Chailease Holding Co Ltd (中租控股) yesterday said net income for last year grew by 16 percent year-on-year to NT$6.83 billion (US$218.34 million), mainly on the back of rising asset values and expansion in Taiwan and China.
That translates into earnings per share of NT$6.23 for last year, marking the highest level since the company listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange in 2012.
Chailease, a major leasing, financing and installments service provider, has large-scale operations in Taiwan, China and Thailand.
The company attributed its growth in profitability last year to expansion in its solar energy plant and ship leasing businesses in Taiwan, as well as its strategy of accelerating expansion in China, the company said in a statement.
“Taiwan and China will remain the company’s growth engines for this year,” Chailease said in the statement. “Growth of portfolio assets in China is expected to surpass that in Taiwan.”
Chailease consolidated sales totaled NT$34.62 billion last year, an increase of 13.85 percent from 2013, according to the company’s filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
At a conference call hosted by Deutsche Bank AG in Taipei, the company’s management set a 15 percent portfolio growth target for this year, driven mainly by further expansion into new businesses, including solar energy plants and aircraft leasing, Deutsche Bank research analysts Pandora Lee (李懿璇) and Jacky Zuo said in a research note issued on Jan. 16.
The firm’s operations in China might climb between 20 percent and 25 percent this year to be the major growth driver, with the company’s management planning to raise provisions from 3 percent to 4 percent of loans, the analysts said.
However, Chailease said this does not imply a potential asset quality concern, as a more prudent provisioning policy will raise coverage in China to be in line with that of its Taiwan portfolio, according to the note.
However, operations in Thailand are expected to remain weak this year, with only 5 percent to 10 percent portfolio growth, the note indicated.
Shares in Chailease rose 0.39 percent to close at NT$76.7 yesterday in Taipei trading, underperforming the TAIEX’s 1.08 percent increase, stock exchange data showed.
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