Chailease Holding Co (中租控股), the nation’s top leasing, financing and payment installment service provider, plans to open four outlets in China next month as the firm further expands into the Chinese market.
The company, which recently marked its first anniversary of primary listing in the Taiwan Stock Exchange, has withstood China’s slowdown unscathed as its focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) paid off by holding its interest margin steady.
“Chailease is looking for stable growth in revenue and profits next year as we seek to further tap into the Chinese market,” Sharon Fan (樊梅芳), Chailease senior vice president of investors relations, said on Friday.
The company is planning to set up new outlets in Hangzhou, Jinan, Changsha and Zhengzhou by the Lunar New Year in February, raising the total number of offices from 17 to 21, in keeping with its expansion strategy of opening three to five outlets a year, the senior vice president said.
There are more than 23 million SMEs in China and Chailease serves only 5,000 at present, suggesting huge room for business growth in the future, Fan said.
SMEs financing in China enjoys a higher interest margin, which stood at 10 percent as the end of September, compared with 8 percent in Taiwan, and is expected to hold steady next year, Fan said.
Chailease posted NT$2.23 billion (US$76.83 million) in revenue last month, jumping 44 percent from the same period last year, the company said in a stock filing last week.
Cumulative sales totaled NT$19.85 billion for the first 11 months, up 30 percent from last year, the filing said.
Net profit rose 20 percent year-on-year to NT$1.24 billion during the July-to-September period, translating into earnings of NT$1.58 per share, according to the company’s report.
The Chinese market generated 33 percent of the company’s earnings in the first nine months, compared with 18 percent last year, Fan said.
She added that the contribution likely to rise to 60 percent in the next three to five years.
“China’s monetary policy has little impact on our business as SMEs there have difficulty raising funds,” she said.
“All we need is careful screening of potential customers,” she added.
The company’s robust performance did not go unnoticed.
Last month, MSCI Inc, a global equity index provider, included Chailease in its MSCI Asia-Pacific Index (excluding Japan) and the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.
Shares in Chailease ended up 3.17 percent to NT$68.4 on Friday, despite the TAIEX’s 0.75 percent loss, based on the stock exchange data.
Chailease shares have surged 148.73 percent this year, while the main index picked up a mild 8.86 percent, the same data showed.
The Neihu-headquartered company was established in 1977 and currently has 12 outlets in Taiwan, four outlets in Thailand and another two in Vietnam.
Chailease chairman Andre Koo (辜仲立) is the youngest son of Jeffrey Koo Sr (辜濂松), founder and former chairman of Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金), who passed away on Dec. 5.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, booked its first-ever profit from its Arizona subsidiary in the first half of this year, four years after operations began, a company financial statement showed. Wholly owned by TSMC, the Arizona unit contributed NT$4.52 billion (US$150.1 million) in net profit, compared with a loss of NT$4.34 billion a year earlier, the statement showed. The company attributed the turnaround to strong market demand and high factory utilization. The Arizona unit counts Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc among its major customers. The firm’s first fab in Arizona began high-volume production
VOTE OF CONFIDENCE: The Japanese company is adding Intel to an investment portfolio that includes artificial intelligence linchpins Nvidia Corp and TSMC Softbank Group Corp agreed to buy US$2 billion of Intel Corp stock, a surprise deal to shore up a struggling US name while boosting its own chip ambitions. The Japanese company, which is adding Intel to an investment portfolio that includes artificial intelligence (AI) linchpins Nvidia Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), is to pay US$23 a share — a small discount to Intel’s last close. Shares of the US chipmaker, which would issue new stock to Softbank, surged more than 5 percent in after-hours trading. Softbank’s stock fell as much as 5.4 percent on Tuesday in Tokyo, its
COLLABORATION: Softbank would supply manufacturing gear to the factory, and a joint venture would make AI data center equipment, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) would operate a US factory owned by Softbank Group Corp, setting up what is in the running to be the first manufacturing site in the Japanese company’s US$500 billion Stargate venture with OpenAI and Oracle Corp. Softbank is acquiring Hon Hai’s electric-vehicle plant in Ohio, but the Taiwanese company would continue to run the complex after turning it into an artificial intelligence (AI) server production plant, Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said yesterday. Softbank would supply manufacturing gear to the factory, and a joint venture between the two companies would make AI data
DOLLAR SIGNS: The central bank rejected claims that the NT dollar had appreciated 10 percentage points more than the yen or the won against the greenback The New Taiwan dollar yesterday fell for a sixth day to its weakest level in three months, driven by equity-related outflows and reactions to an economics official’s exchange rate remarks. The NT dollar slid NT$0.197, or 0.65 percent, to close at NT$30.505 per US dollar, central bank data showed. The local currency has depreciated 1.97 percent so far this month, ranking as the weakest performer among Asian currencies. Dealers attributed the retreat to foreign investors wiring capital gains and dividends abroad after taking profit in local shares. They also pointed to reports that Washington might consider taking equity stakes in chipmakers, including Taiwan Semiconductor
RSS