Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), Taiwan’s second-largest financial service provider by assets, topped its peers in earnings last month with a net income of NT$4.04 billion (US$135.8 million), up 84 percent from the same period last year, due to strong sales of wealth management products, the company said.
The results equated to earnings per share (EPS) of NT$0.42, meaning that the company ranked first among its 15 listed peers, with a marked improvement seen across major subsidiaries, the company said.
Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank Co (台北富邦銀行) generated NT$1.78 billion in net profit last month, rising 53 percent from the level seen a year ago, thanks to high sales of investment products, Fubon Financial president Victor Kong (龔天行) said.
Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽) saw its net income soar 6.36 times to NT$1.84 billion, mainly caused by investment gains in domestic and foreign equities, Kong said.
The increase has yet to factor in billions of provision recoveries that the life insurer may recognize to reflect real-estate property value rises under new accounting rules changes, Kong said.
The insurer intends to book the value increment on a monthly basis and is awaiting approval from the Financial Supervisory Commission, King said, adding that firms are not allowed to allocate property value gains even though they help to boost a company’s net worth.
Profits at state-run Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) rose to NT$1.6 billion, more than double the earnings from one month earlier, as core business at the banking arm Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐國際商銀) showed a noticeable pickup, the group said in a statement.
The results equaled an EPS of NT$0.19, meaning that the company tied with Taishin Financial Holdings Co (台新金控) in fourth place, company data showed.
Taishin Financial reported NT$1.39 billion in net income, up 48 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a filing to the stock exchange.
SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) fared well with net income totaling NT$1.16 billion last month, an increase of more than 20 percent from a year earlier and nearly double from December last year, the conglomerate said in a statement, adding that the figures represented an EPS of NT$0.15.
Hua Nan Financial Holdings Co (華南金控), another state-run financial services provider, yesterday posted NT$869 million in net profit for last month, or EPS of NT$0.1, underpinned almost single-handedly by its banking subsidiary Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行).
The lender generated NT$797 million in net income, while the brokerage and non-life insurance unit contributed NT$37 million and NT$79 million respectively, the group said in a statement.
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
RISING: Strong exports, and life insurance companies’ efforts to manage currency risks indicates the NT dollar would eventually pass the 29 level, an expert said The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rallied to its strongest in three years amid inflows to the nation’s stock market and broad-based weakness in the US dollar. Exporter sales of the US currency and a repatriation of funds from local asset managers also played a role, said two traders, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. State-owned banks were seen buying the greenback yesterday, but only at a moderate scale, the traders said. The local currency gained 0.77 percent, outperforming almost all of its Asian peers, to close at NT$29.165 per US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday. The
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