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Proposed tweaks to PSE listing rules to benefit small investors

By Arra B. Francia, Reporter
TRADING participants welcomed the Philippine Stock Exchange’s (PSE) move to tweak listing rules that would prompt companies seeking to conduct a follow-on offering (FOO) to provide a price range for the benefit of the investing public.
In a memorandum circular posted on its website last week, the PSE said it plans to require firms to indicate a price range when conducting an FOO of common shares and exchange traded funds, as opposed to the current standard of providing only a maximum offer price.
“Small investors, in general, fail to recognize that the price disclosed in the offering documents (i.e., red herring prospectus) is the ceiling and that the final offer price may be lower than the disclosed price. The investors may expect to realize capital gains considering the difference between the market price and the disclosed maximum offer price,” the PSE said.
The PSE aims to address this with the proposed disclosure of a price range consisting of a minimum price and maximum price to better guide small investors on the possible changes in the final offer price.
The price range requirement will only be applied for FOOs, since investors will not have a baseline price during initial public offerings. Preferred shares will not be included as well since investors look at the coupon rate instead of the offer price when deciding to participate in such offerings.
“The objective of the Exchange is to protect small investors by informing them that pending final determination of the offer price, they should be guided by the disclosed price range in any transaction prior to the price-setting date,” the PSE said in its memorandum circular.
The local bourse took cues from existing rules in Bursa Malaysia, the Indonesia Stock Exchange and Shanghai/ Shenzhen Stock Exchange in coming up with the proposal.
Analysts were mostly in favor of setting a price range, saying that this will help guide small investors on whether they will participate in an offering.
“That’s a good proposal. At least there will be a ballpark figure. What’s important is that the price range cannot be too wide,” Eagle Equities, Inc. President Joseph Y. Roxas said in a text message.
COL Financial Group, Inc. Research Head April Lynn C. Lee-Tan noted the same, explaining that this will help investors better analyze the impact on earnings per share, which in turn will help them “assess whether or not to participate in the offer.”
Meanwhile, Philstocks Financial, Inc. Research Head Justino B. Calaycay, Jr. said this will also help in providing guidance as to how low an FOO may be priced. He however added that knowledge of the price is just one aspect that investors should look at.
“Knowledge of the price is but one consideration investors should, must look into when deciding on an investment in general and whether to subscribe to an FOO in particular,” Mr. Calaycay said in a mobile message, saying that investors should also practice due diligence and look at “towards what undertaking will the company earmark the proceeds of the offer to, the fundamental health and prospects of the company.”
The PSE is taking down public comments for the proposed rules until Friday, Oct. 5.

Razon-led firm assures power distribution capability for Iloilo

By Louine Hope U. Conserva, Correspondent
ILOILO CITY — MORE Minerals Corp., a subsidiary of tycoon Enrique K. Razon Jr.’s Monte Oro Resources and Energy, Inc. (MORE), assured it is capable of providing power distribution services as it seeks a congressional franchise for Iloilo City.
Officials of the company, which has been renamed MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MEPC), said they are technically, operationally, and financially capable to handle power distribution.
“Its primary purpose has already been amended — from mining to electric distribution,” MEPC President and Chief Executive Officer Roel Z. Castro said in a press briefing held on Tuesday evening.
Mr. Castro said the new name and other changes were approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Sept. 21.
At the briefing, Mr. Castro also introduced some members of the MEPC management team, including Amador T. Guevarra, chief operating officer; Ed Ceraspe, chief technical officer; and legal counsel Cyril del Callar.
Mr. Gueverra is currently general manager of Pampanga II Electric Cooperative, Inc. (PELCO II), while Mr. Ceraspe was with the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines and has a 30-year experience in engineering and transmission systems.
“So if we talk of technical and operational capabilities, I think there is no question of that,” Mr. Castro said.
In terms of financial strength, he said MEPC currently has P2 billion in its account.
In terms of ownership, Mr. Castro said, “It’s the same set of shareholders that we have that was part of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines that won the bid for $3.95 billion.”
Should the company get final approval for the franchise, Mr. Castro said they are prepared to roll out new infrastructure as well as negotiate with existing distributor Panay Electric Company, Inc. (PECO) for “just compensation of assets.”
He assured Iloilo City consumers that they will deliver “the best” service while addressing such issues as over-billing that has hounded PECO.
The Private Electric Power Operators Association (PEPOA), an umbrella organization of private power distributors, has opposed the franchise application filed by MEPC.
The Iloilo City government also wants to participate in the House of Representatives’ deliberations on MEPC’s franchise application.
“I could understand that there is such apprehension. As much as possible we want it to be smooth and we will do the best that we can. At the end of the day, the regulators will make sure that the service to consumers is not compromised,” he said.

