China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽) said it made a record net profit of NT$2.22 billion (US$76.4 million), or NT$1.3 earnings per share (EPS), in the first quarter, according to a statement to the stock exchange yesterday.
The Taipei-based insurer said the first-quarter earnings, up 269 percent from NT$602 million a year earlier, was attributable to higher investment returns, lower foreign exchange hedging risks and better cost control measures.
Its first-quarter EPS was higher than that of Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), which leads the local financial holding firms in the quarter with an EPS of NT$1.2.
China Life said investment returns reached NT$6.68 billion in the first quarter, up 48 percent from NT$4.52 billion a year earlier.
“The company invested in long-maturity bonds when interest rates were beginning to rebound from the low levels, which helped increase interest incomes,” China Life president Kuo Yu-ling (郭瑜玲) said in the filing on the increase in investment returns.
China Life’s new premium incomes grew 41 percent year-on-year to NT$20.5 billion in the first three months, with overall premium incomes expanding 22 percent to NT$33.4 billion, the filing showed.
The company’s board also approved a proposal to issue up to 300 million new shares through domestic or overseas offers, or private placement, or a combination, according to a separate filing.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
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