Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that it might distribute a cash dividend next year, suggesting it may this year become profitable without significant asset impairments.
The company last year posted a net loss of NT$24.47 billion (US$850.89 million), due to a slump in China’s auto market, and a combined asset impairment of NT$5.13 billion from affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and its brand business Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷). That translated into a net loss per share of NT$16.61.
Besides, a sharp increase in domestic travel also stimulates sales of new cars and replacement demand, he added.
Photo courtesy of Yulon Motor Co
Yulon Nissan has received a pre-order of 200 vehicles for its new compact crossover Juke, better than its expectation, Lee said. This year, the company only has a sales quota of 300 Juke, which is to be launched today, he said.
Meanwhile, sales of new Sentra sedan also surpassed the company’s expectation, he said. The company has sold more than 3,500 vehicles since its launch last month, he added.
Yulon Nissan posted NT$3.82 billion in net profit for the first three quarters, plunging 24.5 percent from NT$5.06 billion in the same period last year, while earnings per share dropped to NT$12.74 from NT$16.88.
In the first three quarters of this year, Yulon Motor posted a net profit of NT$1.51 billion, or earnings per share of NT$1.54, as the company’s restructuring efforts bore fruit.
However, the automaker last quarter absorbed a NT$800 million impairment loss from its hybrid engine module technology business as the company’s new vehicle venture — Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co Ltd (鴻華先進科技), with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) — targets the electric vehicle market, rather than hybrid vehicles.
“The company usually takes a conservative attitude about booking asset impairments,” Yulon Motor spokesman Steven Lo (羅文邑) told an investors’ conference in Taipei. “We do not expect any substantial impairment in the fourth quarter. There is a good chance for the company to distribute a cash dividend next year.”
In previous years, the company reported a payout ratio of between 45 percent and 54 percent for dividends.
The company might pay a higher ratio next year, Lo said.
Yulon Motor also said that the opening of a commercial real-estate development project in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) might be delayed by about two quarters to the fourth quarter of 2022 due to construction delays.
Bookstore operator Eslite Spectrum Corp (誠品生活) would be one of its tenants, it added.
Separately, Yulon Nissan Motor Co Ltd (裕隆日產), 50 percent owned by Yulon Motor, forecast that the local vehicle market would rise to 431,000 units this year, up from 427,000 last year.
The nation’s market rebounded strongly from a slump in the three months starting in February, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Yulon Nissan president Leman Lee (李振成) told investors.
Vehicle sales increased as people avoided public transportation to prevent contracting COVID-19, he said.
Besides, a sharp increase in domestic travel also stimulates sales of new cars and replacement demand, he added.
Yulon Nissan has received a pre-order of 200 vehicles for its new compact crossover Juke, better than its expectation, Lee said. This year, the company only has a sales quota of 300 Juke, which is to be launched today, he said.
Meanwhile, sales of new Sentra sedan also surpassed the company’s expectation, he said. The company has sold more than 3,500 vehicles since its launch last month, he added.
Yulon Nissan posted NT$3.82 billion in net profit for the first three quarters, plunging 24.5 percent from NT$5.06 billion in the same period last year, while earnings per share dropped to NT$12.74 from NT$16.88.
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