The combined revenue of listed companies rose 1.49 percent year-on-year to NT$15.18 trillion (US$488.4 billion) in the first six months of this year, statistics released last week by the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) showed.
Of the 932 firms listed on the main bourse, 428 posted revenue growth for the January-to-June period, while 504 saw revenue decline, the TWSE said in statement on Thursday.
The information service sector again reported the fastest revenue growth among all industries, with a 17.15 percent increase to NT$32.1 billion, ahead of the shipping sector’s 9.38 percent gain to NT$458.1 billion, it said.
Taipei-based IT solution provider Zero One Technology Co Ltd (零壹科技) saw its revenue rise 33.6 percent, while online game company X-Legend Entertainment Co Ltd (傳奇網路) achieved a 308 percent increase to NT$1.73 billion, the data showed.
At the other end of the spectrum, the electrical cable sector posted a 20.37 percent decline to NT$117.3 billion, while the glass sector fell 13.53 percent to NT$26 billion, making them the worst performers, the data showed.
“Given the slowdown in the local economy and US-China trade tensions, it is good to see a mild rise in the first two quarters, although some big companies posted revenue declines,” TWSE spokeswoman Rebecca Chen (陳麗卿) told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday.
In the six-month period, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) remained the nation’s largest listed firm in terms of revenue, with NT$2.21 trillion, up 5.14 percent from a year earlier.
Pegatron Corp (和碩聯合科技) was second, generating NT$593 billion in revenue, up 7.47 percent, ahead of Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), whose revenue jumped 8.84 percent to NT$467 billion, the data showed.
Fourth was Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦), with its cumulative revenue growing 6.69 percent to NT$462.9 billion, ahead of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Wistron Corp (緯創資通). TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, saw its revenue fall 4.5 percent to NT$459 billion, while Wistron’s cumulative revenue gained 1.32 percent to reach NT$411 billion, the data showed.
Seventh to 10th were Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) with revenue of NT$335 billion, Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控, NT$243 billion), Inventec Corp (英業達, NT$242 billion) and WPG Holdings Co (大聯大, NT$241 billion).
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) lost its place in the top 10 after posting revenue of NT$194 billion, down 6.62 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.
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