E Ink payout plan approved
Shareholders of E Ink Holdings Inc (元太科技), a leading e-paper display supplier, yesterday approved the company’s proposal to distribute a cash dividend of NT$3.2 per share, suggesting a payout ratio of 70.64 percent based on the company’s earnings per share of NT$4.53 last year, which were the highest in 10 years. E Ink reported revenue of NT$19.65 billion (US$659.62 million) for last year, the highest in nearly nine years, due to robust demand for e-paper displays, e-notes and electronic shelf labels. E Ink chief financial officer Lloyd Chen (陳樂群) told shareholders that the evolution of the contactless economy and digital transformation of retailing businesses have increased demand for the company’s products, prompting it to launch three new production lines for e-paper displays this year, as well as another production line next year. The company also pledged to use 100 percent renewable energy by 2030 and achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.
China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼), the nation’s only integrated steelmaker, yesterday reported that its pretax profit last month dropped 22 percent to NT$4.44 billion from a month earlier, as revenue decreased 4.24 percent year-on-year to NT$45.41 billion. On a yearly basis, China Steel’s pretax profit fell 41.76 percent, the company said. The monthly decline in pretax profit was mainly due to a decrease in sales volume, while a lack of income from its mining investment compared with April also led to a decline in profit, it said. From January to last month, the company reported a 9 percent decrease in cumulative pretax profit to NT$24.6 billion, down from NT$26.9 billion a year earlier. Consolidated revenue in the first five months of the year increased 17 percent to NT$204.1 billion, up from NT$174.45 billion a year earlier.
Industrial computer maker Adlink Technology Inc (凌華科技) yesterday said gross margin would improve in the second half of the year, thanks to price hikes and favorable foreign exchange rates. Its inventory level is also forecast to decline in the second half compared with the first half, the company told shareholders at its annual general meeting in Taipei. With component and raw material shortages expected to ease in the coming months, and production resuming at its plants in China, Adlink said its business outlook would improve in the third and fourth quarters, after a weak performance in the first two quarters. The company reported earnings per share of NT$0.55 last year, down 51.2 percent year-on-year. Shareholders approved the company’s plan to distribute a cash dividend of NT$0.3 per share.
Firms lose on virus policies
Local insurance companies had as of Monday paid 314,900 COVID-19 insurance policyholders a total of NT$11.2 billion, three times the cumulative premium income of NT$3.56 billion from the sales of the policies, the Financial Supervisory Commission told a news conference on Tuesday. Compensation would likely surpass NT$15 billion at the end of this month, the commission said. Meanwhile, 3.76 million policies have been sold so far this year, the commission said. The number of claims grew by 70,000 to 80,000 per week amid rising local COVID-19 case numbers, the commission said.
China’s chip industry is growing faster than anywhere else in the world, after US sanctions on local champions — from Huawei Technologies Co (華為) to Hikvision Digital Technology Co (海康威視) — spurred appetite for homegrown components. Nineteen of the world’s 20 fastest-growing chip industry firms over the past four quarters, on average, hail from the world’s No. 2 economy, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. That compared with just eight firms at the same point last year. Revenue at China-based suppliers of design software, processors and gear vital to chipmaking is increasing at several times the pace of global leaders Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co
POSITIVE SIGNS: GlobalWafers has continued to sign long-term supply agreements, most of which exceed 2028, and aside from one factory, it is running at full capacity GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s third-largest silicon wafer maker, yesterday said that Samsung Electronics Co and most of its customers have not scaled back on orders, or delayed shipments, even though consumer spending has shifted away from smartphones and notebook computers due to mounting inflation pressures. Rising inflation has altered consumers’ spending habits, dampening sales of consumer electronics, the Hsinchu-based company said. However, customers all honored their supply agreements by adjusting their product mix and shifting to applications that are still reporting robust growth, it said. Aside from one 6-inch factory, GlobalWafers’ 15 factories around the world are running at 100 percent
HEAVY LOAD: CAL’s new baggage weight allowance is based on the type of airfare a passenger bought, while EVA’s would be available to all economy-class passengers China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) is to increase its free baggage allowance by 10kg for passengers flying to Europe, Australia or New Zealand, while lowering its fee for luggage exceeding the free weight limit, it said yesterday. The move is the airline’s latest effort to attract passengers, after local rival EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) late last month announced that from Thursday it would increase its free baggage weight allowance for all passengers. For economy-class passengers who fly to destinations other than the US and Canada, CAL currently has three weight limits for free baggage based on the airfare — 20kg for “discount”
Nearly a quarter of European companies in China are considering shifting their investments out of the country as COVID-19 outbreaks and lockdowns dim the outlook for the world’s second-largest economy, a survey showed. About 23 percent of the businesses that responded to the survey are thinking of moving their current or planned investments away from China, a report released yesterday by the EU Chamber of Commerce in China said. The survey was conducted at the end of April, when Shanghai was still in shut down and restrictions in places like Jilin Province disrupted business activity. The number of European firms reassessing