INVESTMENT
Foreign share sales dive
Foreign investors last week sold a net NT$22.98 billion (US$776.04 million) in local shares after selling a net NT$107.81 billion a week earlier, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. As of Friday, foreign investors had sold NT$913.014 billion in local shares since the beginning of the year, the exchange said. The top three shares sold by foreign investors last week were United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), China Steel Corp (中鋼) and Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運), while the top three shares bought by foreign investors were Innolux Corp (群創光電), Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) and First Financial Holding Co (第一金控), it said. As of Friday, the market capitalization of shares held by foreign investors was NT$19.08 trillion, or 40.12 percent of total market capitalization, it said.
RESTAURANTS
Thai chain optimistic
TTFB Co Ltd (瓦城泰統集團) yesterday gave an upbeat outlook for the second half of this year, as the number of local COVID-19 infections drop, domestic demand recovery expectations rise, and the food and beverage industry enters its high season. The company aims to boost its food delivery platform, integrate online and offline services, and leverage its strength in procurement to maximize profits and generate better returns for shareholders, the nation’s largest Thai and full-service restaurant chain operator said in a statement. TTFB shareholders yesterday approved the company’s plan to distribute a dividend of NT$7.15 per share, which represents a payout ratio of 101 percent based on earnings per share of NT$7.04 last year. The company made record earnings per share of NT$15.95 in 2020. As of the end of last month, the company operated 135 stores in Taiwan and four in China, it said.
ECONOMY
Tech demand boosts sales
Sales in the wholesale sector increased 7.9 percent year-on-year to NT$1.08 trillion last month, a record high for May, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Thursday. That came as growing demand for new technology applications and rising raw material prices pushed up wholesale machinery equipment sales 12.3 percent and construction materials 3.9 percent last month, while sales of pharmaceutical and cosmetic products jumped 50 percent, as hospitals and pharmacies increased their stocks, the ministry said in a statement. In the first five months, total wholesale sales increased 9.8 percent to NT$5.31 trillion, the highest for the five-month period on record, ministry data showed.
INSURANCE
Firms fined for breaches
The Financial Supervisory Commission on Thursday fined Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) NT$3 million and the Taiwan branch of Cardif Assurance Vie (法國巴黎人壽) NT$1.2 million, as the two firms contravened the Insurance Act (保險法) by failing to correctly inform their clients about purchases of investment-linked insurance policies. The commission said Taishn Bank’s agents encouraged three senior citizens to terminate their old insurance policies and use the surrender value to buy new investment-linked insurance products offered by Cardif Assurance. However, the bank pushed the transactions inappropriately by encouraging clients to terminate policies in advance and did not evaluate whether the new products fit the clients’ risk appetite, while the life insurer failed to examine the clients’ sources of funds for the new products, it said.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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