Apparel manufacturer Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽實業) yesterday reported a 2.25 percent year-on-year decline in its pretax profit for the first four months of this year, citing lower profit margin.
From January through last month, pretax profit fell to NT$573.17 million (US$19.24 million), or NT$3.4 per share, from NT$586.37 million a year ago, the company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Revenue increased 3.81 percent to NT$5.65 billion in the first four months, from NT$5.44 billion in the same period of last year, the filing said.
“The rising cotton prices and higher wages in China and Southeast Asia put pressure on our profits,” Makalot public relations manager Mavis Chiu (邱美惠) said by telephone.
Chiu said the company’s sales volume for this quarter would be higher than a year ago and that the company plans to negotiate with its clients about raising prices by next month.
Meanwhile, local rival Eclat Textile Co (儒鴻) last week reported revenue of NT$4.56 billion in the first four months, up 21.67 percent from NT$3.75 billion a year ago.
Profit in the first three months was NT$591.52 million, up 0.36 percent from NT$589.42 million a quarter ago and up 53.7 percent from NT$384.84 million a year ago.
Eclat vice president Roger Lo (羅仁傑) attributed the growth to its move to develop new products and acquire new customers.
“In the fashion business, we need to develop new products constantly, which will make us more competitive than our peers,” Lo said.
Eclat’s new production lines are expected to reach full utilization by the end of next year, which will boost the company’s revenue next year, he said.
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