State-run CSBC Corp, Taiwan (CSBC, 台灣國際造船), formerly known as China Shipbuilding Corp, said its target gross profit would drop NT$770 million (US$25.4 million), or 31.3 percent year-on-year, to NT$1.69 billion this year, owing to higher shipbuilding costs and pension-fund expenses of NT$967 million.
CSBC estimates its total operating revenue and expenses will reach NT$29.85 billion and NT$28.02 billion this year, leaving NT$1.83 billion in earnings before tax, its latest report showed.
CSBC said it had secured orders until the second quarter of 2012, including 68 commercial ships, valued at around NT$140.08 billion.
Although the global shipbuilding market is likely to remain active this year, CSBC chairman Cheng Wen-lon (鄭文隆) yesterday told the legislature’s Economics Committee that he was worried about the market’s future.
As shipbuilders in other countries have all improved their production capabilities, the excess capacity was likely to affect the global shipbuilding market after 2010, Cheng said.
“CSBC’s orders of 68 commercial ships account for just 1.2 percent of the global shipbuilding output, at 9,198 units, as CSBC selects our ship owners carefully,” Cheng said.
Meanwhile, CSBC said it planned to complete its privatization between the end of November and mid-December, by selling 51 percent of its shares.
“The final selling price per share will be decided between August and September, after the Ministry of Economic Affairs invites experts to determine the company’s current net worth,” CSBC president Li Chih-cheng (李志城), said yesterday.
Up to 35 percent of the planned sale, or 17.85 percent of shares, will be reserved for CSBC’s employees, Li said, adding that CSBC currently has 2,660 employees.
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
‘DECENT RESULTS’: The company said it is confident thanks to an improving world economy and uptakes in new wireless and AI technologies, despite US uncertainty Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it plans to build a new server manufacturing factory in the US this year to address US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy. That would be the second server production base for Pegatron in addition to the existing facilities in Taoyuan, the iPhone assembler said. Servers are one of the new businesses Pegatron has explored in recent years to develop a more balanced product lineup. “We aim to provide our services from a location in the vicinity of our customers,” Pegatron president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng (鄭光治) told an online earnings conference yesterday. “We
LEAK SOURCE? There would be concern over the possibility of tech leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday stayed mum after a report said that the chipmaker has pitched chip designers Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Broadcom Inc about taking a stake in a joint venture to operate Intel Corp’s factories. Industry sources told the Central News Agency (CNA) that the possibility of TSMC proposing to operate Intel’s wafer fabs is low, as the Taiwanese chipmaker has always focused on its core business. There is also concern over possible technology leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺)
It was late morning and steam was rising from water tanks atop the colorful, but opaque-windowed, “soapland” sex parlors in a historic Tokyo red-light district. Walking through the narrow streets, camera in hand, was Beniko — a former sex worker who is trying to capture the spirit of the area once known as Yoshiwara through photography. “People often talk about this neighborhood having a ‘bad history,’” said Beniko, who goes by her nickname. “But the truth is that through the years people have lived here, made a life here, sometimes struggled to survive. I want to share that reality.” In its mid-17th to
RSS