THI Global Holdings Corp (台驊國際投資控股), a freight-forwarder and logistics operator, plans to extend its business-to-customer (B2C) operations in China this year by seeking merger and acquisition opportunities with Chinese electronics commerce players and warehousing and shipping companies.
“The company aims to enter the last-mile shipping market [in China] through either merger and acquisitions or by forming a strategic alliance with Chinese players,” THI chairman David Yen (顏益財) told a media briefing yesterday after the company’s annual general meeting.
THI said late last year that it would acquire a Shanghai-based warehousing and logistics firm.
Yen said the two sides are to sign a contract to complete the deal in the third quarter.
Yen said one or two deals with Chinese e-commerce, warehousing and shipping companies might be confirmed within three months as the company seeks other opportunities to expand its business-to-customer operations.
Yen said THI’s major subsidiary in China — Shanghai Yaohwa International Forwarder Co Ltd (上海耀驊國際貨運代理) — turned profitable last year, with THI to build Yaohwa into a holding company with a view to become listed on China’s New Third Board.
Compared with container shippers and airlines, Yen said freight forwarders might see relatively steady profitability amid sluggish industry sentiment, with THI’s business in the second quarter expected to grow from the first quarter.
THI posted net profit of NT$45.53 million (US$1.47 million), or NT$0.43 per share, in the first three months of the year, nearly tripling from NT$13.26 million, or NT$0.15 per share, a year earlier, company data showed.
Shareholders yesterday approved THI’s plan to distribute a cash dividend of NT$1.456 per share and a stock dividend of 3.639 percent, based on its net profit of NT$198.52 million, or NT$2.2 per share, last year.
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