EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) saw its third-quarter net profit halve to NT$1.27 billion (US$41.6 million) from NT$2.59 billion a year earlier due to sluggish cargo business and the lingering effects of labor strikes.
Revenue fell 3.9 percent annually to NT$45.52 billion, which the airline blamed on weak air cargo demand amid US-China trade tensions and protests in Hong Kong.
The carrier announced the figures during an investors’ conference in Taipei on Thursday.
Passenger revenue fell from a year earlier, as it had not fully resumed normal flight schedules until July 20, after flight attendants launched strikes in late June, EVA said.
As a result, its available freighter tonne-kilometer (AFTK) and available seat kilometers (ASK), two indicators gauging its carrying capacity for goods and passengers, posted annual declines of 1.9 percent and 2.7 percent respectively for the first nine months of this year, EVA said.
EVA, the airline arm of Evergreen Group (長榮集團), posted cumulative net profit of NT$3.21 billion for the first three quarters, down 46.2 percent from NT$5.98 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share plunged from NT$1.33 to NT$0.67 over the period.
The carrier expects cargo business momentum this quarter to outperform the first three quarters, as demand is expected to increase ahead of the Christmas holiday season, EVA president Clay Sun (孫嘉明) said, adding that passenger business would grow mildly.
However, it would not be as good as last year, he said.
Still, Sun provided an upbeat outlook for next year, when five new Boeing 787-10 jets are to join the airline’s fleet.
The new airplanes would help improve the carrier’s AFTK and ASK by 8 percent and 13 percent respectively next year, he said.
Meanwhile, Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運), the shipping arm of Evergreen Group, returned to profit last quarter with net profit of NT$135 million, which still represented an annual decline of 80 percent from a net profit of NT$708 million a year earlier, corporate data showed.
The shipper posted annual revenue growth of 11 percent to NT$49.85 billion during the July-to-September period from NT$44.91 billion, attributable to rising freight volume.
Operational costs rose 10.45 percent year-on-year to NT$45.97 billion, from NT$41.62 billion, data showed.
Lower container spot rates on major routes reduced profits, the shipper said.
Evergreen Marine’s financial performance has been volatile this year, with double-digit percentage growth in net profit in the first quarter followed by a net loss in the second quarter, due to uncertainty in the global trade environment, it said.
However, overall, the company’s performance has improved from last year, with cumulative net profit of NT$340.39 million in the first three quarters, compared with a net loss of NT$398.75 million over the same period last year, the data showed.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
RSS