Restaurant chain operator TTFB Co Ltd (瓦城泰統集團) yesterday said it plans to launch a global research and development (R&D) center in Taiwan and begin trial runs of its two centers in Los Angeles during the fourth quarter of this year, as it seeks to enter the US market.
The R&D center, which would be in Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢), aims to integrate five major functions — menu development, culinary training, logistics, food safety and resource management — as the company strives to comprehensively bolster its operational capabilities and accelerate global expansion efforts, TTFB said in a statement after its annual general meeting.
TTFB said its planned presence in the US is part of its efforts to maintain strong operating performance in the second half of the year while speeding up its global deployment plans.
Photo courtesy of TTFB Co Ltd
TTFB operates several Thai restaurant chains, including Thai Town Cuisine (瓦城泰式料理), Very Thai Restaurant (非常泰), 1010 Hunan Cuisine (1010湘), Bheart Noodles (大心新泰式麵食) and Shann Rice Bar (時時香), as well as Southeast Asian cuisine brand Yabi Kitchen, pad thai restaurant BoBo, American store The Diner (樂子) and Taiwanese cuisine restaurant Shann Shann (香香).
As of the end of April, the company said it was running 150 stores in Taiwan, adding that it aims to have 500 locations worldwide by 2030.
This year, TTFB continued to expand its market presence with its multi-brand strategy, as it hopes to achieve double-digit growth through a number of store openings, the company said.
As a result, consolidated revenue for the first five months of the year rose 3.34 percent year-on-year to NT$2.58 billion (US$87.1 million), the highest January-to-May figure in the company’s history, TTFB said.
Net profit in the first quarter increased 11.73 percent year-on-year to NT$100.35 million, with earnings per share of NT$2.56, company data showed.
Shareholders yesterday approved plans to distribute NT$8 in cash dividends per share and 0.1 percent in stock dividends based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$9.01.
The cash dividends represent a payout ratio of 88.79 percent, the company said.
TTFB posted a net profit of NT$352.63 million last year, down 19.87 percent year-on-year due to elevated price pressures, while revenue grew 6.15 percent from a year earlier to NT$6.08 billion, its regulatory filing showed.
INVESTOR RESILIENCE? An analyst said that despite near-term pressures, foreign investors tend to view NT dollar strength as a positive signal for valuation multiples Morgan Stanley has flagged a potential 10 percent revenue decline for Taiwan’s tech hardware sector this year, as a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar begins to dent the earnings power of major exporters. In what appears to be the first such warning from a major foreign brokerage, the US investment bank said the currency’s strength — fueled by foreign capital inflows and expectations of US interest rate cuts — is compressing profit margins for manufacturers with heavy exposure to US dollar-denominated revenues. The local currency has surged about 10 percent against the greenback over the past quarter and yesterday breached
MARKET FACTORS: Navitas Semiconductor Inc said that Powerchip is to take over from TSMC as its supplier of high-voltage gallium nitride chips Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday in a statement said that it would phase out its compound semiconductor gallium nitride (GaN) business over the next two years, citing market dynamics. The decision would not affect its financial targets announced previously, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker said. “We are working closely with our customers to ensure a smooth transition and remain committed to meeting their needs during this period,” it said. “Our focus continues to be on delivering sustained value to our partners and the market.” TSMC’s latest move came unexpectedly, as the chipmaker had said in its annual report that it has
SECURITY WARNING: The company possesses key 3-nanometer technology, and Taiwan should prevent it from being transferred to China, a lawmaker said The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said it would conduct a “strict review” of any proposed acquisition of Taiwanese tech company Source Photonics Co (索爾思光電), following media reports that a Chinese firm was planning to buy the company in the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區). Local media reported that Suzhou Dongshan Precision Manufacturing Co (東山精密), China’s largest printed circuit board manufacturer, had announced plans to acquire Source Photonics for 5.9 billion yuan (US$823.1 million). The ministry said it has not received an application from Source Photonics and has formally notified the company that any buyout would constitute a change in its ownership structure. The
ELECTRONICS: Strong growth in cloud services and smart consumer electronics offset computing declines, helping the company to maintain sales momentum, Hon Hai said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday announced that its sales for last month rose 10 percent year-on-year, driven by strong growth in cloud and networking products amid the ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company, also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), reported consolidated sales of NT$540.24 billion (US$18.67 billion) for the month, the highest ever for the period, and a 10.09 percent increase from a year earlier, although it was down 12.26 percent from the previous month. Hon Hai, which is Apple Inc’s primary iPhone assembler and makes servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators, said its cloud
RSS