Taiwan’s financial conglomerates reported a total of NT$278.1 billion (US$8.98 billion) in net profit for the first three quarters, an improvement of 12.61 percent from the same period last year, but profit growth slowed last month as US-China trade tensions began to take a bigger toll on the global markets.
Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), the nation’s largest financial holding firm by market value, posted NT$54.56 billion in net profit for the first three quarters, or earnings per share (EPS) of NT$4.17, making it the most profitable among 15 listed peers in the first nine months, a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed.
However, the company’s net profit last month fell to NT$2.14 billion, a 58 percent decrease from August.
Cathay Financial’s main subsidiary, Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), saw its net profit last month dip to NT$40 million as the insurer was affected by a stronger New Taiwan dollar at the end of the month, the company said, adding that its first-year premiums for protection-type policies expanded 61 percent year-on-year last month.
The company’s banking arm, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) was the stronger performer, posting earnings of NT$21.7 billion on the back of strong loan-to-deposit ratios and steady fee income.
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) posted a profit of NT$2.9 billion last month to top its peers, while its profit between January and last month rose 13.02 percent year-on-year to NT$50.01 billion, or EPS of NT$4.74.
Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽) recorded a net profit of NT$30.95 billion for the first three quarters, a 14 percent annual increase on strong investment returns.
Its banking arm, Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行), saw its net income rise 12 percent on the back of higher interest income.
Meanwhile, Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) posted a net loss of NT$2.11 billion last month, due to widening foreign exchange losses, as well as higher hedging costs, it said.
However, it reported net income of NT$19.41 billion in the first nine months, or EPS of NT$1.73.
The company said that its foreign exchange losses could begin to narrow in the final quarter if the New Taiwan dollar continues to depreciate against the US dollar.
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
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
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