Teco Electric & Machinery Co (東元電機), which makes industrial motors and home appliances, yesterday estimated that losses from a fire on Sunday at its plant in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) could cost it nearly NT$32 million (US$1.05 million).
The fire broke out at 3pm at a maintenance room and was extinguished in about an hour, Teco said in a statement, adding that no one was injured.
Most of the losses at the 2,000m2 plant are covered by insurance, but the cause of the fire and actual losses are still being assessed, the statement said.
Photo: Hsieh Wu-hsiung, Taipei Times
The plant, which mainly manufactures refrigerators and air conditioners, should be able to resume production in the near term and the impact of the fire on the company’s finances and operations is expected to be limited, Teco said, without giving an exact timetable.
Teco, the nation’s largest industrial motor manufacturer, also has plants in Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢) and Hsinchu’s Hukou Township (湖口).
Despite the incident, the Taipei-headquartered company remained optimistic about its business outlook for the rest of the year, primarily due to sustained global demand for industrial motors.
The company said it has set a full-year sales target of NT$50 billion, up from last year’s NT$49.9 billion.
From January through last month, the company posted sales of NT$25.17 billion, a 2.76 percent increase from a year earlier, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Industrial motors remained the largest contributor to its revenues in the first quarter of this year, accounting for nearly 43 percent of its total revenue, while home appliances made up 17.5 percent.
Teco has not yet released its audited earnings results for last quarter.
Teco shares remained unchanged at NT$28.5 in Taipei trading yesterday, lagging the TAIEX, which edged up 0.13 percent.
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