Formosa Plastics on the up
Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑), Taiwan's biggest maker of polyvinyl chloride, had an 89 percent jump in net income in the third quarter.
Net income rose to NT$3.7 billion (US$109 million) in the three months ended Sept. 30, from NT$2 billion a year ago. Sales rose 35 percent to NT$22.7 billion.
For the first nine months, net income rose to NT$11 billion from NT$7.3 billion, according to the company's statement filed to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Sales rose to NT$59.8 billion from NT$48.3 billion. No explanations were provided.
Asustek gains 18 percent
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world's biggest maker of boards that connect electronic parts in personal computers, had an 18 percent gain in third-quarter profit.
Net income rose to NT$3.2 billion (US$95 million) in the three months ended Sept. 30 from NT$2.7 billion a year earlier.
Third-quarter sales, reported earlier, fell 11 percent to NT$19.4 billion.
Net income in the first nine months rose 28 percent to NT$8.9 billion from NT$6.9 billion a year earlier, the company said in a statement.
China Steel raises forecast
China Steel Corp (中鋼), Taiwan's biggest steelmaker, raised its 2003 pretax profit forecast by 23 percent because of price increases stemming from better-than-expected demand for the raw material in Asia.
Pretax profit is estimated to reach NT$45 billion (US$1.3 billion), revised from a forecast of NT$36.5 billion announced in December, the Kaohsiung-based company said.
China Steel in December forecast 2003 net income of NT$29.2 billion, which the company didn't address in today's announcement.
The demand outlook has been "better" than expected at the beginning of this year, Chung Lo-min (鍾樂民), vice president of finance, said in a phone interview.
Last year, the steelmaker had net income of NT$16.8 billion.
Future's bright for Acer
Acer Inc, Taiwan's only electronics company with a globally recognized brand name, had a profit gain of almost eightfold in the third quarter.
Net income for the three months ended Sept. 30 rose to NT$3.9 billion (US$115 million) from NT$500 million a year ago.
Profit for the first nine months of this year increased to NT$5.9 billion from NT$5 billion a year ago, the company said in a statement.
Nanya set to turn it around
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), Taiwan's biggest maker of computer memory chips, said it expects to turn profitable in the October to December period, ending three straight quarters of losses.
"We expect a fourth-quarter profit of about NT$800 million," Nanya vice president Charles Kau (高啟全) said in a telephone interview.
The company's fourth-quarter expectation implies that profit will fall by almost half from NT$1.5 billion a year earlier.
Nanya dumped its 2003 pretax profit forecast for a NT$748 million (US$22 million) loss, according to the company's statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
"Our earlier forecast assumed prices would be higher this year," Kau said.
The company earlier predicted profit of NT$2.1 billion. It has posted a loss of NT$2.1 billion for the first nine months of this year.
NT dollar maintains strength
The New Taiwan dollars yesterday maintained strong against its US counterpart, up NT$0.035 to close at NT$33.910 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$569 million.
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