Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), the nation’s biggest financial services provider by assets, yesterday said that stock market rallies at home and abroad had pushed its book value to a new record high.
As of the end of September, the company had a book value of NT$593.7 billion (US$19.67 billion), up from NT$529.8 billion at the end of last year.
Book value per share was NT$42.5.
Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), the company’s most profitable unit, posted a 10.6 percent return on its investments in domestic shares and 8.8 percent on international equities.
The life insurer received NT$22.5 billion in cash dividends, while unrealized gains on its available-for-sale financial assets surged to NT$43.5 billion, compared with NT$3.2 billion at the end of last year.
The life insurer said that its product mix has seen a significant shift, with traditional life policies making up 40.5 percent of annualized first-year premiums in the first nine months of this year, down from 89.2 percent the previous year.
Total annualized first-year premium collection during the period fell to NT$58.5 billion from NT$100 billion the previous year.
The life insurer said that while sales of investment-linked products jumped to NT$6.5 billion in the first nine months from NT$100 million the previous year, traditional life policies would remain its main focus.
Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行), the company’s banking arm, said that its earnings were helped by improving interest spreads and net interest margin from its growing foreign currency denominated loan book, which rose from NT$174 billion at the end of last year to NT$211.5 billion at the end of September.
The bank’s overseas earnings rose 26 percent year-on-year to NT$8.2 billion, accounting for 43.1 percent of overall earnings.
The lender said that while its mortgage loan book expanded 19.58 percent year-on-year in the first nine months to NT$660 billion, it would no longer pursue growth in home loans next year, and would focus on overseas and foreign currency lending operations.
Cathay Financial reported that earnings in the first three quarters rose 23 percent year-on-year to NT$48.3 billion. Earnings per share were NT$3.81.
Meanwhile, Cathay Life Insurance executive vice president Lin Chao-ting (林昭廷) reiterated that the company’s share price has been persistently undervalued in relation to its embedded value, as investors have remained conservative about its prospects due to the nation’s low interest rate environment.
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) yesterday expressed a downbeat view about the prospects of humanoid robots, given high manufacturing costs and a lack of target customers. Despite rising demand and high expectations for humanoid robots, high research-and-development costs and uncertain profitability remain major concerns, Lam told reporters following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taoyuan. “Since it seems a bit unworthy to use such high-cost robots to do household chores, I believe robots designed for specific purposes would be more valuable and present a better business opportunity,” Lam said Instead of investing in humanoid robots, Quanta has opted to invest
EXPANSION: While Gigabyte Technology is optimistic about market demand this year, uncertainty remains due to the impact of potential US tariffs and currency fluctuations Motherboard and graphics card maker Gigabyte Technology Co (技嘉) yesterday said that it plans to launch an artificial intelligence (AI) server assembly line in the US in the second half of this year. The company’s core motherboard and graphics card businesses in the US remain stable, but sales of its higher-priced AI servers still hinge on the development of tariff policies, Gigabyte chairman Dandy Yeh (葉培城) told reporters following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taipei. Yeh was referring to the “reciprocal” tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump on April 2, which were later postponed for 90 days. While Gigabyte
RSS