The four major units of Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團), the nation’s largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday reported a combined net loss of NT$1.087 billion (US$34.4 million) for last year, due to a decrease in product prices amid China’s overcapacity and smaller sales volumes given the US tariff hikes.
The four units — Formosa Plastics Corp (台灣塑膠), Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠), Formosa Chemicals and Fibre Corp (台灣化學纖維) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) — had posted a combined net profit of NT$8.458 billion the year before.
The group’s poor performance was primarily driven by Formosa Plastics, as the group’s flagship company saw its net loss expand by NT$8.82 billion from the previous year to NT$10.05 billion, or NT$1.58 in losses per share, owing to sinking average product prices and sales volumes, the company’s regulatory filing showed.
Photo: Taipei Times File Photo
Annual revenue fell 12.3 percent to NT$175.4 billion, it showed.
In addition, Formosa Chemicals and Fibre, a producer of aromatics and styrenics, had a net loss of NT$5.488 billion last year, or NT$0.94 in losses per share — its first-ever annual losses — amid falling crude oil prices and poor market conditions, its regulatory filing showed. Annual revenue dropped 17.7 percent to NT$287.034 billion, the filing showed.
However, Formosa Petrochemical, the nation’s only listed oil refiner, reported that its net profit rose 65 percent to NT$9.941 billion, or earnings per share of NT$1.04, even though annual revenue was down 5.7 percent to NT$626.149 billion.
Nan Ya Plastics, the nation’s largest plastics maker, saw its net profit rise 35 percent to NT$4.51 billion, or earnings per share of NT$0.57, as income from electronic material products increased amid the artificial intelligence boom. Annual revenue rose slightly by 0.11 percent to NT$259.903 billion.
By taking into account last year’s performance and conservative prospects for this year, the group said it would issue year-end bonuses equivalent to three months of wages, the same as the past two years, for its employees later this month.
For this quarter, Formosa Plastics expects revenue to be lower than last quarter’s NT$41.104 billion, as the Lunar New Year holiday next month cuts the number of working days and eight plants enter regular maintenance cycles by the end of March, the company said.
Nan Ya Plastics expects this quarter’s revenue to stay flat from last quarter’s NT$64.458 billion, as the continued strong momentum in the electronic materials business offsets the impact of the Lunar New Year holiday, it said.
Formosa Petrochemicals and Formosa Chemicals are also conservative about this quarter, compared with last quarter's revenues of NT$143.805 billion and NT$62.001 billion respectively, citing the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday’s effect, with Formosa Petrochemicals pointing out the oversupply of global crude oil as a lingering issue from last year to add pressure to oil prices in the first half of this year, the companies said.
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