Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠), the nation’s largest plastics maker, yesterday elected president Wu Chia-chau (吳嘉昭) as its new chairman. Wu is due to take office on Monday.
He is also the chairman of Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), the nation’s top DRAM chipmaker and a subsidiary of Nan Ya.
“It is an honor and a great challenge to serve as the chairman of Nan Ya, and I will try my best to fulfill my duty,” Wu said by telephone.
PICKUP
He said the company’s outlook would improve in the second half of the year on a solid rebound in the global economy. He did not elaborate.
Nan Ya reported net profit of NT$6.94 billion (US$230 million) in the first quarter, up 541 percent from NT$1.02 billion a year ago, thanks to investment gains in Nanya Technology and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化).
The company is forecast to make a profit of NT$28.25 billion this year, up from NT$4.22 billion last year, Credit Suisse said in a note on June 6, citing Nanya Technology’s potential to break even this year.
Nanya Technology reported losses of NT$36.04 billion last year.
RETIRING
Outgoing chairman Wu Chin-jen (吳欽仁) has decided to retire after working at the Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團) for 48 years. He was among the first people to study naphtha cracking technology in Taiwan and helped build the group’s polyvinyl chloride factory in Texas in the US.
“My family needs me to spend more time with them,” he said on the sidelines of the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting.
Shareholders approved plans to distribute a cash dividend of NT$0.40 and a stock dividend of 1 percent, based on last year’s earnings of NT$4.22 billion, or NT$0.54 per share.
Nan Ya’s shares rose 2.09 percent to NT$58.70 yesterday, outperforming the TAIEX, which was down 0.45 percent.
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