Listed companies’ gains from overseas investments excluding China hit a 10-year high in the first half of the year, data released by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) on Tuesday last week showed.
The firms made a combined profit of NT$624.8 billion (US$20.24 billion) in the first half, up NT$48.5 billion, or 8.42 percent, from a year earlier, because of rising shipping rates and robust demand for chips, it said.
The companies cover 724 firms listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and 561 companies on the Taipei Exchange, with the shipping, semiconductor and electronic component sectors reporting the largest gains, it said.
Photo: Maurice Tsai, Bloomberg
Benefiting from high freight rates, shipping companies reported a combined profit of NT$285 billion from their overseas investments, up 86.27 percent from a year earlier, while semiconductor firms posted a profit of NT$65.5 billion, up 34.5 percent annually, and electronic components suppliers made NT$84.9 billion in profit, up 5.47 percent, the data showed.
Accumulated overseas investments grew to NT$7.45 trillion as of the end of June, up by NT$307.2 billion from the end of last year, due to mergers and acquisitions and capital injections into foreign subsidiaries, the commission said.
Most new overseas investments were carried out by semiconductor companies, it said.
Meanwhile, listed companies reported a combined profit of NT$203.8 billion from their Chinese investments in the first six months, down 16.13 percent from a year earlier, but still the second-highest for the same period over the past decade, commission data showed.
The companies comprise 679 firms listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and 519 firms on the Taipei Exchange, the FSC said.
The commission attributed the decrease in Chinese investment gains to a disruption in the supply chain, especially for the computer, plastic and cement sectors, as well as to weaker market demand and rising raw material prices.
Accumulated Chinese investments rose to NT$2.64 trillion as of the end of June, up by NT$112.9 billion from the end of last year, the data showed.
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