Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) has improved its finances in the second quarter, but it is unlikely to swing to profit for the rest of this year, the company said yesterday.
Shin Kong Financial narrowed its net loss to NT$70 million (US$2.19 million) in the second quarter, from a loss of NT$2.93 billion in the January-to-March period, on improving insurance premium income and declining hedge costs at its insurance unit, company president Victor Hsu (許彭) told an investors’ conference.
In the first half, the company’s net loss widened to NT$3 billion, compared with a loss of NT$622 million a year earlier.
Compared with its 14 domestic peers, Shin Kong remained the least profitable firm with a net loss of NT$0.14 per share during the first seven months.
“The company will seek to strengthen its foreign exchange and cash management to increase its fee and interest income,” Hsu said.
Marco Liu (劉建賢), a financial analyst at Fuh Hwa Securities Investment Trust Co (復華投信), said Shin Kong Financial may not turn profitable in the coming six to 12 months because of its conservative investment strategy.
“The insurer has focused its overseas investments on low-yield debts and securities, while its premium income is still unable to cover costs,” Liu said.
Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) is the main revenue source of Shin Kong Financial. The insurance unit saw first-year premium income surge 45.2 percent to NT$22.46 billion in the second quarter from three months earlier, a rise of 21.2 percent year-on-year to NT$37.93 billion in the first half, which helped it narrow its quarterly loss to NT$550 million from a loss of NT$3.36 billion in the first quarter.
Shin Kong Life president Jason Tsai (蔡雄繼) said traditional and interest-sensitive products accounted for 25 percent and 63.5 percent of premium income respectively.
As for the company’s banking unit, Shin Kong Bank (新光銀行), posted a net profit of NT$916 million in the first half, nearly three times as much from last year, Shin Kong Financial said.
Chief financial officer Winston Yung (容覺生) said an increase in fee income from wealth management amid recovering risk appetite accounted for the improvement.
Mortgage loans grew 3.5 percent year on year to 40 percent of the bank’s total loans in the first half, while corporate financing took up another 32.6 percent, up 4.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the company’s statement.
Net interest income jumped 41.9 percent to NT$2.9 billion as of June 30 as net interest margin edged up to 1.64 percent in the second quarter, from 1.60 percent in the first quarter, the company’s statement said.
Yung said the central bank’s interest rate hike in June helped widen interest spread by five to 10 basis points, and he expects another hike of 12.5 basis points in the interest rate next month, when the central bank holds its quarterly board meeting.
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