Food and retail conglomerate Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業) yesterday said it plans to focus on selling high-priced instant noodles in China in a bid to find a niche amid fierce market competition there.
The Tainan-based firm sells instant noodles and beverages in China through its Hong Kong-listed subsidiary, Uni-President China Holdings Ltd (統一中國控股).
Revenue generated by instant noodles makes up nearly 30 percent of Uni-President China’s total sales, while the beverage business contributes 60 percent, company statistics showed.
“We will put more efforts into the promotion of the Expert of Soup (湯達人) and Man Han Feast (滿漢大餐) series in China,” Uni-President chairman Alex Lo (羅智先) told reporters after an investors’ conference in Taipei.
Average selling prices of Expert of Soup and Man Han Feast are about 5 yuan (US$0.75) and 18 yuan respectively, compared with 2.5 yuan for many low-priced instant noodles in the Chinese market.
Lo said Uni-President China would target a specific demographic under the new strategy, rather than trying to grab a broader share of China’s massive market.
However, the company faces other challenges, such as rapid changes in China’s food industry, he said.
For example, it could become more difficult for the company to find workers for entry-level positions as China’s labor force is expected to start shrinking in the next few years, Lo said.
“Uni-President China needs to rethink its strategies every three to five years in response to structural changes in China,” he added.
Uni-President China on Tuesday posted a net profit of 570 million yuan for the first half of this year, a decline of 26.5 percent from 775 million yuan a year earlier.
The latest figure translated into earnings per share of 0.13 yuan, compared with 0.18 yuan a year earlier, company data showed.
In the first six months of the year, Uni-President China saw revenue decline 7.1 percent to 10.89 billion yuan from 11.7 billion yuan, due mainly to intense competition in China.
Gross margin declined by 3.3 percentage points to 33.6 percent over the period, which the company attributed to increasing raw material prices and its ongoing restructuring plans.
Uni-President Enterprises — which also has several Taiwan-listed subsidiaries, including President Chain Store Corp (統一超商) and Ton Yi Industrial Corp (統一實業) — also released its latest financial statements yesterday.
Net profit in the first half inched up 0.8 percent annually to NT$9.18 billion (US$302.4 million), or earnings per share of NT$1.61, while sales fell 7.24 percent to NT$196.2 billion, the company said.
As Google expands its footprint in Taiwan, it plans to recruit software and hardware talent for its Google Nest smart device team, a chip development team, and teams to support its Pixel and Chromebook products, Google Taiwan said yesterday. Supply chain management talent will also be in demand, the company said at an online event. “There will always be openings for software engineers, hardware engineers and project managers,” Google Taiwan human resources head Vanessa Lu (呂亞樵) said. “The strength of the Taiwanese industry is very clear,” Lu said, adding that the company would continue to invest in Taiwan. Lu also doused some
Apple Inc’s iPhone 13 debut was met with a stock slump on Tuesday, keeping with a tradition of poor share price performance on the day new devices are unveiled. Shares of the technology giant sank after Apple executives, including chief executive officer Tim Cook, presented the new lineup of phones and other devices. The stock fell 1 percent to close at US$148.12 in New York trading. Prior to Tuesday, Apple’s shares fell on three-quarters of the days Apple unveiled new iPhones, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. Excluding Apple’s 8.3 percent rally on the day cofounder Steve Jobs announced the first iPhone in
BEATING SCHEDULE: Government plans are for nacelle assemblies to be totally local from next year, but Orsted Taiwan said that it was going ‘above and beyond’ Wind turbine manufacturer Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA yesterday inaugurated Taiwan’s first nacelle assembly plant at the Port of Taichung, its first assembly facility for offshore nacelles outside Europe. Vice Premier Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津), a long-time champion of Taiwan’s ambitions to become a regional hub in the offshore wind farm industry, described the plant as a “milestone” at a ceremony at the plant. “The completion of Siemens Gamesa’s nacelle assembly plant is a milestone for the development of the offshore wind farm industry in Taiwan and a step toward localizing the supply chain,” Shen said. “This is only the beginning. My great hope
GOING PUBLIC: A merger with Poema Global Holdings should double Gogoro’s value to US$2.35 billion, as it rejects local markets to compete with global vehicle brands Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), an electric scooter maker and a battery swapping system provider, yesterday said it targets to launch an initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq via a merger with the special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Poema Global Holdings Corp in the first quarter next year. The combination would set Gogoro’s enterprise value at US$2.35 billion, more than doubling the US$1 billion value that defines a “unicorn.” The planned merger is also expected to provide proceeds of about US$550 million to Gogoro’s balance sheet, including an oversubscribed private investment in public equity (PIPE) of more than US$250 million and a trust of
RSS