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.
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,
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,
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to