Kaohsiung-based screw manufacturer Sheh Fung Screws Co (世豐螺絲) yesterday said it is positive about its business prospects, thanks to robust demand from home improvement projects and increased infrastructure spending abroad.
Sheh Fung shed light on its prospects during a shareholders’ meeting, which approved the company’s proposal to distribute a stock dividend of 10 percent and a cash dividend of NT$1.97 per share based on last year’s net income of NT$152 million (US$5.42 million), or NT$3.71 per share. That would translate into a payout ratio of nearly 80 percent.
Demand from do-it-yourself home improvement projects remains healthy in the US, and US President Joe Biden’s massive infrastructure spending program would further lend support, it said.
The company also expects its products to benefit from a pickup in the property market and increased building applications.
The US accounted for 74 percent of its sales in the first quarter, while Asia contributed 10 percent, it said.
Sheh Fung has not released its second-quarter results.
It said it is in talks with customers to raise prices to reflect increases in production costs.
Screw material suppliers have said they intend to increase selling prices this quarter, it added.
The company aims to strengthen its product lineup and inventory management to boost its proficiency, it said.
Shares of Sheh Fung edged up 0.19 percent to close at NT$52.50 in Taipei trading yesterday, outperforming the TPEX’s 0.07 percent gain, Taipei Exchange data showed.
Alphabet Inc’s Google on Tuesday announced plans to buy a New York office building for US$2.1 billion, confirming its push into the US’ largest city despite the COVID-19 teleworking trend. This is the largest real-estate purchase in the US for an office building since the beginning of the global spread of COVID-19, the Wall Street Journal quoted Real Capital Analytics as saying. Google already rents the premises in Manhattan, which are located on the site of a former railroad terminal in the Hudson Square neighborhood. The Silicon Valley giant envisions a campus with a total surface area of 160,000m2 by mid-2023
‘CORE VALUES’: The contract chipmaker did not specify why the employees were dismissed, but media reports said they had leaked information about customer orders Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has fired seven of its employees for violating the company’s “core values,” the world’s largest contract chipmaker said yesterday. While the company did not disclose exactly why it fired the seven employees, local media reports earlier in the day said that the employees had leaked confidential information about customer orders. In a statement, the company said that it fired the seven at once, adding that it released an internal notice last week to inform the entire company of the move ahead of the four-day Mid-Autumn Festival holilday, which ended on Tuesday. TSMC said it fired the seven
Cash-strapped developer China Evergrande Group (恆大集團) has begun repaying investors in its wealth management products with real estate, said Hengda Real Estate Group Co Ltd (恆大地產), its main unit. Evergrande, with more than US$300 billion in liabilities, is in the throes of a liquidity crisis that has left it racing to raise funds to pay its many lenders and suppliers. It has a bond interest payment of US$83.5 million due on Thursday. The company said on WeChat on Saturday that investors interested in redeeming wealth management products for physical assets should contact their investment consultants or visit local offices. Financial news outlet Caixin on
MILD ADJUSTMENT: Two previous efforts failed to curtail mortgage financing, although the new measures should not affect property prices, the central bank governor said The central bank yesterday tightened credit controls for second-home mortgages in specific areas and purchases of plots of land, especially in industrial parks. However, the nation’s top monetary policymaker kept its policy rate at a record-low 1.125 percent for the sixth consecutive quarter, despite revising up its GDP growth forecast for this year from 5.08 percent to 5.75 percent. “Board members factored in economic uncertainty at home and around the world,” central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) said, adding that growing inflationary pressure was a temporary phenomenon induced by bad weather and a low base effect for oil prices. International fuel price increases
RSS