Tencent’s online music unit files for US listing

TENCENT MUSIC Entertainment Group on Tuesday formally filed with regulators to list in the United States, under the symbol “TME” in what could be the biggest US Initial Public Offering (IPO) by a Chinese company.
The IPO of the music arm of Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings comes as the global online music industry gets back on track with more listeners streaming music through smartphone apps, even as companies battle piracy and try to sign up more paying customers.
Tencent Music includes Spotify-like digital streaming apps QQ Music, Kugou and karaoke app WeSing, and is seeking a valuation of about $25 billion, according to Thomson Reuters IFR.
The company set a placeholder amount of $1 billion to indicate the size of the IPO.
The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.
Market leader Spotify Technology SA debuted in April and its shares rose nearly 13% on the first trading day.
Tencent Music’s biggest shareholders include its parent Tencent, which owns 58.1%, and Spotify, which owns 9.1% in the company.
Chinese companies have already raised $5.9 billion from listing in the US so far this year — a record for any year, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Depending on its eventual pricing, Tencent Music could be the biggest this year, ahead of the $2.4 billion raised by video streaming service provider iQIYI in March.
In its regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Tencent Music reported a profit of $263 million on a revenue of $1.30 billion for six months ended June 30.
Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs (Asia), JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley are some of the lead underwriters for the IPO.
US listing is a blow to Hong Kong’s ambitions of getting tech companies onto the city’s bourse by loosening listing regulations, but the new rules do not yet allow corporate entities to benefit from weighted voting rights. — Reuters

Cusi defends CEPNS given to Atimonan coal power plant

By Victor V. Saulon, Sub-editor
THE Department of Energy (DoE) has defended its move to certify the 1,200-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Atimonan, Quezon as nationally significant, saying the long-delayed project is needed to meet a critical point in the coming years when power supply will be deficient and critical.
“Bakit sinabi nila na binago ko ang aking isipan at binigyan sila ng Certificate of Energy Project of National Significance (CEPNS) without Swiss challenge? (Why do they say that I have changed my mind and gave a CEPNS without a Swiss challenge?),” Enegy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi told reporters on Tuesday at a Senate hearing on the DoE budget for 2019.
He was referring to the granting of a certification that allows a project to enjoy some perks such as an easier and faster permitting process.
He previously said he wanted the power supply agreement (PSA) between the P135-billion project led by Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen) and distribution utility Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to go through a competitive selection process (CSP) even though a regulation calling for such exercise was issued after the forging of the contract.
Mr. Cusi said the granting of the certificate is not dependent on the approval of a PSA, which is pending with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). Some sectors have since questioned the legality of the PSA, an issue that has reached the Supreme Court.
“Una, bago dumating sa PSA, sa kontrata, meron nang CEPNS. The certificate does not cover PSA (First, before [the project] reached its PSA, the contract, there is already a CEPNS. The certificate does not cover PSA.),” he said.
Mr. Cusi said the PSA comes later and separate from the permits being cleared with the DoE, including the certification. He added that the DoE is not requiring an ERC-approved PSA before it will issue a CEPNS.
Mr. Cusi said the need to certify the project comes as the country needs an additional supply of 14,000 MW by 2025. Building a plant requires at least two to three years, he said, adding that by 2021 to 2022 the DoE expects power supply to be critical, thus the need to support the project’s faster implementation.
“Kung hindi ko gagawin ‘yan, ibig sabihin ‘yong permit to build will only come in 2021. So nira-rush natin ‘yan. (If I don’t do that, that means the permit to build will come only in 2021 . . . So we are rushing it.),” he said.
Sought for comment, Angelito U. Lantin, Meralco senior vice-president, said the Atimonan ultra-supercritical coal-fired power plant is the best of its kind in terms of fuel efficiency, thus the certification could usher an improvement for the next generation facilities.
“It’s good to know that the government recognizes that this project is really the first of its kind in the Philippines. So you will be able to produce a kilowatt-hour using less fuel,” Mr. Lantin said.
The DoE required distribution utilities to subject their power supply contracts to a CSP starting on Nov. 7, 2015. The move is in line with rules that require them to procure power at the least cost.
But on March 15, 2016, the ERC restated the CSP effective date to April 30, 2016. The CSP has a similar concept as a Swiss challenge.
“The PSA for the Atimonan project is with the ERC and it’s supposed to be acted on by the ERC,” Mr. Lantin said, adding that Meralco’s submission was compliant with the extended deadline.
“It was submitted on time before the deadline for the bilateral negotiations. That’s where we are, so we’re waiting for the ERC to act on our application,” he said.
Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.

