After going through a successful restructuring, Tong Lung Metal Industry Co (
"Without a doubt, Tong Lung will be back on the blue-chip list again," said Calvin Chen (
The shares of Tong Lung, a leading door lockset maker, currently require full-payment transaction. The company is set to resume normal transaction of its shares on the over-the-counter GRETAI Securities Market on March 23. The company will hold an investor conference next Wednesday.
Investors have shown their support for the company, with shares of Tong Lung advancing NT$3 to close at NT$46.2 yesterday.
Established in 1977, Tong Lung was once the world's third-largest door lock manufacturer, but incurred a huge debt of NT$6.2 billion (US$190 million) in 1998 after its president Fan Fang-kuei (范芳魁) and his brother Fan Fang-yuan (范芳源) lost NT$8.8 billion speculating on the stock market.
The company then applied to the Chiayi District Court in order to undergo a corporate restructuring plan, and invited Taiwan Securities Co (
Despite the firm's bankruptcy, Tong Lung's superior techniques in the lockset industry helped it secure a lifeline in December 2000 from HSBC Private Equity (Asia), which injected NT$1.8 billion to take a 70 percent stake in the company. The Shin Kong Group (
In 2001, Tong Lung completed its transformation, becoming an example of a company that had undergone successful restructuring.
The key figures that steered the rejuvenation, however, are two men who do not have a background in the industry: Vincent Chen (陳伯昌), then board director of HSBC and vice chairman and president of Tong Lung, and Wang Chung-yu (王鍾渝), the former chairman of state-run China Steel Corp (中鋼), who took the company's chairmanship in 2002.
In addition to exercising their expertise in finance and management, the duo are also super salesmen who frequently travel aboard to secure foreign orders.
Their efforts paid off, as Tong Lung wiped away all its red ink in 2004 and started to turn a profit last year. As a result, the company posted a 15 percent year-on-year sales increase to NT$2 billion last year, and issued NT$1 in cash per share and a NT$0.2 dividend per share to its stockholders.
The company's product line extends from basic metal door locks to electronic security systems. Tong Lung has a slew of door lock technology patents and products that have secured its leading position in the industry despite the financial crisis, Yuanta Core Pacific's Chen said. He added that Tong Lung's smaller rival Taiwan Fu Hsing Industry Co (
Sales for the first two months of the year were NT$490 million, a 95.26 percent jump from a year ago, the company said. Tong Lung's current capitalization is NT$791 million, including common shares of NT$687 million.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump weighed in on a pressing national issue: The rebranding of a restaurant chain. Last week, Cracker Barrel, a Tennessee company whose nationwide locations lean heavily on a cozy, old-timey aesthetic — “rocking chairs on the porch, a warm fire in the hearth, peg games on the table” — announced it was updating its logo. Uncle Herschel, the man who once appeared next to the letters with a barrel, was gone. It sparked ire on the right, with Donald Trump Jr leading a charge against the rebranding: “WTF is wrong with Cracker Barrel?!” Later, Trump Sr weighed
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) secured a record 70.2 percent share of the global foundry business in the second quarter, up from 67.6 percent the previous quarter, and continued widening its lead over second-placed Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said on Monday. TSMC posted US$30.24 billion in sales in the April-to-June period, up 18.5 percent from the previous quarter, driven by major smartphone customers entering their ramp-up cycle and robust demand for artificial intelligence chips, laptops and PCs, which boosted wafer shipments and average selling prices, TrendForce said in a report. Samsung’s sales also grew in the second quarter, up
HEADWINDS: Upfront investment is unavoidable in the merger, but cost savings would materialize over time, TS Financial Holding Co president Welch Lin said TS Financial Holding Co (台新新光金控) said it would take about two years before the benefits of its merger with Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) become evident, as the group prioritizes the consolidation of its major subsidiaries. “The group’s priority is to complete the consolidation of different subsidiaries,” Welch Lin (林維俊), president of the nation’s fourth-largest financial conglomerate by assets, told reporters during its first earnings briefing since the merger took effect on July 24. The asset management units are scheduled to merge in November, followed by life insurance in January next year and securities operations in April, Lin said. Banking integration,
LOOPHOLES: The move is to end a break that was aiding foreign producers without any similar benefit for US manufacturers, the US Department of Commerce said US President Donald Trump’s administration would make it harder for Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc to ship critical equipment to their chipmaking operations in China, dealing a potential blow to the companies’ production in the world’s largest semiconductor market. The US Department of Commerce in a notice published on Friday said that it was revoking waivers for Samsung and SK Hynix to use US technologies in their Chinese operations. The companies had been operating in China under regulations that allow them to import chipmaking equipment without applying for a new license each time. The move would revise what is known
RSS