Eastern Home Shopping & Leisure Co Ltd (EHS, 東森購物) is optimistic on earnings growth this year as the TV shopping operator expands into the cross-border e-commerce business through an acquisition.
The company in January acquired a 76 percent stake in Hong Kong-based Strawberry Cosmetic Holdings Limited BVI for NT$1.06 billion (US$35.51 million), which operates Strawberrynet.com, an online store carrying discount cosmetics, skincare and beauty brands in 230 nations.
EHS is expecting a boost to its profit and top line as its products are listed on Strawberrynet, Gary Wang (王令麟), chairman of Eastern Media Group (東森集團), the parent company of EHS, told a news conference in Taipei.
Strawberrynet already carries several notable Taiwanese cosmetics brands, he added.
“We expect our earnings per share to rise to NT$6 this year from NT$3.84 last year, with sales this year projected to rise 33 percent year-on-year to more than NT$18.3 billion,” Wang said.
EHS’ top line could expand to between NT$28 billion and NT$30 billion by 2020, and overseas sales could outpace contribution from the company’s home market in about three years’ time, Wang added.
Given the limited market at home, local companies must tap the global market, Wang said, adding that as opposed to building capabilities and warehouses on its own, the acquisition of operators is the quickest way to establish a foothold in the e-commerce market.
Wang also outlined plans to improve margins by raising the proportion of private-label and exclusive products in EHS’ product offerings from 16 percent last year to 25 percent this year, with a goal of 40 percent by the end of next year.
Eastern Media Group would support EHS and Strawberrynet through its online news outlet, Wang said, adding that the parent company also plans to establish a health supplement product development subsidiary to bolster its offerings.
Strawberrynet’s platform supports 38 languages and payments in 56 currencies, and carries 33,000 products by 830 brands, making it the ideal platform to enhance EHS’ access to the global market, Wang said.
Strawberrynet has average annual sales of about HK$1.1 billion (US$140.13 million), Wang said.
The company would refrain from engaging in unsustainable competition on prices and shipping fee subsidies in Taiwan’s fiercely competitive e-commerce market, Wang said.
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
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”