Shares of Iron Force Industrial Co (劍麟), a major Taiwanese maker of clothes hangers and parts for airbags and seat belts, rose 18.49 percent yesterday on their Taiwan Stock Exchange debut, thanks to positive outlooks for the car and garment industries.
Iron Force’s shares closed at NT$86.5, more than its initial public offering (IPO) price of NT$73.
This year, it is likely to maintain the 7.45 percent revenue growth recorded from January through last month, but raise growth to 10 percent next year, company president Hank Huang (黃正忠) said after the company’s IPO ceremony.
As of last month, revenue totaled NT$2.55 billion (US$86.18 million), up from NT$2.37 billion year-on-year, according to the company’s stock filing.
The company’s clothes hanger and display fixture division, which accounts for 40 percent of its revenue, will start to supply products to Hennes & Mauritz AB’s new H&M shops in Asia next year, in line with the customer’s expansion in the region, company vice general manager Han Yu (游孟翰) said.
Sales to Hennes & Mauritz AB currently make up 12 percent of its revenue, Yu added.
Next year, Iron Force will gain a new big customer, Industria de Diseno Textil SA, which owns the Zara brand, Yu said.
Iron Force’s seat belt and airbag parts division, which generate 60 percent of company revenue, will also see steady growth, as more and more car makers install airbags and seat belts in their new cars, Yu said.
As a global tier-two auto parts supplier, Iron Force sells its seat belt and airbag parts to tier-one peers including Autoliv Inc, TRW Automotive Holdings Corp and Takata Corp, which assemble airbags and seat belts, and ship their products to major carmakers around the world.
The Taiwanese company commands a 12 percent market share in the world’s airbag inflator market and a 15 percent market share in high-precision metal tubes for seatbelt retractors and pretensioner systems, Iron Force said.
For the first three quarters, the company reported profits of NT$250.56 million, translating into NT$3.85 earnings per share, jumping 27.2 percent from NT$196.98 million, or NT$3.24 a share a year earlier, the filing showed.
Gross margin picked up as the company enlarged its economies of scale across product lines, Yu said.
The company raised NT$487.06 million by issuing 6.67 million shares yesterday, with the proceeds to be used to expand capacity, strengthen capital and repay loans.
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