Cebu Pacific eyes Zamboanga-Sandakan route

DAVAO CITY — Cebu Pacific is looking at flights between Zamboanga City in Mindanao and Sandakan in Sabah among the new routes that will be served by the new aircraft that will be delivered beginning November.
“The launching of the Zamboanga-Sandakan route is still in the pipeline,” Cebu Pacific Director for Corporate Communications Charo Logarta-Lagamon said in an interview.
“But nothing is final yet because as we know it is also a matter of making sure that all the other requirements to operate commercial air service like for example the customs, immigration, and for quarantine. Although the Zamboanga-Sandakan ferry is available already, but for air travel the requirements are stricter,” she added.
Cebu Pacific has an order of 32 Airbus A321neo, five A320neo, two A321ceo (current engine option) and six ATR 72-600 aircraft.
Ms. Lagamon said they expect to receive eight to nine new planes annually until 2022.
The budget carrier is also eyeing the development of more routes within the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).
“The challenge is how do you develop the routes within BIMP-EAGA because our economies are so similar, even for tourism it’s the same… nonetheless the desire is there and everyone wants to push for more air routes, particularly Indonesia, they really want to push,” Ms. Lagamon said.
She said there is really a demand, noting Cebu Pacific’s existing flights to Bali and Jakarta have an average seat load factor of about 77% to 78%.
One strategy for developing new international routes is using Cebu as a hub with the expansion of its connections to other local airports.
Cebu Pacific currently flies from Cebu to Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea.
“Let us say you are flying from Davao and you want to go to Japan, you go via Cebu, you just have to change aircraft in Cebu and you have the options how long you want to stay in Cebu… The connecting flights are more flexible and the fare is cheaper easily by about 15%, if bundled,” she said.
She explained that other international airports like the Francisco Bangoy International Airport in Davao City still does not generate enough passenger traffic to merit new international routes.
“The flights need to be as full as possible and for Davao alone, it is not enough to fill up the flights, so what we did, we are developing our Cebu hub because most people in VisMin (Visayas-Mindanao) would prefer flying to Cebu than in Manila,” she said. — Maya M. Padillo

US tech sector getting by on Wall St. after losing two high-profile stocks

SAN FRANCISCO — The technology sector appears to be doing just fine on Wall Street a week after it lost two of its highest-profile components to a newly christened communication services group.
The S&P 500 technology index has gained 1.3% since the start of last Monday, when Facebook Inc. and Google parent Alphabet Inc. — half of the FANG group of hyper-growth stocks that propelled Wall Street higher in recent years — were pushed out of technology and into the telecom sector, renamed‚ “communication services.”
During that short period of time, the technology index outperformed communication services and consumer discretionary, the third sector affected by the largest ever overhaul of the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS).
Bank of America Merrill Lynch recommended on Monday that investors be overweight technology and underweight communication services and consumer discretionary.
“Old Tech represents a lot of what we like: net cash and healthy balance sheets, free cash flow generation, leverage to unit volume sales growth and low earnings risk,” bank strategist Savita Subramanian wrote in a report.
Following the changes to GICS, Cisco Systems Inc. and Intel Corp. join Visa Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. as the tech sector’s largest five components.
Mature companies with storied histories compared to many of their Silicon Valley neighbors, Cisco and Intel have struggled to grow in recent years, but they deliver steady earnings and return cash to shareholders through dividends and buy-backs.
Netflix Inc., another FANG stock, was moved from consumer discretionary to communication services as part of the reshuffle. It has since rallied nearly 6%, helping push the communication services index 1% higher.
Up 20% so far in 2018, technology may benefit from the absence of Alphabet and Facebook, which have underperformed due to worries about regulation in response to criticism of their handling of user data.
Amazon, the fourth FANG stocks, remains in consumer discretionary and is now the only part of FANG not in the communication services sector.
Since the start of last Monday, the consumer discretionary has risen 0.4%. The S&P 500 lost 0.2% during the same period.
Consumer discretionary and communication services, which between them now include all of the FANG stocks, remain crowded trades at risk of sell-off, according to Subramanian.
RBC in a report on Monday named cloud computing company ServiceNow Inc. software maker Synopsys Inc. and payment processor Worldpay Inc. — all within the technology sector — in a list of 12 top picks for US stocks. — Reuters

