Cathay Financial tops rich list

Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) topped the nation's 300 biggest conglomerates by asset value last year, while Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團) took the lead by net worth and China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控) saw the biggest profit growth, a local credit agency's end-of-year rankings showed yesterday.

China Credit Information Service Ltd (CCIS, 中華徵信所) published its rankings on the finances of the nation's top 300 conglomerates with more than NT$5 billion (US$153.7 million) combined in assets and annual revenues last year. Their combined revenues of NT$18 trillion was larger than the nation's GDP of NT$10 trillion last year, CCIS editor-in-chief Liu Jen (劉任) said.

"Also, their combined after-tax profits broke through the NT$1 trillion level for the first time to total NT$1.047 trillion in 2006 even though half of the conglomerates saw a decline in profit growth," Liu told a press briefing.

Of the top 10 companies ranked by asset value, nine were financial service providers, led by Cathay Financial's NT$3.45 trillion. Second was Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行) with NT$2.38 trillion in assets, followed by Taishin Financial Holding Co's (台新金控) NT$2.33 trillion, Mega Financial Holding Co's (兆豐金控) NT$2.24 trillion and Chinatrust Financial Holding Co's (中信金控) NT$2.18 trillion.

The largest by asset value from outside the financial sector was Formosa Plastics, which ranked sixth, with NT$2.13 trillion in assets. Its annual sales revenues of NT$1.61 trillion, however, ranked No. 1 in that category.

Formosa Plastics also had the highest net worth, at NT$1.28 trillion, and the biggest annual after-tax profit of NT$161 billion last year.

In the ranking of companies that had the highest net profitability, China Development was top with a 71 percent profit ratio, followed by memory chipmaker Mosel Vitelic Inc's (茂矽) 63 percent and mobile handset component maker Largan Precision Co's (大立光電) 53 percent.

In the high-tech sector, Hon Hai Precision Industrial Co (鴻海) had the highest asset value, at NT$817 billion, followed by handset maker BenQ Corp's (明基) NT$701 billion and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co's (台積電) NT$587 billion. BenQ was renamed Qisda Group (佳世達) in September following the fall-out caused by its merger with Siemens AG's handset unit.

"Although it suffered great losses [from the merger], BenQ did pretty well because of its subsidiary AU Optronics Corp's (友達光電) speedy expansion," Liu said.

Hon Hai outperformed Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) last year and topped the list for revenues gained in China, at NT$517 billion, after China-bound investment by Taiwanese firms saw record growth in capital injection and net profits last year amid a slight decline in the growth of assets, revenues and newly opened subsidiaries compared with previous years.

"China is a must-go market for Taiwanese businesses, in particular for local retailers looking to boost growth," Liu said.