Polyester fiber and plastics maker Shinkong Synthetic Fibers Corp (新光合成纖維) yesterday voiced optimism about its business outlook for this year, thanks to a stable global economic recovery.
“We also expect an ongoing capacity expansion project to drive growth momentum over the next three years,” Shinkong Synthetic chairman Eric Wu (吳東昇) told reporters after the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taipei.
As part of its upbeat outlook, the company said it is to expand its capacity for engineering plastics — which are widely used in the automotive industry — at a plant in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) in the third quarter.
Following the expansion, the annual capacity of engineering plastics is expected to increase from 50,000 tonnes to more than 60,000 tonnes, the company said.
Engineering plastics used in the manufacture of vehicles contributed nearly 5 percent to the company’s total revenue last year, according to company statistics.
As a major unit of the Shinkong Group (新光集團), the 50-year-old company also runs several plants in China and Thailand, company data showed.
Shareholders yesterday approved the company’s plan to distribute a NT$0.25 cash dividend per share this year, with a payout ratio of 54.3 percent.
With the company’s stock price closing at NT$8.99 yesterday in Taipei trading, the payout translates into a dividend yield of nearly 2.78 percent.
The company’s shares have declined 0.66 percent so far this year, underperforming the broader market’s 9.17 percent rise over the period, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
Last year, Shinkong Synthetic reported a net profit of NT$748.2 million (US$24.84 million), or earnings per share of NT$0.46, flat from the previous year.
Sales for all of last year fell 6.5 percent to NT$1.41 billion from NT$1.51 billion in 2015 due to relatively low oil prices and decreasing sales at one of its major subsidiaries, TacBright Optronics Corp (達輝光電), the company said.
TacBright Optronics is a producer and dealer of triacetyl cellulose optical films, a key material for making LCDs.
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
RISING: Strong exports, and life insurance companies’ efforts to manage currency risks indicates the NT dollar would eventually pass the 29 level, an expert said The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rallied to its strongest in three years amid inflows to the nation’s stock market and broad-based weakness in the US dollar. Exporter sales of the US currency and a repatriation of funds from local asset managers also played a role, said two traders, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. State-owned banks were seen buying the greenback yesterday, but only at a moderate scale, the traders said. The local currency gained 0.77 percent, outperforming almost all of its Asian peers, to close at NT$29.165 per US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday. The
RSS