Garment maker Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽實業) yesterday posted double-digit annual growth in pre-tax profit for last quarter, ending five consecutive quarters of decline.
Pre-tax profit for the April-to-June quarter rose 21.86 percent to NT$604.05 million (US$20 million) from NT$495.67 million a year earlier, with sales increasing 12.15 percent to NT$6.92 billion from NT$6.17 billion, the firm said in a statement.
The better-than-expected performance led to a slowing decline in accumulated pre-tax net profit, the firm said.
From January through last month, accumulated net profit totaled NT$1.26 billion, a 23.2 percent decline compared with the same period last year. However, the pace of annual decline has slowed from 42.7 percent in the first six months, company data showed.
The firm holds an optimistic view about its business outlook, as it is entering the traditional peak season for apparel makers and has secured orders from global brands through the end of this year amid an improving market sentiment.
The Taipei-headquartered company counts major US-based companies such as Gap Inc, Target Corp, and Kohl’s Corp among top customers, data showed.
Apart from existing clients, Makalot said its seven new customers are estimated to generate total revenue of US$50 million this year, making up nearly 6 percent of its total sales.
Meanwhile, Makalot is also likely to benefit from the emergence of e-commerce operators in the global apparel supply chain.
Seattle based e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc is tapping some of the biggest suppliers of athletic apparel, including Makalot and local peer Eclat Textile Co (儒鴻), to venture into private-label sportswear, a report by Bloomberg said.
The two Taiwanese firms are producing small numbers of products for Amazon as a trial, the report said.
E-commerce operators would not make a significant contribution to Makalot’s total sales this year, yet the business potential in the sector is definitely promising, company president and chairman Frank Chou (周理平) told reporters earlier this year.
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