FOOTWEAR
Fulgent profit jumps 22%
Fulgent Sun Group (鈺齊國際), which manufactures outdoor shoes made of waterproof and breathable fabric like Gore-Tex, yesterday reported first-quarter net income of NT$170 million (US$5.22 million), up 22 percent from a year earlier, with earnings per share of NT$1.31. The company, which also supplies athletic footwear, said sales in the first quarter totaled NT$2.47 billion, down from NT$2.52 billion in the same period last year. Revenue from its China operation contributed 52 percent to its total sales, while revenue from Cambodia and Vietnam operations accounted for the remaining 48 percent. Fulgent said it is positive about its business outlook for this quarter.
INSURANCE
Embedded value rises
China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽) yesterday released its embedded value for last year, with the figure estimated to have grown 15.1 percent year-on-year to NT$183.6 billion, or NT$55 per share. The embedded value refers to the insurer’s present value of future profits at NT$102.3 billion plus adjusted net asset value of NT$81.3 billion, China Life said. The company also reported net profit of NT$3.64 billion for the first four months of this year, or earnings per share of NT$1.09.
EQUITIES
Listed firms’ profits down
Companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange reported declines in both profit and revenue for the first quarter, the Financial Supervisory Commission said yesterday, attributing the fall to industry headwinds and a relatively higher comparison base last year. Listed companies’ pre-tax profits totaled NT$347 billion in the first three months, down 21.05 percent from NT$439.5 billion a year earlier because of poor results in the semiconductor, optoelectronics and shipping sectors. Their January-to-March revenue decreased 5.69 percent year-on-year to NT$5.93 trillion, the commission said in a statement. As for companies trading on the Taipei Exchange, their pre-tax profits rose 13.87 percent year-on-year to NT$27.1 billion in the first three months, it said.
TECHNOLOGY
Lenovo misses forecasts
Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) yesterday reported profit for the three months ended March that missed analysts’ estimates as it struggled to revive the Motorola smartphone brand and the PC market continued to slide. Net income was US$180 million in the quarter, up from US$100 million a year earlier, Beijing-based Lenovo said in a filing. That compares with the US$184.9 million average of analyst projections compiled by Bloomberg. Sales dropped to US$9.13 billion in the quarter from US$11.3 billion a year earlier, the company said.
COMMUNICATIONS
Smart solutions launched
Acer Inc (宏碁) and Chunghwa Telecom Co (CHT, 中華電信) yesterday jointly launched smart office communication network solutions to tap into the domestic commercial market. Acer said its abPBX solutions, powered by CHT’s CS210 communication software, integrate Acer’s touch-screen desktop telephones with users’ mobile devices in a move to raise enterprise operational efficiency and cut communication costs. Acer said the solutions also provide enterprises a one-stop service, from planning to building, integrating and maintaining an office communication network system. The two companies also plan to expand their reach to the European and Southeast Asian markets in the next three years.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the