Enterex International Ltd (英瑞國際), an auto radiator manufacturer, plans to further penetrate the European market this year while seeking to diversify its export markets.
“We hope to raise Enterex’s product awareness in Europe by first cooperating with international distributors to meet local customers’ needs,” chairman and president Windsor Wong (翁文鍾) told an investors’ conference in Taipei on Friday.
Tainan-headquartered Enterex, which was incorporated in the Cayman Islands, distributes many of its products to North America. It has a distribution center in Texas and two production bases, one in China and the other in Cambodia.
During the first half of this year, the 32-year-old company saw its net profit surge 177 percent to NT$249 million (US$7.86 million) from a year ago, or earnings per share of NT$2.52, compared with NT$0.89 during the same period last year.
Aggregate sales in the first half of the year increased 14.51 percent to NT$2.96 billion on a yearly basis.
Gross margin was 34.34 percent in the first half, compared with 32.26 percent for the same period last year, while operating margin expanded by more than 6 percentage points to 5.96 percent.
In the first six months, North America contributed 85 percent of the firm’s total revenue, while sales from China and Europe accounted for 9 percent and 7 percent respectively, company data showed.
To diversify risks and sustain growth, Enterex said that it intended to expand business in Europe and then in China.
As for the company’s capital expenditures this year, Wong said Enterex has invested US$20 million in a new plant in Cambodia because of that nation’s low labor costs and tariff rates.
The new plant began trial production last month and it is to produce brazed radiators and mechanical bonded radiators for the European market, he said, adding that the company is considering expanding the plant’s capacity next year.
The company said it hopes to win a bigger share of the Chinese market by providing original equipment manufacturing components for Chinese car brands.
Enterex said it has produced items for Beijing Automotive Group Co, Ltd (北京汽車) and is hoping to work with Guangzhou Automobile Group Co (廣州汽車) and Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd (吉利汽車).
“In the long term, we hope to lower our sales contribution from North America to about 30 percent of total revenue, while raising the contributions from China and Europe to 30 and 40 percent respectively,” Wong said.
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