Work on LRT Cavite extension to start by Q1

LIGHT RAIL Manila Corp. (LRMC) expects to start construction of the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) Cavite extension in the first quarter of next year.
“We have in fact started preparatory works this year while a few remaining issues on the ROW (right of way) are being resolved. Forecast start for the construction of the Cavite Extension viaduct is Q1 2019,” LRMC President Juan F. Alfonso said in a mobile text message.
LRMC, the consortium of Ayala Corp., Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp., and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) Pte. Ltd., bagged the public-private partnership (PPP) project for the Cavite extension in September 2015. It involves rehabilitation of the existing 21-kilometer (km.) LRT-1 line and an 11.7-km. extension from Baclaran to Bacoor.
In August, Mr. Alfonso said they have already issued the Notice to Proceed to its engineering, procurement and construction contractors, French firm Bouygues Travaux Publics and European firm Alstom.
For the extension, LRMC will build eight new stations from Baclaran, namely, Redemptorist, NAIA Avenue, Asia World, Ninoy Aquino, Dr. Santos, Las Piñas, Zapote and Niog.
In May, Mr. Alfonso said once construction of the Cavite extension begins, it will take around four years to complete the project.
Metro Pacific Investment Corp. is one of three Philippine subsidiaries of Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being PLDT, Inc. and Philex Mining Corp. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., maintains an interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group. — Denise A. Valdez

Not just organic, but vegan too


A BOTTLE of wine holds within its confines time and space, for a wine maker has distilled into a liquid the soil, the sunshine, and the care that went into making it. An Australian wine maker is proud to say that he has done that, all while embracing nature and minimizing Man’s touch.
Mark Davidson sits as Managing Director and Chief Wine maker of Australia’s Tamburlaine Organic Wines, the biggest organic wine producer in Australia. He acquired the vineyard in 1985, but the vineyards have already been set up since the 1960s. Mr. Davidson credits his acquisition to an Australian wine boom in the late ’80s to the ’90s, when Australian wines first began getting recognition in the American market. “The whole excitement about wine hadn’t begun,” he recalled.
Since then, Tamburlaine (named after the literary representation of Emperor Timur by Christopher Marlowe) has won several awards, including a trophy for their Gewurztraminer, for Dry White Blends & Varietals — National Cool Climate Wine Show 2017. The company constantly places on many wine competitions within the region. This is all done without the interference of chemical -cides: pesticides, insecticides, and fungicides. No synthetic fertilizers are used either.
The Hunter Valley vineyards are carry the “Australian Certified Organic” logo on labels. To be able to do so “requires rigorous annual audits by the Biological Farmers of Australia to ensure the absence of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and synthetic fertilizers in the production of the wines,” says the website.
Not only are the wines organic, but the company now points out that they are vegan-friendly to boot. Its website explains how most wineries remove bitter tasting compounds released by grape seeds, stalks, and skins during crushing, fermentation, and pressing through a process called fining which uses animal proteins. Instead, Tamburlaine uses a vegetable-based fining agents.
BusinessWorld met Mr. Davidson during the World of Wine Fair by Marketplace by Rustan’s, which ran from Sept. 27 to 30. Talks by several wine makers were held during the weekend. For shoppers, several wines were available at a discount, and these discounts remain available until Oct. 7 — this reporter recalls acquiring a Bordeaux for only about P400 at the fair last year.
Mr. Davidson credits his success as Australia’s biggest organic wine producer by appealing to what he calls the “conscious consumer.” He likens them to the hippies of the 1960s, and they care about where they get their wine and their food. As for himself, he leads as healthy a lifestyle as possible, but he isn’t vegan: he does eat sustainably raised meat however. “We’re working with nature; we’re not killing off nature to do something else,” he said. “We think of the whole ecosystem.”
“I’ve decided that my life should be, for what I do in my normal consumption, I should be sustainable, and as organic as I possibly can,” he said.
BusinessWorld had a sip of a relatively young Cabernet Sauvignon from their winery, and noted a tanginess and a sharp oakiness, but otherwise had a well-rounded ending note. “If you grow grapes organically, you grow them with consistent flavor.”
As we’ve mentioned above, within every bottle of wine lies the conditions in which a grape had been raised, therefore a summary of the work of several years is in every bottle. “If you don’t interfere with that, you just work with nature… if you can do that, you are going to represent this time, that place, that terroir more accurately that any other way of producing wine.” — JLG

