Two of five state-owned enterprises under the Ministry of Economic Affairs reported losses in the first half of this year, with deficits totalling NT$3.7 billion (US$935.6 million), the ministry’s State-Owned Enterprise Commission said.
The commission’s tally released on Friday showed that both Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) and Taiwan Water Corp (台灣自來水) reported a total of NT$23.6 billion in pre-tax losses during the first six months of this year, while the three other state companies made profits of NT$19.9 billion overall.
With rising fuel costs, Taipower saw a loss of NT$44 million last month and a total of NT$23.26 billion in losses for the first six months of this year, the company and commission data showed.
The first-half loss was higher than the government’s targeted NT$13.4 billion and compared with a loss of NT$12.6 billion for the same period last year, the data showed.
Taiwan Water remained NT$343 million in the red for the first half of the year despite cost control measures, the commission said, the loss deriving from expenses on rice farming compensations and irrigation management fees.
The profitable firms were CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 中油), which posted a pre-tax profit of NT$10.54 billion; Taiwan Sugar Corp (台糖), which reported a pre-tax profit of NT$8.82 billion; and Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (漢翔), which posted a pre-tax profit of NT$542 million.
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