Golden Friends Corp (崇友), one of the nation’s leading suppliers of elevators and escalators, on Friday said it was cautiously optimistic about business in the second quarter, after first-quarter profit fell 3.45 percent from a year earlier.
The company said it would continue to optimize its product mix amid the COVID-19 pandemic and was positive about new elevator business from high-rise buildings and Taiwanese firms returning from abroad.
Its maintenance, repair and replacement businesses are expected to see steady growth in light of the many aging elevators nationwide, it said in a statement.
With the completion of a new large-scale elevator project at China Medical University in Taichung and the replacement of old elevators at National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei this quarter, its three major businesses would show steady growth, the company said.
Golden Friends’ positive outlook came after it reported net profit dropped 3.77 percent year-on-year to NT$197.92 million (US$6.62 million) in the first quarter and consolidated revenue fell 3.13 percent to NT$998.29 million.
Earnings per share were NT$1.12, down from NT$1.16 in the first quarter of last year.
The company said it had seen clear benefits from its commitment to its replacement and maintenance-repair businesses, as it replaced more than 100 elevators and repaired more than 36,000 elevators in the first quarter.
Gross margin and operating margin improved to 35 percent and 22 percent respectively, it said in the statement.
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