Mizuho seeks Google hopefuls in technology push

ONE OF Japan’s biggest banks is throwing away the cookie cutter when it comes to hiring fresh graduates.
Realizing it was recruiting “exactly the same” types of people each year, Mizuho Financial Group Inc. now wants to hire more creative thinkers who can help it meet challenges such as the technological upheaval facing banks, said Shinya Uda, a human resources manager at Japan’s third-biggest lender. That includes science majors, foreigners, and people who are looking to work for technology giants such as Google owner Alphabet Inc.
“I told my team to go out and find people who aren’t interested in finance,” Uda said in an interview. “It was kind of an impossible request, but I said‚ Find me someone who’s weighing up going to Google.”
Global banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. are also seeking to diversify away from finance graduates to adapt their workforce to a rapidly changing business environment. Japan’s biggest lenders are slashing branches and head count as customers go mobile and near-zero interest rates reduce profitability, forcing banks to find ways to do more than just lend.
“It’s a recruiting policy that’s in line with the times,” said Nana Otsuki, chief analyst at Monex Inc. in Tokyo. “Banks can’t make profits from traditional banking business as long as interest rates stay low, so if they’re going to grow earnings from other businesses, it makes sense to seek a new type of talent.
Mizuho plans to cut 19,000 positions over the next decade, and those who remain will need to build an organization that can survive in a world where technology is spawning new rivals and partners. The Tokyo-based bank recently appointed a digital innovation chief and has been working on initiatives ranging from electronic payments to AI-driven lending.
“We want the kinds of people who have the creativity to take us in a new direction,” Uda said.
Like most major companies in Japan, Mizuho courts university students in a lengthy ritual of tests, seminars and interviews during their final year of school. This year, it sent out 70,000 copies of a recruitment brochure bearing the slogan, “We want to meet people who aren’t Mizuho types.” It plans to hire about 400 graduates for the year starting April 2019, down from more than 600 two years earlier as the bank moves toward shrinking its workforce.
After three years of testing candidates’ competencies, Mizuho found that its recruits tended to be strong in areas such as teamwork and problem solving but weak in creativity. It tweaked its approach to marketing and interviewing to address the issue, resulting in more than a third of applicants it plans to give offers to for next year’s intake scoring highly on creative thinking, up from about a fifth in recent years, Uda said.
“It’s not that we don’t need the people we’ve been getting, it’s just that it would be a problem if we only got that type,” he said.
About 10% of those being offered jobs will be foreign or educated overseas, a figure that’s doubled in the past two years. So-called STEM students — who majored in science, technology, engineering or mathematics — are also expected to make up about 10%, and Mizuho wants to double the allocation in 2020, Uda said.
Fellow mega bank Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. has also adjusted its recruiting plans this year to target more science and technology graduates, a spokesman for the Tokyo-based lender said. Japan’s largest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., said it already hires the talent it needs and hasn’t made any significant changes to its policies.
Uda recognizes that it may be difficult to keep motivation high among employees who weren’t necessarily interested in finance at school. Another risk is that workers end up being molded into the existing culture.
“The challenge is retention,” he said. “We need to change by injecting new blood into the company, and the culture won’t change if they just end up taking on Mizuho colors.” — Bloomberg

