Uni-President Enterprises Co (統一企業) chairman Kao Ching-yuan (高清愿) yesterday tendered his resignation, handing over the reins to his son-in-law after decades at the top of the country’s food sector.
The 84-year-old Kao, who spent 46 years with the nation’s largest food company conglomerate, will still sit on the company’s board after resigning from the chairmanship, the company said in a statement.
Uni-President president Alex Lo (羅智先), 57, will assume the chairmanship as well as his current position at the company, which his father-in-law founded in 1967 in Greater Tainan’s Yongkang (永康).
Lo, who entered the company in 1985, took his current position in 2007 and is likely to keep the title of president until his tenure ends in 2016, he said at the company’s shareholders’ meeting earlier this year.
"We do not consider the management change as surprising but believe the new position will further empower Lo in enhancing the group’s operational efficiency and synergy among different group entities," Deutsche Bank analyst Joelian Tseng (曾慧瓊) said in a client note yesterday.
Uni-President’s chairmanship change, which took effect yesterday following a board meeting, came amid the latest food safety scare in Taiwan.
Several food manufacturers — including Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團) and Namchow Group (南僑集團) — have been questioned and inspected to determine whether their products contain the food additive copper chlorophyllin, which is banned from use in edible oil and noodle products because it results in oil oxidation upon heating, which can lead to liver and kidney damage if ingested.
Uni-President’s retailing subsidiaries Santa Cruz Organic Food (聖德科斯) and President Chain Store Corp (統一超商) have been ordered by local health regulators to take some of their products — including energy soup, green milk tea and cold noodles — off the shelves this week after they were found to contain copper chlorophyllin, rather than the natural chlorophyll listed on their packaging.
Uni-President yesterday said it expected the incident to have limited impact on its business and shareholders’ interests. It did not comment on whether there was a connection between its chairmanship change and the food safety issue.
Tseng said the incident would have limited impact on the company, given the small earnings contribution from those subsidiaries and the affected products.
With a portfolio ranging from instant noodle and beverage products, retailing and pharmaceuticals to property development and securities brokerage, Uni-President is one of the nation’s largest conglomerates.
In China, the company also has exposure in instant noodle and ready-to-drink tea and juice businesses through Uni-President China Holdings Ltd (統一中國控股) and Uni-President Southeast Asia Holdings Ltd.
Lo faces challenges to restructure the company and improve its profitability amid a tougher environment in its home market and in China, where competition is increasing, but consumption weakening.
Analysts say that the company needs to continue strengthening its brand image and enhancing product differentiation to adapt to the tougher environment.
Last year, Uni-President reported consolidated revenue of NT$427.52 billion (US$14.43 billion), up 10.2 percent from 2011, while net profit grew 31.3 percent year-on-year to NT$12.41 billion, or earnings per share of NT$2.41.
In the first three quarters this year, the company saw its net profit increase by an annual rate of 8.9 percent to NT$10.98 billion, or NT$2.13 per share. Consolidated revenue expanded 5.04 percent to NT$359.64 billion in the first 10 months from a year earlier, according to company filings to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Uni-President shares rose 0.93 percent to close at NT$54 yesterday on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
This story has been updated since it was first published.
Taiwan’s rapidly aging population is fueling a sharp increase in homes occupied solely by elderly people, a trend that is reshaping the nation’s housing market and social fabric, real-estate brokers said yesterday. About 850,000 residences were occupied by elderly people in the first quarter, including 655,000 that housed only one resident, the Ministry of the Interior said. The figures have nearly doubled from a decade earlier, Great Home Realty Co (大家房屋) said, as people aged 65 and older now make up 20.8 percent of the population. “The so-called silver tsunami represents more than just a demographic shift — it could fundamentally redefine the
Businesses across the global semiconductor supply chain are bracing themselves for disruptions from an escalating trade war, after China imposed curbs on rare earth mineral exports and the US responded with additional tariffs and restrictions on software sales to the Asian nation. China’s restrictions, the most targeted move yet to limit supplies of rare earth materials, represent the first major attempt by Beijing to exercise long-arm jurisdiction over foreign companies to target the semiconductor industry, threatening to stall the chips powering the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. They prompted US President Donald Trump on Friday to announce that he would impose an additional
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) said it expects peak season effects in the fourth quarter to continue to boost demand for passenger flights and cargo services, after reporting its second-highest-ever September sales on Monday. The carrier said it posted NT$15.88 billion (US$517 million) in consolidated sales last month, trailing only September last year’s NT$16.01 billion. Last month, CAL generated NT$8.77 billion from its passenger flights and NT$5.37 billion from cargo services, it said. In the first nine months of this year, the carrier posted NT$154.93 billion in cumulative sales, up 2.62 percent from a year earlier, marking the second-highest level for the January-September
Asian e-commerce giant Shein’s (希音) decision to set up shop in a historic Parisian department store has ruffled feathers in the fashion capital. Anger has been boiling since Shein announced last week that it would open its first permanent physical store next month at BHV Marais, an iconic building that has stood across from Paris City Hall since 1856. The move prompted some French brands to announce they would leave BHV Marais, but the department store had already been losing tenants over late payments. Aime cosmetics line cofounder Mathilde Lacombe, whose brand was among those that decided to leave following