Fulgent Sun International Holding Co Ltd’s (鈺齊國際) board of directors has proposed distributing a cash dividend of NT$3.68 per common share, lower than the previous year’s NT$4.11.
However, the proposed dividend suggests a high payout ratio of 72 percent, based on last year’s earnings per share (EPS) of NT$5.10, the company said on Thursday.
“Our revenue for this and the next few quarters is expected to be better than the same period last year, as more orders are coming in for our autumn and winter products,” a Fulgent Sun official told the Taipei Times yesterday on condition of anonymity.
As footwear makers usually take orders and start shipments in April for products sold in the autumn and winter seasons, they tend to have three to four months of order visibility, the official said.
An analyst at a local brokerage, who asked not to be named, said that Fulgent Sun’s revenue is forecast to increase to NT$2.94 billion this quarter, compared with NT$2.58 billion last quarter.
Gross margin is expected to decrease slightly from last quarter’s 19.62 percent to 17.98 percent, the analyst said, citing lower efficiency at the company’s new production lines.
However, an improvement in operating margin could increase net income to NT$260 million from NT$205.31 million the previous quarter, with EPS of NT$1.7, they said.
Fulgent Sun produces outdoor footwear products and sportswear for global brands, including The North Face Inc, Timberland LLC, Under Armour Inc and Mammut Sports Group AG.
It has six operations based in Taiwan, China, Vietnam and Cambodia, with plants outside of China accounting for 60 percent of its total revenue last year.
The figure is expected to increase to 65 percent this year, the company said.
Fulgent Sun chairman Lin Wen-chih (林文智) said in a recent interview with Chinese-language CommonWealth Magazine that the company’s revenue growth momentum has been boosted by automated production lines.
However, some stitchers still work faster than machines, so machines cannot replace humans entirely, he added.
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