inc arm is to plow as much as 7.3 billion rupees (US$97.1 million) into billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s technology venture Jio Platforms Ltd, taking total investments led by Facebook Inc and others to about US$15.6 billion since April. Qualcomm Ventures, which has committed the amount for a 0.15 percent stake, would support the introduction of 5G wireless networks in India, Jio’s parent Reliance Industries Ltd said in a July 12 statement. The deal gives Jio an equity value of about US$65 billion. San Diego-based Qualcomm would help Jio deliver on the “digital transformation of India,” Ambani said in the statement. HONG KONG Book fair postponed Organizers of one of the territory’s biggest annual trade fairs postponed the event for the first time in its 31-year history after a record spike in COVID-19 cases. The Hong Kong Book Fair, which last year drew about a million visitors and a record 686 exhibitors, would be rescheduled after discussions with the government, the organizer said in a statement yesterday, without specifying the new dates. Three other events are also to be pushed back, it said. About 80 percent of 200 exhibitors surveyed by the 2020 Book Fair Concern Group were considering pulling out of the event, Radio Television Hong Kong reported on Sunday. MEDIA Hedge fund eyes McClatchy Hedge fund Chatham Asset Management LLC plans to buy newspaper publisher McClatchy Co out of bankruptcy, ending 163 years of family control. The companies did not put a price on the deal in an announcement on Sunday. The agreement still needs the approval of a bankruptcy judge; a hearing is scheduled for Friday next week. McClatchy is one of the largest newspaper companies in the US. It owns 30 papers including the Miami Herald, the Charlotte Observer and the Sacramento Bee. It filed
GROWTH: Among the nine firms joining the government investment initiative is Yung Yuan Chemical Materials, which plans to spend NT$400m building factories in Taoyuan
The Ministry of Economic Affairs on Friday approved nine small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to participate in its Invest in Taiwan initiative, with the companies pledging to spend a combined NT$3.6 billion (US$121.6 million) to construct new plants and add automated production lines. The nine companies include an industrial waste recycler, a custom furniture manufacturer, an automaker and an egg producer, the ministry said. Since last year, it has given 286 SMEs approval to take part in the Small and Medium Enterprise Acceleration Program, it said, adding that investments totaling NT$118.3 billion have been pledged, and more than 11,389 local jobs would be created. Among the latest investments approved, industrial waste recycler Yung Yuan Chemical Materials Corp (永源化工) plans to spend NT$400 million on building new factories with smart management technology in Taoyuan’s Dayuan Industrial Park (大園工業區), the ministry said in a statement. Yung Yuan processes one-third of the heavy metal sludge in Taiwan, turning industrial waste into products such as copper powder that can be used for 3D printing, among other applications, the ministry said. Egg producer Rui Fu Foods Co Ltd (瑞福食品) would be spending NT$300 million to build an advanced egg processing plant in Tainan’s Guantian District (官田), the ministry said, adding that it aims to improve speed and quality, as well as address food safety concerns. Other projects would also expand production capacity and improve quality, said Ho Kun-sung (何坤松), chief operating officer and spokesman for the ministry’s InvesTaiwan Service Center. The ministry’s program attracts companies by subsidizing bank processing fees, Ho said. “They still have to negotiate with banks themselves, but program participants can usually push the interest rate down from 1.5 to 1.9 percent to less than 1 percent,” he said. There are three programs under the Invest in Taiwan initiative. In addition to the Small and Medium Enterprise Acceleration Program,
The government last month collected NT$220.2 billion (US$7.44 billion) in tax revenue, down NT$261.1 billion, or 54.3 percent, from a year earlier, Ministry of Finance data showed. The biggest decrease was in personal income tax revenue, which fell by NT$180.5 billion year-on-year, or 97.9 percent, to NT$3.9 billion, as the government extended the tax filing deadline from the end of May to the end of last month due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to part of the tax revenue not being recorded, although the first batch of tax refunds was already booked, the ministry said in a statement on Thursday. For the same reason, corporate income tax revenue also dropped by NT$85.9 billion, or 39 percent, to NT$134.1 billion, the ministry said. Business tax revenue decreased by NT$5.2 billion and commodity tax revenue declined by NT$1.2 billion from a year earlier, but securities transaction tax revenue increased by NT$6.4 billion, as local equity markets’ average daily turnover was higher than a year earlier, it said. In the first six months of the year, cumulative tax revenue fell by NT$397.6 