Garment maker Quang Viet Enterprise Co (廣越) yesterday reported that sales last month jumped 51.31 percent annually to NT$497.19 million (US$16.6 million), from NT$328.6 million a year earlier, propelled by new product launches by Patagonia Inc and Nike Inc.
Cumulative revenue in the first four months of this year totaled NT$1.66 billion, a 48.77 percent increase from NT$1.12 billion in the same period last year, the company said in a statement.
The firm also attributed the strong revenue performance to sales contribution from its Romanian subsidiary, which supplies products to Italian luxury jacket manufacturer Moncler SpA.
Taipei-headquartered Quang Viet on Friday last week reported a net loss of NT$126.54 million for last quarter, easing from a net loss of NT$179.28 million in the same period last year.
Losses per share narrowed annually from NT$1.73 to NT$1.22 as sales in the first quarter reached a record high of NT$1.16 billion, a 47.72 percent increase from NT$786.85 million a year earlier.
Quang Viet, a leading international down jacket supplier, usually posts losses in the first quarter, when it buys materials for the entire year.
Clients traditionally buy clothing ahead of the winter, making sales in the first quarter insignificant, accounting for less than 10 percent of total revenue.
The improvement to the bottom line was mainly due to higher product prices, which mitigated heavier material cost burdens, Quang Viet said.
The company last quarter raised the average selling prices of its products by between 3 percent and 7 percent to reflect increasing production costs.
Quang Viet shares yesterday rose 1.71 percent to close at NT$119, outperforming the TAIEX, which gained 0.11 percent.
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