Farglory Land Development Co (遠雄建設), a major construction company, aims to launch new housing projects totaling NT$70 billion (US$2.34 billion) this year as the market emerges from unfavorable policy measures, company chairman Chao Teng-hsiung (趙藤雄) said.
The figure suggests a more aggressive business approach for the rest of the year now that the economy is showing a steady recovery and the disruptions of the special sales levy and the price-registration measure stabilize.
“The target of NT$70 billion is the highest in the company’s history,” Chao told a public function in Taipei on Friday.
Chao attributed his optimism to expectations that the housing market will recover faster in the second half of the year and the company’s products will outperform those of rival developers.
Farglory Land Development has joined forces with Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) and Panasonic Taiwan Co (台灣松下電器) in developing residential and office buildings equipped with the latest technology infrastructure facilities, Chao said.
In the second half, the builder intends to introduce new construction plans valued at NT$30 billion in Taipei’s Beitou and Neihu districts, New Taipei City’s (新北市) Hsinchih (汐止) and Jhonghe (中和) districts, as well as Taoyuan and Hsinchu counties.
Farglory Land Development rolled out NT$20 billion worth of new construction in Neihu, New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District (新莊), Jhonghe and Taoyuan County in the first six months of this year.
The land developer is a member of Farglory Group. The group also owns Farglory Life Insurance Co (遠雄人壽), Farglory Hotel (遠雄悅來飯店), the Farglory Free Trade Zone (遠雄自由貿易港區), Taiwan Solar Energy Corp (元晶太陽能) and Golden Biotechnology Corp (國鼎生物科技).
Farglory Development is also eyeing markets overseas.
The company is working with a foreign sovereign fund to develop commercial and residential properties in Abu Dhabi, Chao said, adding the project may be put on the market in September.
Meanwhile, Farglory Development continues to increase its land inventory by NT$10 billion a year, with about NT$400 billion worth of land on hand, Chao said.
The company is also interested in the superfices right for a land plot measuring more than 10,000 ping (33,000m2) in Neihu that the Taipei City Government intends to turn into a high-tech office building complex.
To win the contract, Farglory Development has entered into an alliance with Chunghwa Telecom, the world’s top manufacturer of switching power supplies, Delta Electronics Inc (台達電), contract PC maker Inventec Corp (英業達) and anti-virus maker Trend Micro Inc (趨勢科技), because the complex is intended to house 400 companies in the cloud-computing industry, Farglory Group vice president Tsai Chung-i (蔡宗易) said.
For the first six months, Farglory Development posted NT$12.74 billion in pre-tax income, rising 2.25 times from the same period last year, company data showed.
Shares in the builder ended down 0.7 percent to NT$57.1 on Friday, better than the TAIEX’s 1.62 percent fall, according to Taiwan Stock Exchange data.
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