Companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) saw their combined pretax profit increase more last quarter than in the second quarter, thanks to profit growth in the semiconductor, shipping and electronic components sectors, exchange data showed yesterday.
The combined pretax profit of the TWSE’s 953 listed companies, not including 14 financial firms, rose 17.5 percent year-on-year to NT$940 billion (US$30.22 billion) last quarter, higher than the second quarter’s 5.5 percent increase, but lower than the first quarter’s 27 percent rise, TWSE data showed.
TWSE-listed companies’ cumulative pretax profit for the first three quarters rose 14.93 percent annually to NT$3.64 trillion, less than the 92 percent annual increase recorded during the same period last year, when local companies benefited from an economic recovery, robust global demand for tech gadgets and skyrocketing shipping rates, the exchange said.
Photo: Maurice Tsai, Bloomberg
For this year, the main growth momentum came from the semiconductor sector, which benefited from increased demand for emerging technologies such as 5G applications, high-performance computing devices and automotive electronics, despite lower demand for consumer electronics, it said.
Even though shipping rates have dropped this year due to eased congestion at seaports worldwide, they are still high, benefiting local shipping firms, the exchange said, adding that shipping companies also benefited from the appreciation of the greenback against the New Taiwan dollar as their contracts are generally US dollar-denominated.
Meanwhile, suppliers of electronic components benefited from stable demand for 5G devices and automotive electronics, the TWSE said.
However, the flat panel, plastics and steel sectors saw a decline in cumulative pretax profit, due to inflation, rising prices of raw materials and cooler property markets, it said.
Among TWSE-listed companies, the 876 locally based firms reported that cumulative pretax profit increased 14.5 percent annually to NT$3.54 trillion, while the 77 companies registered overseas posted a 32 percent increase to NT$103.3 billion.
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