Newly merged Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子), the nation’s largest LCD panel maker by capacity, yesterday reported a first-quarter profit of NT$3.39 billion (US$108 million).
Chimei Innolux is the product of a merger on March 18 between Innolux Display Corp (群創光電), Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) and TPO Display Corp (統寶光電), with Innolux Display as the surviving company.
The first-quarter figures comprise Innolux Display’s stand-alone results prior to the merger, and results from the three-way-merger from March 18.
Consolidated results of all three companies in the first quarter showed losses of NT$1.72 billion, an improvement from losses of NT$24.05 billion in the same period last year.
Combined revenues in the first quarter reached NT$136.5 billion, compared with NT$77.58 billion in the same period last year.
Smaller rival Chunghwa Picture Tubes Inc (中華映管) yesterday also reported its smallest quarterly loss in six quarters as prices rebounded amid recovering demand.
Losses shrank to NT$2.99 billion in the first quarter, compared with losses of NT$11.13 billion in the same period last year and losses of NT$11.92 billion in the final quarter of last year.
Chunghwa Picture president Lin Sheng-chang (林盛昌) said demand could weaken slightly this quarter, followed by a panel supply constraint in the second half of the year.
Small LCD panel maker Hannstar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶) yesterday said first-quarter losses shrank to NT$891 million from losses of NT$4.92 billion a year ago and losses of NT$6.3 billion in the fourth quarter of last year.
Gross margin rose to 4 percent, from minus 62 percent in the first quarter of last year, as prices rebounded nearly 20 percent, it said.
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.
Hong Kong authorities ramped up sales of the local dollar as the greenback’s slide threatened the foreign-exchange peg. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) sold a record HK$60.5 billion (US$7.8 billion) of the city’s currency, according to an alert sent on its Bloomberg page yesterday in Asia, after it tested the upper end of its trading band. That added to the HK$56.1 billion of sales versus the greenback since Friday. The rapid intervention signals efforts from the city’s authorities to limit the local currency’s moves within its HK$7.75 to HK$7.85 per US dollar trading band. Heavy sales of the local dollar by
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
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