China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), Taiwan’s largest carrier, made its biggest quarterly profit in five years because of an economic rebound and the addition of more flights to China.
The carrier had a net income of NT$1.18 billion (US$37 million) in the three months ended December, compared with a loss of NT$19.9 billion a year earlier.
The fourth-quarter profit, derived from full-year results announced yesterday, was less than the NT$1.27 billion median of five analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. However, the quarterly figure was the highest since the third quarter of 2004.
CAL and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) boosted services to China, after the two sides across the Taiwan Strait agreed to more than double the total number of cross-strait flights to 270 a week from Aug. 31. Travel and cargo demand also improved as Taiwan exited a recession.
“China Airlines is out of the woods now, as demand has returned to levels before the global financial crisis,” said Peter Tzeng (曾耀德), a Taipei-based Polaris Securities Co (寶來證券), who has an “equalweight” rating on the stock. “The golden routes with China have helped.”
CAL’s loss narrowed to NT$3.8 billion last year, or NT$1.04 a share, from NT$32.4 billion, or NT$10.25 in 2008, it said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday. The carrier made a full-year gain of NT$2.53 billion from revaluing financial assets, such as fuel-hedging contracts.
Shares of CAL fell 0.9 percent to NT$11.05 at the close of trading in Taipei. The benchmark TAIEX index rose 0.19 percent.
Separately, the company said its board yesterday approved a proposal to issue as much as NT$5 billion in unsecured bonds in a private placement to repay debt. The three-year bonds would have an interest rate of 2.8 percent, a separate exchange filing said yesterday.
As the company continued losses last year, CAL said its board proposed canceling distribution of dividends to shareholders, while its board of directors would receive no compensation and no bonuses for employees, the company said in a separate exchange filing yesterday.
The carrier will seek shareholder approval for the bond sale and other proposals at the June 29 annual general meeting.
Additional reporting by Kevin Chen
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
RSS