Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), the nation’s largest financial services provider, yesterday said it made a net profit of NT$1.38 billion (US$47.3 million) last month, which meant revenue stayed flat from October, but went up nearly 7 percent from a year earlier.
In the first 11 months of the year, Cathay Financial posted a net profit of NT$15.57 billion, compared with a net profit of NT$11.69 billion a year earlier, thanks to higher first-year premiums from its flagship life insurance unit and rising fee incomes generated by its banking arm, the company said in an e-mail.
Based on the firm’s 10.87 billion issued shares, net profit for the first two months translated into NT$1.46 in earnings per share (EPS), compared with NT$1.13 for the same period last year, the firm said.
Among Cathay Financial’s major business units, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) posted the highest net profits for last month and the first 11 months with NT$940 million and NT$12.17 billion, or NT$2.33 per share, respectively.
Cathay Life Insurance Corp (國泰人壽), the nation’s largest life insurer, was second with profits of NT$390 million last month and NT$2.87 billion, or NT$0.54 per share, between January and last month, company data showed.
“Owing to the steady sales of insurance policies last month, Cathay Life saw its first-year premiums leading the industry, reaching NT$81.3 billion as of the end of last month,” the statement said.
Also yesterday, Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控) posted a net profit of NT$1.88 billion last month and NT$19.45 billion, or EPS of NT$1.77, for the first 11 months, a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed.
The company’s first 11 months results compared with the NT$17.76 billion, or NT$1.57 per share, it posted in the same period last year.
Chinatrust Financial attributed the 9.52 percent increase in net profit during the first 11 months to the continued earnings growth of its flagship banking unit, Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託商銀), which saw net profits expand 8.27 percent year-on-year to NT$17.15 billion, or NT$2.27 a share, over the same period.
State-run Hua Nan Financial Holdings Co (華南金控) yesterday said its earnings declined 56.24 percent to NT$3.12 billion last month from October, but net profit for the first 11 months rose by 7.57 percent year-on-year to NT$8.41 billion, or the equivalent of NT$0.98 per share, a company statement said.
Meanwhile, Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) posted a net loss of NT$462 million last month and a net profit of NT$10.13 billion, or EPS of NT$1.20, in the first 11 months, the company said in a separate stock exchange filing.
The company’s revenue from January to last month was driven mainly by its life insurance unit, Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽), which reported a net profit of NT$5.95 billion, the filing showed.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last