Automobile and motorcycle manufacturer Sanyang Industry Co (三陽工業) is expecting an increase in domestic and foreign sales this year, after the company swung back into profit last year, chairman Wu Chin-yuan (吳清源) said on Thursday.
The company is aiming to capture 23 percent of the domestic motorcycle market this year, after securing a 20.22 percent market share the previous year, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister publication of the Taipei Times) quoted Wu as saying at a news conference in Taipei.
Sanyang, the nation’s third-largest motorcycle maker under the SYM brand, sold 202,120 motorcycles in the domestic market last year — its highest toal in nine years — lifting its market share by 4.45 percentage points from 15.77 percent, Wu said.
The company is to focus on Europe, ASEAN states, Central and South America, as well as emerging markets in Africa and the Middle East this year by leveraging its manufacturing resources in Taiwan, China and Vietnam, Wu said.
Electric scooter technology is not a problem for Sanyang, as the firm produced the nation’s first electric scooter about 20 years ago and it is paying attention to global market trends, and plans to introduce its new electric models at the annual Milan Motorcycle Show later this year, Wu said.
Sanyang, which also assembles and distributes passenger cars for South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co, also gave a positive outlook for that business this year.
The company said it plans to introduce Hyundai Kona sports utility vehicles (SUVs) in the third quarter and new Grand Starex commercial vans in the second half of this year.
Upgraded versions of Hyundai Elantra passenger cars, Tucson medium SUVs and Porter lightweight pickup trucks will also enter the local market later this year, as Sanyang aims to sell 120,000 cars, up 10 percent from last year, Wu added.
Last year, the company reported cumulative revenue of NT$31.68 billion (US$1.09 billion), down 10.45 percent from NT$35.45 billion a year earlier, but gross margin improved by 1.91 percentage points to 17.49 percent, with a net profit of NT$509.14 million, compared with a net loss of NT$321.86 million in 2016, a company financial statement said.
With earnings per share of NT$0.6, Sanyang said the company’s board has proposed a cash dividend of NT$1 per share, which is subject to shareholder approval at an annual general meeting scheduled for June 21.
Shares in Sanyang dropped 0.47 percent to NT$21.4 in Taipei trading yesterday.
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