China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), the nation’s largest carrier, yesterday reported its sixth quarterly loss in a row, caused by the slowing global economy.
But the Taipei-based carrier saw improved financial results in the first quarter, thanks to falling oil prices, increased cross-strait flights and effective cost control measures, CAL said in a statement.
The company’s net loss totaled NT$2.96 billion (US$89 million), or NT$0.62 per share in the first three months of the year, CAL said. That compared with a net loss of NT$2.97 billion a year earlier and a loss of NT$19.94 billion in the previous quarter.
The last time CAL saw a quarterly profit was in the third quarter of 2007, when it posted NT$775 million.
On a positive note, the company saw an operating profit of NT$430 million for the quarter — also its first since the third quarter of 2007 — representing growth from NT$2.46 billion in losses a year earlier.
In terms of non-operating expenses and losses for the first quarter, CAL posted a fuel-hedging loss of NT$2.59 billion and a cost of NT$867 million for convertible bonds with a special reset price in February.
Despite economic challenges, CAL said it expects to see rising quarterly revenue for the rest of the year because of more flights between Taiwan and China, as well as continued capacity adjustments and cost controls.
Revenue in the first quarter fell 26 percent year-on-year to NT$23.1 billion, and was down 18 percent from the previous quarter. The carrier attributed the drop mainly to a decline of 53 percent in cargo business, compared with a drop of only 7 percent in passenger traffic.
CAL shares rose limit-up to NT$9.03 yesterday. The shares have risen 18.5 percent this year, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) expects its addressable market to grow by a low single-digit percentage this year, lower than the overall foundry industry’s 15 percent expansion and the global semiconductor industry’s 10 percent growth, the contract chipmaker said yesterday after reporting the worst profit in four-and-a-half years in the fourth quarter of last year. Growth would be fueled by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, a moderate recovery in consumer electronics and an increase in semiconductor content, UMC said. “UMC’s goal is to outgrow our addressable market while maintaining our structural profitability,” UMC copresident Jason Wang (王石) told an online earnings
Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登精密), the sole extreme ultraviolet (EUV) pod supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), is aiming to expand revenue to NT$10 billion (US$304.8 million) this year, as it expects the artificial intelligence (AI) boom to drive demand for wafer delivery pods and pods used in advanced packaging technology. That suggests the firm’s revenue could grow as much as 53 percent this year, after it posted a 28.91 percent increase to NT$6.55 billion last year, exceeding its 20 percent growth target. “We usually set an aggressive target internally to drive further growth. This year, our target is to
The TAIEX ended the Year of the Dragon yesterday up about 30 percent, led by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電). The benchmark index closed up 225.40 points, or 0.97 percent, at 23,525.41 on the last trading session of the Year of the Dragon before the Lunar New Year holiday ushers in the Year of the Snake. During the Year of the Dragon, the TAIEX rose 5,429.34 points, the highest ever, while the 30 percent increase in the year was the second-highest behind only a 30.84 percent gain in the Year of the Rat from Jan. 25, 2020, to Feb.
Cryptocurrencies gave a lukewarm reception to US President Donald Trump’s first policy moves on digital assets, notching small gains after he commissioned a report on regulation and a crypto reserve. Bitcoin has been broadly steady since Trump took office on Monday and was trading at about US$105,000 yesterday as some of the euphoria around a hoped-for revolution in cryptocurrency regulation ebbed. Smaller cryptocurrency ether has likewise had a fairly steady week, although was up 5 percent in the Asia day to US$3,420. Bitcoin had been one of the most spectacular “Trump trades” in financial markets, gaining 50 percent to break above US$100,000 and
RSS