Nonwoven fabrics maker Nan Liu Enterprise Co (南六) yesterday said sales increased 26.7 percent last month from a year ago, as the company shipped more surgical drapes and wet wipes to its clients.
The company forecast that sales would continue increasing this month to exceed NT$400 million (US$13.4 million) from last month’s NT$380.35 million and NT$357 million in July, because the company is aiming to make this quarter’s sales higher than last quarter’s NT$1.2 billion.
“The revenue growth for last month was due to our increasing production capacity of surgical drapes and wet wipes in both Taiwan and China, which enables us to satisfy our clients’ rising demand,” Chuang Chun-chin (莊春金), a fiscal department manager, said by telephone.
Chuang said the production level of the company’s new factory in Zhejiang Province, China, is gradually expanding and will make a significant contribution to Nan Liu’s revenue next quarter.
The new factory is capable of manufacturing 1,500 tonnes of spun-lace nonwoven a month, and the company will change other production lines for spun-lace nonwoven into manufacturing surgical drapes and gowns, according to Fubon Securities Co (富邦證券).
According to Fubon’s latest report issued last month, the company’s spun-lace nonwoven production capacity will increase by 70 percent after the adjustment, and its shipments of surgical drape and gowns will increase by 150 percent this year.
Sales of wet wipes were 37 percent of the company’s sales, while surgical drapes and gowns were 10 percent, according to KGI Securities Co (凱基證券).
Sales of spunlace nonwoven account for 31 percent of the company’s revenue, while thermal bond nonwoven account for 16 percent, KGI Securities said.
It added that sales of facial masks account for 6 percent.
From January through to last month, the company’s revenue totaled NT$2.9 billion, up 21.89 percent from NT$2.38 billion a year ago, according to the company’s filing.
Fubon Securities forecast that Nan Liu’s sales would be NT$1.28 billion and NT$1.52 billion this quarter and next quarter, respectively, up from NT$1.19 billion the previous quarter, according to its report issued on Aug. 19.
“Surgical drapes and gowns have high gross margin, and the rising proportion of the company’s sales of surgical drapes and gowns will help the company’s gross margin,” Fubon Securities said.
Nan Liu’s shares rose 4.55 percent to NT$149.5 yesterday.
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
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the