San Miguel plans power plants’ transition to biomass technology

SAN MIGUEL Corp. (SMC) said on Wednesday that it was planning to replace coal with rice husks to fuel its circulating fluidized bed (CFB) power plants to boost the income of farmers while the conglomerate moves towards renewable and sustainable energy generation.
“Instead of burning or dumping rice husks, we want to fully utilize this agricultural waste product both as energy source for our power plants and income source for our rice farmers,” said Ramon S. Ang, SMC president and chief operating officer, in a statement.
“This way, we reduce our emission further, encourage more farmers to increase rice production, make their lives better and help address a perennial food security challenge,” he added.
SMC will convert its existing power plants using CFB “clean coal” technology into biomass power facilities. Its power unit SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. operates two new facilities in Limay, Bataan and Malita, Davao.
The plants use CFB combustion technology, which SMC said is among the world’s most advanced pollution-mitigating technologies for power plants, yielding lower emissions. But the listed company said emissions from rice husk-based fuel are expected be even lower.
Mr. Ang said SMC’s transition into biomass technology could also boost rice farming in the country.
“If we encourage more farmers to plant rice by providing them additional sources of income, our rice sufficiency and food security improves. At the same time, we use palay husks to generate more environment-friendly energy,” he said.
He said the company is willing to build the necessary infrastructure and facilities to support rice farmers to collect husks that will be bought from them.
Earlier this month, Mr. Ang said SMC could go into rice importation to help address the current rice shortage, but only if scheme that imposes import tariffs but lifts quantity limits is passed.
SMC operates grains terminals and silos nationwide, which can be used to stockpile rice to help ensure food supply and high-quality rice at low prices. The tariffs to be imposed on importing rice could be used to support local farmers and boost the farm sector.
Mr. Ang earlier this year said SMC is boosting its renewable energy capacity with a target capacity of 10,000 MW in the next 10 years. He said the company was looking at tidal energy, wind power, and more hydroelectric power plants. — Victor V. Saulon

Sharp makes long-awaited venture into OLED, wary of spending, rapid growth

TOKYO — Japan’s Sharp Corp. unveiled its long-awaited move into the Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) market on Wednesday as the Apple Inc. supplier looks to catch rival Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
Sharp will offer OLED panels in its new smartphones later this year and plans to sell the screens to other manufacturers, although it has signaled it is wary about a rapid expansion in OLED as momentum for the thinner but more expensive screens slows.
The move comes as the Osaka-based electronics maker, a major supplier of iPhone Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screens, continues its recovery after being bought two years ago by Taiwan’s Foxconn.
Sharp’s OLED smartphones will initially go on sale in Japan, by far its major market after it slashed its overseas smartphone business. The company has not yet reached any deals for sales to other smartphone makers, a spokeswoman said at a launch function in Tokyo.
Sharp has so far invested 57.4 billion yen ($505 million) to produce OLED panels in western Japan, less than a third of the planned 200 billion yen investment that was announced by Foxconn at the time of its acquisition in 2016.
Sharp executives have said a shift from conventional LCD screens to more flexible OLED screens has been slower than expected due to high prices, making the firm cautious about aggressive OLED capacity expansion in the near term.
“The momentum for OLED panels is waning compared to a year ago and is unlikely to pick up immediately,” senior Sharp executive Katsuaki Nomura told reporters in July.
The slower acceptance of pricier OLED panels has also offered some relief to Japan Display Inc., another iPhone LCD screen supplier lagging behind Samsung and LG Display in OLED technology.
South Korea’s Electronic Times reported earlier this year that Apple has decided to use OLED screens in all three new iPhone models planned for next year, compared to two OLED models this year.
But industry sources have told Reuters that Apple would not entirely abandon low-cost LCD screens at least for next year. — Reuters

