Shares of golf ball contract maker Launch Technologies Co (明揚國際) rose 5.2 percent from its NT$30 debut price to close at NT$31.57 yesterday on the Emerging Stock Market, a preparatory board for the nation’s two main bourses.
The Dashu (大樹), Kaohsiung County-based firm is among the six small and medium-sized companies that began trading their shares this week on the Emerging Stock Market, where stocks are traded between securities firms by means of negotiation. Founded in July 2006, Launch Technologies is a subsidiary of golf equipment contract maker Advanced International Multitech Co (明安集團) specializing in the production of a variety of golf balls — from practice and soft lady golf balls to standard two-piece and three-piece golf balls.
The company, which counts Callaway Golf, TaylorMade Golf and Dick’s Sporting Goods as major customers, aims to be the world’s largest contract golf ball manufacturer within three years, with its production capacity expected to double to 15 million dozens, according to the Chinese-language cnYES.com.
Four other firms that also began trading on the Emerging Stock Market yesterday were Team Group Inc (十銓科技), which makes portable hard drives and USB devices; Hiroca Holdings Ltd (廣華控股), which offers trim painting and injection molding services for vehicles’ exterior and interior; e-commerce portal PChome Store Inc (商店街市集); and constructor Ju-Kao Engineering Co (日高工程實業).
Diva Laboratories Ltd (鈺緯科技), a firm that makes medical equipment, started trading on Monday.
Among the six emerging stocks, one that caught most investors’ attention was PChome Store, which is chaired by Jan Hung-tze (詹宏志) and is the e-commerce division that spun off from PChome Online (網路家庭) in May. PChome Store’s shares ended 141 percent higher yesterday from a debut price of NT$193.
The e-commerce portal is mainly targeted at small and medium-sized companies to sell their products to Internet-savvy consumers.
Contrary to the consumer-to-consumer shopping portal, this business-to-consumer portal offers cloud computing solutions for its current members of more than 8,800 companies in marketing their products, managing logistics, bookkeeping and after-sales services — all in cyberspace.
Last year, PChome Store raked in a profit of NT$19.7 million (US$637,500), or NT1.68 per share, on revenue of NT$173 million. This compared with its 2008 profit of NT$8.2 million, or NT$0.7 per share, on revenue of NT$116 million.
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