China Airlines Co (
Net income fell to between NT$1.7 billion (US$49 million) and NT$1.8 billion last year, from NT$2.93 billion the previous year, based on preliminary numbers, China Airlines President Christine Tsung (宗才怡) said at press conference. That beat an October target of NT$1.4 billion profit. Most of the profit came from trading currencies and fuel contracts, company spokesman Paul Wang (王振畬) said.
"We doubt that China Airlines can deliver the same profit from fuel hedging again," Mark Chang, an analyst at CLSA Ltd, wrote in a report in which he downgraded the stock to "sell" from "outperform." China Airlines and other airlines worldwide suffered in 2001 as demand for air travel fell in the aftermath of the September terrorist attacks in the US. Taiwan exports, many of which are transported by air, fell a record 11.5 percent last year as demand for computer chips and other electronic goods weakened.
"Most other airlines are not profitable in 2001," Wang said. "Trading gains in foreign exchange and fuel helped China Airlines."
Wang said company President Tsung, who was appointed as Taiwan's economic minister last week, will be replaced by Lee Yun-ning (李雲寧), who is currently China Airlines' chairman. The board meets this afternoon to decide on the appointment, Wang said.
Pretax profit fell to NT$1.63 billion from NT$2.8 billion in 2000. China Airlines' sales fell 3 percent to NT$69.9 billion lat year. In December, China Airlines' sales fell 0.2 percent to NT$1.8 billion.
China Airlines filled 74.2 percent of its available seats with paying passengers last year.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
RSS