Shin Kong reports big drop in profits

Shin Kong Financial Holdings Co (新光金控), Taiwan's eighth-biggest financial services company by assets, had an 80 percent drop in second-quarter profit due to unrealized investment losses.

Net income for the three months ended June 30 fell to NT$550 million (US$16 million) from NT$2.71 billion a year earlier. Second-quarter figures were derived by subtracting first-quarter profit from first-half earnings.

The drop in second-quarter profit from a year ago is due to the unrealized losses from domestic stocks, Shin Kong spokesman Victor Hsu (許澎) said in a phone interview, without providing the figure.

Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), Taiwan's biggest financial holding company, recorded a 9.5 percent decline in second-quarter profit from a year earlier, mainly due to lower investment gains from its life insurer. Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控), the island's sixth-biggest financial service group, posted an 11.6 percent drop because of losses from stock trading.

For the first six months ended June, Shin Kong had net income of NT$3.04 billion, or NT$1.28 a share, down 9.3 percent from NT$3.35 billion, or NT$1.51 a share, a year earlier, the company said in an e-mailed statement without giving explanations.

Shin Kong said on June 17 it "believes its 2004 earnings forecast of NT$5.3 billion remains accurate and achievable."