Taiwan Paiho Ltd (台灣百和) has reported that first-quarter net profit attributable to the parent company grew 11.4 percent from a year earlier to NT$407.39 million (US$13.19 million).
Operating profit rose 37.3 percent year-on-year to NT$799.62 million, and earnings per share (EPS) increased from NT$1.23 to NT$1.37, the shoelace, elastic band and fastener manufacturer said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Friday.
The bottom-line figures were the second batch of positive data that Taiwan Paiho released last week, following its report on Monday last week that first-quarter consolidated revenue grew by a stronger-than-expected 50.08 percent year-on-year to NT$4.34 billion, due mainly to the contribution from subsidiary Paiho Shih Holdings Corp’s (百和興業) construction business in Wuxi in China’s Jiangsu Province.
Companies such as Adidas AG, Nike Inc, Under Armour Inc, New Balance Athletics Inc and Puma AG are among Taiwan Paiho’s customers.
At an earnings conference with analysts on Friday, the company said that it expects to start large-volume shipments of woven jacquard fabrics in the fourth quarter of this year, KGI Securities Investment Advisory Co (凱基投顧) analyst Jackson Wang (王聖壹) said in a client note later in the day.
By continuing to relocate production outside of China, Taiwan Paiho’s average selling prices and gross margin might trend downward, but its increased sales scale would boost its capacity utilization and drive its operating margin higher, the note said.
With better demand outlook for woven jacquard fabrics, stabilizing core business and contribution from real-estate income, revenue for this year is predicted to increase 21.1 percent year-on-year to NT$16.61 billion, while net profit is to grow 30.88 percent to NT$1.78 billion, with EPS of NT$5.97, KGI said.
Shares in Taiwan Paiho on Friday rose 0.79 percent to NT$76.1 in Taipei trading. They have so far this year surged 54.36 percent.
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