Container cargo shipper Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運) is to give its employees an average mid-year bonus of about NT$1.34 million (US$43,802) per person after posting a net profit of more than NT$180 billion last year.
Most Taiwanese companies are expected to give workers smaller mid-year bonuses this year, but those in the shipping industry are to reward their employees with big bonuses after reporting strong profitability in the past year.
In a statement, Yang Ming Marine said the bonuses were being issued based on the company’s charter, which requires it to pay no less than 1 percent of its profits as mid-year bonuses to employees.
Photo: CNA
The company posted record net profit of NT$180.6 billion for last year, up 9.32 percent from a year earlier, while its consolidated sales also hit a high of NT$375.9 billion, up 12.6 percent from a year earlier.
Based on the NT$50,000 average monthly salary of Yang Ming Marine employees, the mid-year bonuses are expected to equal 26 to 27 months of salary and total NT$2.329 billion.
Yang Ming last week proposed to distribute a cash dividend of NT$20 per share after reporting earnings per share (EPS) of NT$51.71 last year, up from NT$48.28 in 2021. That translates into a payout ratio of 38.68 percent.
EVERGREEN
On Tuesday, bigger rival Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運) said it would distribute NT$1.918 billion in mid-year bonuses.
Evergreen Marine’s planned bonuses were about equal to 10 to 11 months of the average monthly salary of NT$60,000 for its 3,100 employees, after the company posted record net profit of NT$334.2 billion for last year, up 39.82 percent from a year earlier.
With EPS of NT$87.07, the shipper announced on Tuesday that it was proposing a cash dividend of NT$70 per share, equal to a payout ratio of about 80.4 percent.
WAN HAI
Wan Hai Lines Ltd (萬海航運), which did not perform as well last year as its two local rivals, plans to give its employees a total of NT$744 million in mid-year bonuses, but it did not provide employee numbers, making it hard to gauge the size of the bonus relative to average pay.
The company’s net profit last year fell 9.9 percent to NT$93.07 billion after Wan Hai reported a net loss in the fourth quarter. It has proposed paying a cash dividend of NT$5 per share based on its EPS of NT$33.17, a 15.07 percent payout ratio.
Wan Hai’s fourth-quarter loss and falling international container shipping rates were signs that the high demand of the past two years, when containers were in short supply and freight rates soared, has come to an end.
Evergreen Marine president Eric Hsieh (謝惠全) on Tuesday said that the global shipping industry could weaken in the first quarter before rebounding in the second quarter.
Any real comeback would have to wait until the second half of the year, with the key to the recovery hinging on the end of the war in Ukraine, Hsieh said.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
POWERING UP: PSUs for AI servers made up about 50% of Delta’s total server PSU revenue during the first three quarters of last year, the company said Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) reported record-high revenue of NT$161.61 billion (US$5.11 billion) for last quarter and said it remains positive about this quarter. Last quarter’s figure was up 7.6 percent from the previous quarter and 41.51 percent higher than a year earlier, and largely in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$160 billion. Delta’s annual revenue last year rose 31.76 percent year-on-year to NT$554.89 billion, also a record high for the company. Its strong performance reflected continued demand for high-performance power solutions and advanced liquid-cooling products used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
RSS