The Far Eastern Group (遠東集團), a local conglomerate whose interests include textiles, cement and retail, expects earnings to grow to NT$100 billion (US$3.37 billion) this year, backed by rising demand at home and in China, chairman Douglas Hsu (徐旭東) said yesterday.
That would mean a 10.7 percent increase from a five-year high of NT$90.3 billion in net profit the group made last year, according to a financial statement released by the group.
The group held an investor conference yesterday, with seven member companies participating, including the nation’s biggest textile company, Far Eastern Textile Co (遠東紡織). It was the first time they have held a joint conference since 2005.
Group revenue grew 13 percent from a year earlier to NT$547.2 billion last year, its financial statement showed.
BIG OPPORTUNITIES
“Far Eastern is ready to embrace large business opportunities brought by the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) as the group has a leading position in the Chinese market,” Hsu said.
After years of deployment, the group would benefit from the opportunities arising from China’s new five-year economic development plan, which runs until 2015, Hsu said.
Hsu said he was optimistic about the group’s vertical integration in the petrochemicals and textile industries in Taiwan and China mainly through two member firms — upstream monoethylene glycol (MEG) producer Oriental Union Chemical Corp (東聯化學) and downstream textile maker Far Eastern New Century Corp (遠東新世紀).
As demand for textiles remains strong, Far Eastern New Century is planning to expand its capacity this year, while Oriental Union will keep developing Bio-MEG to cope with rising demand and gain from rising prices, Hsu said. He did not provide capacity expansion details.
Cement is another industry where the group has been expanding in China, with contributions from members Asia Cement Corp (亞洲水泥) and Asia Cement (China) Holdings Corp (亞泥中國).
The group expects to leverage off its leading position in select regions in China to become one of the nation’s top 10 cement companies, Hsu said.
RETAIL GROWTH
It also expects its retail operations, which includes Far Eastern Department Stores (遠東百貨), Pacific Sogo Department Store (太平洋崇光百貨) and Far Eastern Geant Co (愛買), to expand their bases in Taiwan and in second-tier cities in China, Hsu said.
“Since domestic consumption in Taiwan and China has rebounded on the back of the economic recovery and the government’s encouraging policy, the profitability of Far Eastern’s retail sector can benefit from its multiple-brand strategies,” Hsu said.
Hsu expected Far Eastern to become Taiwan’s biggest department store group by the end of next year, with full-year turnover beating Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store (新光三越百貨).
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],”