Wine Made Easy: Nine cheap Pinot Grigios actually worth drinking

By Elin McCoy, Bloomberg
HERE’S a sad truth. Most pinot grigio is so watery, bland, and just plain dull that wine snobs scorn it and sommeliers at top restaurants won’t list it. Asking for “just a glass of pinot grigio” has almost become an admission that you don’t pay attention to what you swallow.
But of course you do.
So forget all those tired clichés and have a rethink about why the grape had such mass appeal in the first place. Delicious, food-friendly examples can be had for $25 and less, and they’re not hard to find.
So what do you need to know? First, cool northern Italy produces scores of crisp, refreshing, citrusy, light whites proudly labeled pinot grigio that are ideal as aperitifs and with all kinds of food.
In Alsace, in northeastern France, the same grape is called pinot gris, and the flavors are slightly different. The wines are honeysuckle-scented, powerful, spicy, lushly textured, and sometimes sweet. (By the way, grigio and gris both mean “gray,” after the pinkish gray sheen of the grape’s skin when ripe).
Wine makers in the New World — Oregon, New Zealand, Australia, California — tend to label their examples with the name that fits the style and flavor profile they’re aiming for, but often their styles lie somewhere between the Italian and Alsace paradigms.
You could say the grape suffers from an identity crisis.
Italian pinot grigio burst on the US scene in the early 1980s, after a young importer brought in the Santa Margherita brand and made it into one of the country’s best-known wines. Eventually its popularity inspired a flood of indifferent Italian plonk from low-altitude areas, which scared off discerning drinkers. Later, some fans were further seduced away by prosecco and rosé.
A NEW DISTINCTION
Last year, in an effort to increase quality, Italy instituted a new, tightly controlled regional classification, Pinot Grigio delle Venezie, whose wines are certified by an independent commission. This wide area includes regions such as Alto Adige and Friuli (northwest and northeast of Venice, respectively) where some of the best wines come from vineyards on the slopes.
Alsace pinot gris has never been as fashionable as pinot grigio, but it has a great quality-to-price ratio. In fact, all the wines from the region have been underrated for years. It didn’t help that in the 1990s some producers there started making riper, sweeter, almost syrupy wines that didn’t go well with food. Some have solved the problem by putting a dry-to-sweet scale on the back label so you know what to expect. For others, the less expensive wines have always been bone dry.
The biggest news is that plantings of the grape are rising fast. It rules the white wine landscape in Oregon and is way less expensive than chardonnay (and much better with pad thai). It’s affordable because the grapes are easy to grow and harvested early, so the wines are ready to sell sooner, and they’re usually not aged in pricey new oak barrels. In Australia, experimental producers have begun planting the grape in cooler regions and experimenting with wildly unique styles.
And on a visit to New Zealand earlier this year, maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised to discover a pinot gris craze there, too. From 2002 to 2016, plantings have exploded, from 232 hectares to 2,440.
Expect more top examples to hit the shelves in the future. For now, here are nine top pinot grigio/pinot gris wines that will surprise you.
ITALY
• 2017 Kris Pinot Grigio delle Venezie IGT ($14)
This easygoing wine helped put pinot grigio on the map in the US and remains one of Italy’s great white values. I’ve seen it for as little as $10 a bottle. It still delivers bright, zesty freshness and aromas of citrus, pears, and almonds even though more than 3 million bottles are produced annually.
• 2017 Venica Jesera Pinot Grigio Collio ($23)
Bright and fresh, this wine has intensely perfumed aromas of ripe golden apples and lemons, and a bigger, richer character than most Italian pinot grigios.
• 2016 Alois Lageder Pinot Grigio Porer ($25)
This well-known organic and biodynamic producer in the Dolomite Mountains of Italy’s Alto Adige makes several pinot grigios at different price levels. This one is serious and complex, loaded with citrus and melon flavors and savory minerality.
• 2017 Elena Walch Castel Ringberg Pinot Grigio ($25)
This single-vineyard wine is a sophisticated step up from the noted winery’s fresh, easy lower-priced bottling. It boasts citrus and green apple aromas, ripe baked-apple flavors, and surprising complexity and personality.
OREGON
• 2017 Ponzi Pinot Gris ($19)
This crisp white from an Oregon pioneer in the Willamette Valley consistently overperforms for the price. Its style is midway between Alsace and Italy, with juicy, refreshing pear, citrus, and mineral flavors that slip down easy and the hints of fennel and attractive slight bitterness you find in examples from Alsace.
• 2015 Bethel Heights Pinot Gris ($24)
Another Oregon pioneer, noted for stellar pinot noirs, makes this refreshing white from 25-year-old vines and purchased grapes. It’s very dry, with great acidity, but also richly textured and has the flavor of baked pears.
NEW ZEALAND
• 2017 Jules Taylor Pinot Gris ($17)
Taylor’s stellar wines were a discovery on my trip to New Zealand this year. She calls this one “a snazzy little people pleaser,” and I definitely agree. Pale and elegant, it’s also lush and spicy, with floral aromas and juicy stone fruit flavors of nectarine.
• 2016 Greywacke Pinot Gris ($25)
Wine maker Kevin Judd gave the world Cloudy Bay sauvignon blanc and helped change our idea of New Zealand wine. This winery in the Marlborough region is his personal venture, named after New Zealand’s bedrock. His pinot gris is opulent and fleshy, with succulent melon and pear flavors and great minerality.
ALSACE
• 2015 Hugel Pinot Gris Classic ($22)
This is the entry-level pinot gris from one of Alsace’s most esteemed family producers, known better for its superb rieslings and gewurztraminers. Like all Hugel wines, this one is pure, very dry, full of character, and super food-friendly. (For more depth and minerality, go for the more expensive new Estate label).

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