Hotel and restaurant operator FDC International Hotels Corp (FDC, 雲品國際) earned NT$44.73 million (US$1.48 million) in net income last quarter, a 36 percent increase from a year earlier, as banquet capacity expansions raised food and beverage sales, the company said yesterday.
The hospitality provider is cautiously optimistic about business in the current quarter, as it might benefit from bookings from the second quarter, but the forthcoming Lunar Ghost Month might dampen banquet sales.
“FDC aims to beat the seasonality and grow into the largest banquet operator through cooperation with wedding service providers,” a communications official said by phone.
The group last quarter added Splendor Banquet Restaurant (京采飯店) in New Taipei City and the restaurant operations of affiliate Chateau de Chine’s (翰品酒店) Taoyuan outlet to the branches of Gala de Chine (頤品大飯店), FDC’s banquet arm.
The acquisition allowed food and beverage to replace hotel rooms as the main earnings driver, generating 68 percent of its revenue of NT$359.62 million during the April-to-June period, according to FDC’s stock exchange filing.
The figure represented a gain of 21 percent from a year earlier and contributed to the earnings of NT$0.68 per share.
First-half profit was NT$111.49 million, or earnings per share of NT$1.7, the filing showed.
FDC also owns the five-star hotel Fleur de Chine (雲品酒店) near Sun Moon Lake and buffet restaurant Giardino (品花苑) in New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District (新莊).
The profit increase came after the recognition of one-off acquisition costs of NT$5 million, the communications official said.
As Taiwanese couples avoid tying the knot during the Lunar Ghost Month, FDC is organizing a wedding trade show on Sept. 9 and Sept. 10 in the hope of securing banquet orders for next quarter, the official said.
The Lunar Ghost Month falls on Aug. 22 to Sept. 19 this month.
Fleur de Chine is poised to benefit from bookings from June during which time two typhoons drove some guests to delay visits, the official said.
Occupancy rates at the resort property rose to 78.57 percent in the first six months, from 74.43 percent a year earlier, while room rates slid from NT$7,863 to NT$7,797 per night, according to Tourism Bureau data.
FDC expects the summer vacation to help boost room rates this quarter and rise higher next quarter with the advent of the high season for domestic travel, the official said.
FDC shares closed 0.59 percent higher at NT$67.80 yesterday, underperforming the TAIEX, which rose 0.84 percent.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last