billion, or 29.1 percent, to NT$968.1 billion compared with the same period last year, ministry data showed. The January-to-June figure accounted for 72.2 percent of the government’s target for the first six months of this year, as increases in revenues from securities transactions and business taxes were offset by decreases in revenues from corporate income, individual income, house and commodity taxes, the ministry said. Tax revenue from securities transactions in the first six months rose by NT$19.9 billion, or 48.3 percent, year-on-year to NT$61 billion as the daily trading turnover on the local bourse averaged NT$200.3 billion over the period, up from NT$133.1 billion a year earlier, ministry data showed. Business tax revenue totaled NT$201.6 billion in the first six months, up NT$7.1 billion, or
NOT ALL BAD: Nan Ya Plastics Corp was the only one of the four to report a profit last quarter, and its net income rose 114.8 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$2.16 billion
The four major subsidiaries of Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團), Taiwan’s largest industrial conglomerate, on Friday posted combined losses of NT$6 billion (US$202.61 million) for the second quarter, down substantially from combined losses of NT$13.99 billion in the first quarter, due to rising market demand as the spread of COVID-19 slowed. Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (FCFC, 台灣化纖), which manufactures integrated plastic and nylon products, turned profitable last quarter with net income of NT$1.12 billion, or earnings per share of NT$0.19, although revenue decreased 13.1 percent from the previous quarter to NT$55.99 billion, FCFC said in a regulatory filing. “Because the epidemic slowed in the second quarter and an economic recovery was under way, the amount of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polystyrene, purified terephthalic acid and phenol sold increased,” FCFC said. In the first half of the year, the company posted net losses of NT$3.48 billion, or losses per share of NT$0.6, compared with earnings per share of NT$3.65 a year earlier. Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPCC, 台塑石化), the group’s oil refining subsidiary, reported net losses of NT$8.66 billion for last quarter, improving from losses of NT$9.99 billion the previous quarter. It reported losses per share of NT$0.91 for last quarter. It said that revenue decreased by 41.9 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$79.93 billion, compared with NT$137.53 billion in the first quarter, as sales for its refining business dropped 48.4 percent and sales for its naphtha cracking business fell 35.8 percent, while revenue for its utility business rose 5.3 percent, its regulatory filing showed. Overall, FPCC reported net losses of NT$18.65 billion in the first half, compared with net income of NT$17.2 billion a year earlier, or a net loss of NT$1.96 per share. Revenue contracted by 35.1 percent year-on-year to NT$217.46 billion, from NT$335.2 billion. Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠) was the only one of the group’s four main
Legal experts have urged the government to consider amending regulations to prevent more listed companies from taking controversial actions to maintain control of their boardrooms. “Neither the Ministry of Economic Affairs nor the Financial Supervisory Commission have the tools to effectively address Tatung Co’s (大同) management dispute,” Huang Ming-jye (黃銘傑), a professor of law at National Taiwan University, told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. After Tatung’s management — controlled by the founding Lin (林) family — retained full control of the nine-member board by depriving certain investors of their voting rights at a shareholders’ meeting on June 30, the Securities and Futures Investors Protection Center last week filed a lawsuit to dismiss Tatung chairwoman Lin Kuo Wen-yen (林郭文艷), and the ministry rejected the registration of the company’s new board members. However, Tatung announced that it would appeal the ministry’s rejection and said it would defend itself against the center’s suit. “Although Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said that she did not consider the company’s board election legal, the ministry is not entitled to declare the election invalid. Only the court has the final say, if you really comprehend the Company Act (公司法),” Huang said. Even if the ministry orders the company to hold a new shareholders’ meeting according to Article 195 of the act, Tatung is likely to insist on the legality of its board election held on June 30 and not cooperate, Huang said. In an extreme scenario, the ministry would retract registration of the firm’s current board members, said Stephen Wu (吳志光), a lawyer at Lee and Li Attorneys-at-Law (理律法律事務所). “However, the move would hardly affect the company’s operations,” Wu said. That is because in Taiwan the registration of board directors is not a requirement for the board to execute their rights, but is only needed to be used against a third
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