Chailease Holding Co Ltd (中租控股), the nation’s top leasing services provider, yesterday gave an upbeat outlook on earnings for the rest of this year, citing growth recovery in China and increased contributions from ASEAN markets.
The company reported that net income last quarter rose 33 percent annually to NT$2.16 billion (US$71.37 million), or earnings per share of NT$1.89.
Returns on assets and returns on equity also improved to 3.1 percent and 22 percent respectively, up from 2.5 percent and 19 percent a year earlier, the company said.
Net profit contribution from China last quarter rose 70 percent annually and 76 percent quarterly to NT$818 million, as the company reduced general provisions with more stringent loan approvals, it said, adding that delinquency eased to 4.7 percent from 4.9 percent in the previous quarter.
During the period, delinquent loan allowances dipped from NT$3.51 billion to NT$3.44 billion, which pushed the allowance-to-loan portfolio ratio from 4.8 percent to 4.9 percent as new loans growth accelerated, Chailease said.
There would be limited effects amid concerns about increasing capital costs in China following a deleveraging campaign in that nation’s financial sector, it said.
The company, which saw funding costs last quarter rise from 4.23 percent to 4.33 percent, said that Chinese banks have been raising loan prices and seeking more profitable clients as a limit on loan book expansion came into effect.
However, the effects would be limited, as the company can still find comparable loan terms from a selection of 20 to 30 Chinese banks that it has been working with, it said.
Most of its funds are sourced from syndicated loans, which are less affected by deleveraging, it said.
At home, the company reported that net income rose 9 percent quarterly as well as annually to NT$1.35 billion.
However, the delinquency rate rose to 4 percent last quarter from 3.6 percent in the previous quarter, the company said, adding that the figure is manageable.
The increased delinquency was because of an across-the-board weakening and the decline is not attributable to any particular industry, it said.
Meanwhile, net income contribution from ASEAN last quarter rose 12 percent annually to NT$188 million, but dipped 8 percent on a quarterly basis, the company said.
During the period, Vietnam and Malaysia showed the fastest growth, while Thailand saw slower expansion, the company said.
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
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”