Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團), the nation’s largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday said net profits of its four main companies grew 46.8 percent last year from the previous year, on the back of robust demand for petrochemical products.
The group’s four major units — Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPCC, 台塑石化), Formosa Plastics Corp (台灣塑膠), Formosa Chemicals and Fibre Corp (台灣化學纖維) and Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠) — last year saw their combined net income reach NT$207.7 billion (US$6.5 billion), with total sales dropping 8.9 percent to NT$1.32 trillion from the previous year.
FPCC, the nation’s only listed oil refiner, posted the highest earnings growth among the four major units.
The oil refiner reported a 60.1 percent year-on-year rise in net profits of NT$75.7 billion, while sales dropped 13.2 percent annually to NT$546.1 billion.
Company officials attributed the performance to higher utilization rates and favorable product mixes, saying that falling international oil prices did not hurt the group’s annual profitability.
International crude oil prices last year slid by US$9.60 per barrel from the previous year, dragging down FPCC’s product prices by an average of US$12.30 per barrel, FPCC president Tsao Minh (曹明) said at a joint earnings conference in Taipei yesterday.
Commenting on its sales outlook for this year, Formosa Plastics chairman Jason Lin (林健男) said that he expects sales momentum to pick up after the Lunar New Year holiday lull, due to improving utilization rates.
Formosa Plastics, the group’s flagship company, is targeting an average utilization rate of 90 percent for this year, compared with last year’s 87 percent, Lin told reporters.
“The pace of recovery in the global economy remains stable and we hope to expand into the Indian and African market’s this year,” he added.
Nan Ya Plastics chairman Wu Chia-chau (吳嘉昭) also gave a positive sales outlook for this year, saying that soaring demand for copper foil would benefit the company’s revenue in the near term.
Growing demand for electric vehicles will continue to boost demand for copper foil, as the material is a crucial component for manufacturers of electric cars, Wu said.
“Nan Ya’s net profit [for last year] was mainly supported by electric material-related business,” he added.
The other three units also reported an increase in aggregate net profits last year.
Formosa Plastics, the nation’s largest producer of polyvinyl chloride, reported a 27.1 percent annual increase in net income last year to NT$39.3 billion while sales declined 5.9 percent annually to NT$180.2 billion.
Formosa Chemicals, which produces aromatics and styrenics, reported a net profit of NT$43.9 billion, representing a 59.1 percent year-on-year increase, while aggregate sales declined 3.1 percent to NT$319.2 billion.
Nan Ya Plastics, the nation’s largest plastics maker, saw its net profits reach NT$48.8 billion last year, up 36.6 percent from a year earlier, with sales dropping 8.2 percent to NT$275.3 billion.
FPG said it would give its about 30,000 employees bonuses equal to six times their monthly salary this year, as the four major companies reported earnings of NT$7.84 billion on average last year.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, booked its first-ever profit from its Arizona subsidiary in the first half of this year, four years after operations began, a company financial statement showed. Wholly owned by TSMC, the Arizona unit contributed NT$4.52 billion (US$150.1 million) in net profit, compared with a loss of NT$4.34 billion a year earlier, the statement showed. The company attributed the turnaround to strong market demand and high factory utilization. The Arizona unit counts Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc among its major customers. The firm’s first fab in Arizona began high-volume production
VOTE OF CONFIDENCE: The Japanese company is adding Intel to an investment portfolio that includes artificial intelligence linchpins Nvidia Corp and TSMC Softbank Group Corp agreed to buy US$2 billion of Intel Corp stock, a surprise deal to shore up a struggling US name while boosting its own chip ambitions. The Japanese company, which is adding Intel to an investment portfolio that includes artificial intelligence (AI) linchpins Nvidia Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), is to pay US$23 a share — a small discount to Intel’s last close. Shares of the US chipmaker, which would issue new stock to Softbank, surged more than 5 percent in after-hours trading. Softbank’s stock fell as much as 5.4 percent on Tuesday in Tokyo, its
The prices of gasoline and diesel at domestic fuel stations are to rise NT$0.1 and NT$0.4 per liter this week respectively, after international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to rise to NT$27.3, NT$28.8 and NT$30.8 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to rise to NT$26.2 per liter at CPC stations and NT$26 at Formosa pumps, they said. The announcements came after international crude oil prices
SETBACK: Apple’s India iPhone push has been disrupted after Foxconn recalled hundreds of Chinese engineers, amid Beijing’s attempts to curb tech transfers Apple Inc assembly partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has recalled about 300 Chinese engineers from a factory in India, the latest setback for the iPhone maker’s push to rapidly expand in the country. The extraction of Chinese workers from the factory of Yuzhan Technology (India) Private Ltd, a Hon Hai component unit, in southern Tamil Nadu state, is the second such move in a few months. The company has started flying in Taiwanese engineers to replace staff leaving, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named, as the
RSS