Top Continental Holdings Corp (CHC, 欣陸控股) officials yesterday pledged that the company would emerge stronger from overseas investment losses last year that saw the group’s profitability plummet 95 percent from its 2018 earnings.
Profitability last year was NT$97 million (US$3.23 million), or earnings per share (EPS) of NT$0.12, compared with NT$1.94 billion and EPS of NT$2.36 the previous year.
As of this year, losses linked to projects in India and overseas investments would no longer impact the group’s civil engineering subsidiary, Continental Engineering Corp (CEC, 大陸工程), CHC chief executive Cindy Chang (張方欣) told a media briefing in Taipei ahead of the group’s annual shareholders’ meeting on Friday next week.
The conglomerate also owns Continental Development Corp (CDC, 大陸建設) and HDEC Corp (欣達環工), which specializes in wastewater treatment.
ENGINEERING PLANS
CEC chief executive officer Simon Buttery said that the company closed last year with a NT$70 billion backlog, equivalent to three-and-a-half years of turnover, and in line with its strategic business growth plan through 2025.
A sizeable proportion of the backlog came from new contracts, including the Taoyuan MRT Project and Nangang Depot Public Housing project, Buttery said.
He is confident Taiwan would make further investment in civil infrastructure, he added.
NEW OPPORTUNITIES
CEC would explore civil opportunities related to conventional and renewable energy, as well as business opportunities from building demand in the residential and hospitality sectors, he said.
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted supply of construction materials and workers for projects in Hong Kong, but the situation might stabilize in the second half of the year, Buttery said.
To mitigate the global shortage of construction manpower, CEC is looking at new technologies to reduce its dependence on human labor, he said.
CDC chairman Christopher Chang (張良吉) said the group’s development arm sold NT$5.9 billion of properties in Taiwan last year, a 28 percent increase from 2018.
PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT
CDC plans to launch projects valued at NT$28 billion this year, he said.
It has sold 80 percent of an upcoming residential complex in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) in less than three months, despite the virus outbreak, Christopher Chang said.
A luxury home project in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) has been 90 percent sold, he said, adding: “The results show locations matter.”
The pandemic is pushing back construction on mixed-use complexes in San Francisco and Malaysia, but construction might resume later this month, he said.
The group has proposed distributing a NT$0.5 per share cash dividend, despite last year’s lackluster earnings.
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