Formosa International Hotels Corp (FIH, 晶華國際酒店集團) yesterday proposed to distribute a cash dividend of NT$12.39 per share although the COVID-19 pandemic continues to weigh on its business operations.
The dividend scheme followed the Taipei-based hospitality provider’s announcement that net profit last year increased more than threefold to NT$2.24 billion (US$78.46 million), while consolidated revenue fell 9.08 percent to NT$4.93 billion from a year earlier.
The financial results translated into earnings per share of NT$17.09, up 182.35 percent from a year earlier, company data showed.
Photo: CNA
A soft lockdown in May last year due to a local COVID-19 outbreak took a toll on the company’s food and beverage sales, while border controls continue to constrain its guestroom business, FIH said.
However, the sale of its stake in Pizzavest Co Ltd (達美樂披薩), the operator of Domino’s Taiwan, to Australia-listed fast-food operator Dominio’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd raked in NT$1.64 billion and accounted for the aggressive profit growth, it said.
The dividend proposal represents a yield of 7.38 percent based on the company’s closing price of NT$168 per share yesterday, following a 2.75 percent gain that outpaced the TAIEX’s 0.98 percent rise.
The conglomerate, which operates hotels under the Silks Place (晶英酒店) and Just Sleep Hotel & Resort (捷絲旅) brands throughout Taiwan, said that it is repositioning Regent Taipei (台北晶華酒店) as an urban resort, while properties in Yilan, Tainan and Hualien counties are faring well, thanks to a boom in domestic tourism.
FIH said it has launched numerous promotional campaigns, but they have had limited success for Regent Taipei, its flagship property in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山), due to its heavy dependence on foreign travelers.
Shortening the quarantine requirement from 14 to 10 days would have little benefit, as many companies around the world have grown used to meeting online over the past two years, FIH chairman Steven Pan (潘思亮) said, adding that the trend is likely to continue.
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