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Value of Formosa Sumco shares increases by 3.7%
THINGS LOOKING UP:
The company supplies silicon wafers to some of the nation's leading solar cell makers, including Motech Industries Inc and E-ton Solar Tech Co
By Lisa Wang
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Dec 11, 2007, Page 12
Shares of local silicon wafer supplier Formosa Sumco Technology Corp (台勝科) jumped 3.68 percent in an initial public offering (IPO) on the main bourse yesterday over its expansion into the bullish solar industry.
Formosa Sumco stock rose NT$7 to close at NT$197, defying the local stock market's recent falls. The benchmark TAIEX index was down 1.43 percent yesterday.
Formosa Sumco offered about 20.53 million new common shares at NT$190 each for local investors. The firm had 624.68 million outstanding shares before the share sale.
The second-largest maker of polyvinyl chloride in the world, Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑), under the nation's biggest industrial conglomerate, Formosa Plastic Group (台塑集團), and Japan's silicon wafer supplier Sumco Techxiv Corp owns 30 percent and 51 percent respectively in Formosa Sumco.
"Formosa Sumco has the potential to compete with the nation's top solar wafer maker Green Energy Technology Inc (綠能科技) if its parent company taps into the green energy industry as media reported," said Arthur Hsu (胥嘉政), a solar industry analyst with market researcher Topology Research Institute (拓墣產業研究所) based in Taipei.
Formosa Sumco supplies silicon wafers to the nation's top solar cell makers including Motech Industries Inc (茂迪) and E-ton Solar Tech Co (益通光能).
To secure sufficient supply, the nation's major solar cell makers made early payments to their major solar wafer suppliers.
To keep up with customer demand, the wafer supplier said it would slightly expand output to about 340,000 8-inch wafers a month by the end of this year and to start making 100,000 12-inch wafers on a new production line in the first quarter of next year.
Formosa Sumco said sales grew about 42 percent to NT$793 million (US$24.5million) last month from NT$558.9 million a year ago, thanks to fast-growing demand.
In the first 11 months, the company accumulated NT$7.57 billion in revenues, up 40 percent from a year earlier.
In the first half of this year, Formosa Sumco earned NT$1.12 billion, or NT$1.92 per share.
The company did not provide comparative figures.
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