INVESTMENT
Foreigners net buyers
Foreign investors last week bought a net NT$42.43 billion (US$1.54 billion) of local shares after buying a net NT$29.96 billion a week earlier, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. As of Friday, foreign investors had bought NT$72.39 billion of local shares since the beginning of this year, it said. Last week, the top three shares that foreign investors bought were Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控), while the top three sold were Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), China Airlines Ltd (中華航空) and SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控), the exchange said. As of Friday, the market cap of shares held by foreign investors was NT$25.22 trillion, or 44.27 percent of total market capitalization, it said.
ELECTRONICS
Ichia profit rises 6 percent
Flexible printed circuit board and handset keypad maker Ichia Technologies Inc (毅嘉科技) yesterday reported pretax profit of NT$67.25 million for last quarter, up 6 percent from a year earlier, while revenue rose 4.3 percent year-on-year to NT$1.61 billion. The company said orders remained strong in the October-to-December quarter on the back of robust demand from clients in the automotive electronics and consumer electronics businesses. However, shipments were curtailed by a shortage of raw materials in the supply chain, causing gross margin to fall to 12 percent from 14 percent a year earlier. For the whole of last year, pretax profit rose 41 percent year-on-year to NT$267 million
APPAREL
Makalot income surges 25%
Makalot Industrial Co Ltd (聚陽) yesterday reported that pretax income last year rose 25.1 percent annually to NT$3.4 billion, as it continued to improve its product mix and raise its gross margin, despite the COVID-19 pandemic affecting operations in regional supply chains. Earnings per share were NT$14.33 last year, the highest in the company’s history. The manufacturer of ready-to-wear apparel said that its revenue for last year expanded 16.1 percent to NT$28.93 billion.
E-COMMERCE
EHS earnings hit record
Eastern Home Shopping & Leisure Co (EHS, 東森購物) yesterday reported record earnings per share of NT$17.7 for last year, up from the previous year’s NT$14.11, as revenue from online sales increased 47 percent from NT$7.2 billion to NT$10.6 billion, the company said. Last year, consolidated revenue increased 14.7 percent to NT$28.32 billion, it said. For this year, EHS said it aims to boost online sales to NT$24 billion and lift overall revenue to NT$45.6 billion on the back of contributions from TV shopping and telemarketing, it added.
ELECTRONICS
Qisda secures new loans
Electronics maker Qisda Inc (佳世達) on Thursday said that it had secured two new sustainability-linked loans totaling about NT$1.83 billion from E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行) and DBS Bank Ltd’s (星展銀行) Taipei branch. The lenders would track Qisda’s sustainability performance over a two-year period and provide preferential interest rates, a company statement said. The electronics maker has accumulated NT$14 billion in sustainability-linked loans, along with NT$12 billion of such loans obtained from Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行) and First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) last year.
STIMULUS PLANS: An official said that China would increase funding from special treasury bonds and expand another program focused on key strategic sectors China is to sharply increase funding from ultra-long treasury bonds this year to spur business investment and consumer-boosting initiatives, a state planner official told a news conference yesterday, as Beijing cranks up fiscal stimulus to revitalize its faltering economy. Special treasury bonds would be used to fund large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-ins, said Yuan Da (袁達), deputy secretary-general of the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission. “The size of ultra-long special government bond funds will be sharply increased this year to intensify and expand the implementation of the two new initiatives,” Yuan said. Under the program launched last year, consumers can
Citigroup Inc and Bank of America Corp said they are leaving a global climate-banking group, becoming the latest Wall Street lenders to exit the coalition in the past month. In a statement, Citigroup said while it remains committed to achieving net zero emissions, it is exiting the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA). Bank of America said separately on Tuesday that it is also leaving NZBA, adding that it would continue to work with clients on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The banks’ departure from NZBA follows Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Wells Fargo & Co. The largest US financial institutions are under increasing pressure
TRENDS: The bitcoin rally sparked by US president-elect Donald Trump’s victory has slowed down, partly due to outflows from exchange-traded funds for the token Gold is heading for one of its biggest annual gains this century, with a 27 percent advance that has been fueled by US monetary easing, sustained geopolitical risks and a wave of purchases by central banks. While bullion has ticked lower since US president-elect Donald Trump’s sweeping victory in last month’s election, its gains this year still outstrip most other commodities. Base metals have had a mixed year, while iron ore has tumbled, and lithium’s woes have deepened. The varied performances highlight the absence of a single, over-riding driver that has steered the complex’s fortunes, while also putting the spotlight
Twenty years after he was a young, struggling actor in Toronto, Thomas Lo (盧瑞麟) is now the one giving young Asian actors their big breaks. He just had to go to Hong Kong to do it. The Chinese Canadian has been the creative director of one of the territory’s biggest TV broadcasting companies for only a few years, but is already making original English-language content to reach viewers around the world. “It was a bit of a full-circle moment for me,” Lo said. “You see more Asians, but you’re still seeing the same Asians on screen, right? We’re looking for more opportunities
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