Wisdom Marine Lines Co (慧洋海運), which owns and operates a fleet of 50 vessels, said it would file an initial public offering application in the third quarter on the local bourse.
The Cayman Islands-registered shipping company has since November asked Masterlink Securities Corp (元富證券) to underwrite its listing plan and expects to complete the application process early next year, company spokesman Bruce Hsueh (薛亦駿) said by telephone.
Despite the global downturn, the bulk carrier recently signed a letter of intent with state-run CSBC Corp, Taiwan (CSBC, 台灣國際造船) to build two Panamax 930,000-tonne cargo ships to expand its fleet.
Hsueh attributed the move to the company’s somewhat more positive outlook, while other firms have adopted a conservative strategy before a concrete recovery.
“We opted to expand because the opportunity presented itself,” Hsueh said.
“For one thing, shipbuilding costs are much lower and many Japanese vessel owners are seeking partnerships with us,” he said.
Shipbuilding costs reportedly shrank 30 percent during the economic downturn, though Hsueh declined to reveal exact figures.
On July 17, Wisdom chairman James Lan (藍俊昇) told reporters on the sidelines of a CSBC event that his company would likely add two bulkers if the state-run shipbuilder were able to meet the order.
The company hopes to expand the fleet to 70 vessels in two or three years, Lan said.
The shipping company, founded in 1999, posted revenues of NT$3.53 billion (US$1.7 million) last year, up 22 percent from a year earlier.
After-tax profits stood at NT$1.48 billion last year, or NT$7.42 in earnings per share (EPS).
Lan said EPS had reached NT$5 for the first six months and was expected to rise to NT$8 at the end of the year, helping double the company’s market capitalization to NT$4.4 billion.
Wisdom emerged from the global financial crisis unscathed in the first quarter because long-term charter contracts, which account for 75 percent of the company’s operations, were unaffected, Hsueh said.
The company’s bulkers also performed satisfactorily, he said, adding that Wisdom intends to increase the proportion of its self-run business.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”