Fulgent Sun Group (鈺齊國際), an outdoor footwear supplier to global brands such as Timberland, is this quarter expected to post a 15.1 percent quarterly decline in sales as a strong New Taiwan dollar might continue to weigh on the company’s revenue growth, Jih Sun Securities Investment Consulting Co (日盛投顧) said in a report earlier this month.
In light of the foreign-exchange factor, the brokerage said it has cut its sales estimate for Fulgent Sun to NT$2.33 billion (US$7.94 million) from the NT$2.74 billion it previously estimated.
The company posted sales of NT$2.75 billion for last quarter.
Net profit is expected to fall 1.5 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$1.91 billion, Jih Sun said.
“Fulgent Sun’s performance last month was much worse than our expectations, despite the company entering its traditional peak season,” Jih Sun analyst Channie Wang (王章妮) said in a note released on Feb. 9.
The Yunlin-based company reported sales of NT$915.15 million for last month, down 24.2 percent from NT$1.207 billion a month earlier and down 24.1 percent from NT$1.205 billion a year earlier, according to a company filing.
Jih Sun also reduced its full-year sales forecast for Fulgent Sun from NT$11.44 billion to NT$11.03 billion, although the shoemaker said it anticipates solid demand from new clients this year.
The company, which has more than 40 brand clients worldwide, expects to secure orders from three to five new clients this year, according to the brokerage’s note.
Fulgent Sun’s global brand customers include Under Armour and Columbia, the company’s Web site showed.
Despite the less optimistic business outlook, last year was favorable for the company, due partly to increased revenue contribution from its high-priced outdoor products.
The company last year posted record-high earnings per share of NT$5.76, up from NT$5.23 the previous year, with net profit increasing 16.6 percent from NT$702.26 million to NT$818.7 million.
Sales totaled NT$10.39 billion, also a record high and up 14.4 percent from NT$9.08 billion a year earlier.
Operating margin was 10.9 percent over the period, up from 7.7 percent in 2016, which the company attributed to a better product portfolio.
By revenue breakdown, sales from outdoor footwear accounted for nearly 90 percent of the company’s total sales last year, compared with 84.2 percent in 2015.
The improved product portfolio helped lift Fulgent Sun’s average selling price from US$24.2 to US$29 over the past two years, data showed.
The company did not disclose its foreign-exchange losses for last year, but said that the mounting losses shaved about NT$0.87 off its earnings per share.
In Italy’s storied gold-making hubs, jewelers are reworking their designs to trim gold content as they race to blunt the effect of record prices and appeal to shoppers watching their budgets. Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, surging near US$5,600 an ounce, more than double a year ago as geopolitical concerns and jitters over trade pushed investors toward the safe-haven asset. The rally is putting undue pressure on small artisans as they face mounting demands from customers, including international brands, to produce cheaper items, from signature pieces to wedding rings, according to interviews with four independent jewelers in Italy’s main
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has talked up the benefits of a weaker yen in a campaign speech, adopting a tone at odds with her finance ministry, which has refused to rule out any options to counter excessive foreign exchange volatility. Takaichi later softened her stance, saying she did not have a preference for the yen’s direction. “People say the weak yen is bad right now, but for export industries, it’s a major opportunity,” Takaichi said on Saturday at a rally for Liberal Democratic Party candidate Daishiro Yamagiwa in Kanagawa Prefecture ahead of a snap election on Sunday. “Whether it’s selling food or
CONCERNS: Tech companies investing in AI businesses that purchase their products have raised questions among investors that they are artificially propping up demand Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday said that the company would be participating in OpenAI’s latest funding round, describing it as potentially “the largest investment we’ve ever made.” “We will invest a great deal of money,” Huang told reporters while visiting Taipei. “I believe in OpenAI. The work that they do is incredible. They’re one of the most consequential companies of our time.” Huang did not say exactly how much Nvidia might contribute, but described the investment as “huge.” “Let Sam announce how much he’s going to raise — it’s for him to decide,” Huang said, referring to OpenAI
The global server market is expected to grow 12.8 percent annually this year, with artificial intelligence (AI) servers projected to account for 16.5 percent, driven by continued investment in AI infrastructure by major cloud service providers (CSPs), market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. Global AI server shipments this year are expected to increase 28 percent year-on-year to more than 2.7 million units, driven by sustained demand from CSPs and government sovereign cloud projects, TrendForce analyst Frank Kung (龔明德) told the Taipei Times. Demand for GPU-based AI servers, including Nvidia Corp’s GB and Vera Rubin rack systems, is expected to remain high,
RSS