EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) said first-quarter profit fell 14 percent because operating expenses and its tax bill rose.
Net income dropped to NT$406.6 million (US$11.6 million) or NT$0.17 a share, from NT$473.2 million, or NT$0.21 a share, a year ago, the airline said in a faxed statement. Sales rose 22 percent to NT$16.6 billion in the first quarter.
EVA and other Asian airlines incurred higher operating costs as the price of jet kerosene climbed to 6-month high early last mont in anticipation of the war in Iraq.
"It's a question of jet fuel prices more than anything else," said Timothy Ross, an analyst at UBS Warburg. "Everyone paid a lot more for their jet fuel in the first quarter,".
EVA's operating expenses rose 25 percent to NT$1.59 billion for the quarter.
Passenger revenue rose 15 percent to NT$8.33 billion in the first quarter, said Nieh Kuo-wei (聶國維), a company spokesman. Cargo revenue rose 33 percent to NT$7.19 billion, he said.
EVA paid tax of NT$1.76 million in the first quarter. It received a rebate of NT$71 million in the same period last year after it posted a loss of about NT$3 billion for all of 2001.
Asian carriers, including EVA and China Airlines Co (中華航空), may find it hard to boost earnings in the second quarter because of sagging ticket sales as the war in Iraq and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) put people off traveling.
"SARS will definitely have an impact on our performance in the second quarter," Nieh said.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS