LEASING
Chailease net income rises
Chailease Holding Co (中租控股), the nation’s top leasing services provider, yesterday posted net income of NT$580 million (US$18.3 million), or earnings per share (EPS) of NT$0.53, for last month, up 8 percent from a year earlier. On a monthly basis, its net income rose 3 percent, mainly due to cost control and asset expansion, the company said in a statement. Chailease Holding said it would gradually expand its aircraft leasing business this year. Earlier this month, it started a US$2.5 million helicopter-leasing cooperation with French aircraft maker Airbus SAS. It is Chailease Holding’s first significant aircraft leasing project since its cooperation with Canadian aircraft maker Bombardier in 2013.
UTILITIES
Lower power rates coming
New electricity rates that are take effect on April 1 will be lower due to falling natural gas prices since December last year, Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) chairman Hwang Jung-chiou (黃重球) said yesterday. Given that natural gas prices heavily affect electricity generation costs, the decline in electricity rates will be larger than the public’s expectations, Hwang said, without giving specific figures. According to a Taipower report, natural gas accounted for 61 percent of the utility’s fuel costs in 2013.
STEELMAKERS
China Steel profits mixed
China Steel Corp (中鋼), the nation’s biggest steelmaker, yesterday said pre-tax income grew 6 percent last month to NT$2.64 billion from NT$2.5 billion a month earlier, ending three months of decline. However, operating profit shrank 16 percent to NT$2.86 billion last month from NT$3.39 billion a month earlier, the company said in a statement. Revenue fell 2 percent to NT$29.4 billion from NT$30.15 billion in the prior month.
BANKING
Nearly NT$30bn withdrawn
Nearly NT$30 billion was withdrawn from automatic teller machines (ATMs) across the nation over the six-day Lunar New Year holiday, which ended on Monday, statistics released by the Financial Information Service Co (財金資訊) showed. From Wednesday last week to 4pm on Monday, a total of NT$29.34 billion in cash was withdrawn from ATMs, said the company, which worked closely with the central bank to ensure smooth cash withdrawals and transfers during the holiday. The Lunar New Year holiday is often the peak season for ATM use to withdraw cash or transfer money, as many people give money to their family elders or children in “red envelopes.” It is also a major shopping season for many, with year-end bonuses having been paid. The figure means that on average, each person withdrew about NT$1,275 over the holiday. The nation also saw NT$12.97 billion in interbank money transfers, the company said.
TELECOMS
Chunghwa upbeat on 4G
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation’s largest telecom operator, expects its 4G business to break even within five years from its launch in May last year. The company could also surpass its net income and revenue targets for this year, Chunghwa chairman Rick Tsai (蔡力行) said. The company had earlier predicted that net income would fall to NT$4.83 per share this year, from last year’s NT$4.98 a share. Revenue is expected to grow 2 percent to NT$231.09 billion this year from NT$226.61 billion last year.
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
Taiwanese manufacturers have a chance to play a key role in the humanoid robot supply chain, Tongtai Machine and Tool Co (東台精機) chairman Yen Jui-hsiung (嚴瑞雄) said yesterday. That is because Taiwanese companies are capable of making key parts needed for humanoid robots to move, such as harmonic drives and planetary gearboxes, Yen said. This ability to produce these key elements could help Taiwanese manufacturers “become part of the US supply chain,” he added. Yen made the remarks a day after Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) are jointly
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) expects its addressable market to grow by a low single-digit percentage this year, lower than the overall foundry industry’s 15 percent expansion and the global semiconductor industry’s 10 percent growth, the contract chipmaker said yesterday after reporting the worst profit in four-and-a-half years in the fourth quarter of last year. Growth would be fueled by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, a moderate recovery in consumer electronics and an increase in semiconductor content, UMC said. “UMC’s goal is to outgrow our addressable market while maintaining our structural profitability,” UMC copresident Jason Wang (王石) told an online earnings
MARKET SHIFTS: Exports to the US soared more than 120 percent to almost one quarter, while ASEAN has steadily increased to 18.5 percent on rising tech sales The proportion of Taiwan’s exports directed to China, including Hong Kong, declined by more than 12 percentage points last year compared with its peak in 2020, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday last week. The decrease reflects the ongoing restructuring of global supply chains, driven by escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. Data compiled by the ministry showed China and Hong Kong accounted for 31.7 percent of Taiwan’s total outbound sales last year, a drop of 12.2 percentage points from a high of 43.9 percent in 2020. In addition to increasing trade conflicts between China and the US, the ministry said
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