The nation’s biggest solar cell maker, Motech Industries Inc (茂迪), expects to swing back to profit this quarter as demand recovers after some countries, such as the US and Japan, resumed subsidies for solar installations amid a recovering economy, a company executive said yesterday.
The strong rebound in the fourth quarter may help turn 2009 into a profitable year, Motech chief executive officer Norman Shen (沈楨林) told an investor conference.
“We believe Motech’s operation will improve significantly from next quarter after hitting the bottom in the second quarter,” Shen said. “The fourth quarter will be the best quarter this year in terms of sales and gross margin .... Factory utilization will be full.”
Japan, the US and European countries such as Germany and Italy would be the main growth areas as their governments recently decided to subsidize solar installations again, Shen said.
Motech accumulated losses of NT$389 million (US$11.95 million) in the first nine months of the year as prices plunged more than 60 percent year-on-year to about US$1.30 per watt because of overcapacity and dwindling demand.
Prices are forecast to stabilize over the next five quarters, Shen said.
Shen expects the recovery to carry over into next year and plans to boost production capacity to nearly 1 gigawatt next year, from 600 megawatts this year to cope with rising demand. That would mean an aggressive increase in capital spending from this year’s NT$3 billion.
Motech plans to raise funds for the expansion in the first half of next year, Shen said.
Local rival E-Tone Solar Tech Co Ltd (益通光能) shared Motech’s optimisim.
“I don’t see major negative factors ahead ... I believe drastic price declines will spur demand,” E-Tone financial executive Lo Lai-hwang (羅來煌) said.
Lo said US demand looked strong as the administration of US President Barack Obama pushed hard for a green energy policy.
E-Tone plans to spend NT$1.5 billion to build new two new production lines next year, which will boost capacity by about 37 percent to 440 megawatts next year. Its estimated capital spending for this year is NT$1.62 billion.
The company expects quarterly earnings to grow further this quarter after returning to the black in the third quarter, during which it earned NT$85.38 million.
On a full-year basis, however, it expects to remain in the red, with cumulative losses in the first nine months reaching NT$564 million.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
RSS