Housing agency Hiyes International Co (海悅國際開發) and elevator maker Golden Friends Corp (崇友實業) are expecting stable business growth this year, as the local property market steadily emerges from a slowdown induced by economic uncertainty and tight monetary policy.
Hiyes said business visibility is better this quarter from a year earlier, judging by agency cases and construction revenue.
Things might be quieter during the second quarter of the year, as developers would seek to digest unsold houses and launch major presale projects in the third and fourth quarters that would generate billions of revenue, it said.
Photo: CNA
Hiyes said it is cautiously assessing whether to undertake urban renewal projects in Taipei and New Taipei City in a bid to diversify its income sources and strengthen its competitive edge.
The company in December last year recognized construction revenue of NT$2.47 billion (US$78.02 million) from a mixed-use complex in Taichung, which helped boost net income to NT$1.66 billion for the whole of last year, or earnings per share of NT$13.86.
The results represent a 77.16 percent improvement from 2022 on the back of strong demand after the government in August last year introduced interest subsidies and other favorable lending terms for first-home purchases regardless of the age of the buyer.
Hiyes last week said that it plans to distribute a NT$7 per share in cash dividend and another NT$2 stock dividend from last year’s earnings, equivalent to a payout ratio of 64.9 percent.
Elevator maker Golden Friends last week posted record-high earnings per share of NT$5.06 for last year, up 5.57 percent from a year earlier, thanks to stable demand, maintenance requirements and the divestment of an office building in Kaohsiung.
Revenue last year grew 11.16 percent to NT$5.27 billion, the company said, due to more elevator demand from new residential complexes and office buildings.
The company has proposed distributing a NT$4 per share cash dividend from last year’s earnings, indicating a payout ratio of 80 percent.
The company said it has a guarded, but optimistic view for this year with ample orders on hand that would provide profit momentum.
The company said that it is to introduce artificial intelligence and environment-friendly technologies when developing new elevators.
UNCERTAINTIES: Exports surged 34.1% and private investment grew 7.03% to outpace expectations in the first half, although US tariffs could stall momentum The Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) yesterday raised its GDP growth forecast to 3.05 percent this year on a robust first-half performance, but warned that US tariff threats and external uncertainty could stall momentum in the second half of the year. “The first half proved exceptionally strong, allowing room for optimism,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “But the growth momentum may slow moving forward due to US tariffs.” The tariff threat poses definite downside risks, although the scale of the impact remains unclear given the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump’s policies, Lien said. Despite the headwinds, Taiwan is likely
When Lika Megreladze was a child, life in her native western Georgian region of Guria revolved around tea. Her mother worked for decades as a scientist at the Soviet Union’s Institute of Tea and Subtropical Crops in the village of Anaseuli, Georgia, perfecting cultivation methods for a Georgian tea industry that supplied the bulk of the vast communist state’s brews. “When I was a child, this was only my mum’s workplace. Only later I realized that it was something big,” she said. Now, the institute lies abandoned. Yellowed papers are strewn around its decaying corridors, and a statue of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin
UNIFYING OPPOSITION: Numerous companies have registered complaints over the potential levies, bringing together rival automakers in voicing their reservations US President Donald Trump is readying plans for industry-specific tariffs to kick in alongside his country-by-country duties in two weeks, ramping up his push to reshape the US’ standing in the global trading system by penalizing purchases from abroad. Administration officials could release details of Trump’s planned 50 percent duty on copper in the days before they are set to take effect on Friday next week, a person familiar with the matter said. That is the same date Trump’s “reciprocal” levies on products from more than 100 nations are slated to begin. Trump on Tuesday said that he is likely to impose tariffs
Japan is heavily investing in a new kind of ultra-thin, flexible solar panel that it hopes will help it meet renewable energy goals while challenging China’s dominance of the sector. Pliable perovskite panels are perfect for mountainous Japan, with its shortage of flat plots for traditional solar farms. A key component of the panels is iodine, something Japan produces more of than any country but Chile. The push faces some obstacles: Perovskite panels contain toxic lead, and, for now, produce less power and have shorter lifespans than their silicon counterparts. Still, with a goal of net zero by 2050 and a desire to
RSS