Shares of PChome Online Inc (網路家庭), the nation’s leading e-commerce platform operator, plunged by the daily limit of 10 percent on the Taipei Exchange yesterday, after its board decided not to distribute a dividend for the first time in 10 years.
PChome’s dividend policy came as the company reported a net profit of NT$36.49 million (US$1.25 million) for last year, its lowest since 2008.
PChome shares dived 7.2 percent to NT$174 shortly after the Taipei Exchange opened yesterday and closed further down at NT$169.
A total of 2.19 million shares changed hands, with another sell order of 223,000 shares waiting to be executed, Taipei Exchange data showed.
PChome’s annual net profit shrank from NT$765.99 million a year earlier, a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed.
Earnings per share were NT$0.31, compared with NT$6.54 per share a year earlier, the filing showed.
PChome’s gross margin fell 2.03 percentage points annually to 15.09 percent last year and its operating margin plunged to minus-0.71 percent from 4.1 percent a year earlier.
“The company’s profitability was affected by the rising marketing expenses of one of its subsidiaries, PChomestore Inc [商店街], last year,” PChome said in a statement.
PChome’s operating expenses spiked 38.5 percent year-on-year to NT$4.64 billion last year, which includes a record-high marketing expense of NT$1.2 billion on PChomestore, the statement said.
The investment on PChomestore paid off as the number of merchants listed on its platform reached a record high of more than 70,000 last year, PChome said.
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