Hiwin Technologies Corp (上銀科技), which makes machine tools like ballscrews and linear guideways, on Friday last week said that its board had approved a plan to distribute a cash dividend of NT$2.7 and a stock dividend of 3 percent per share this year.
The dividend plan is based on the company’s earnings last year of NT$2.02 billion (US$66.29 million), or NT$7.96 per share, according to the company’s filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Earnings last year were 0.5 percent higher than the NT$2.01 billion, or NT$7.91 per share, it made in 2012, the filing showed.
The proposed cash dividend translates into a payout ratio of 33.92 percent, which is slightly lower than the 34.13 percent a year ago, and a dividend yield of 0.95 percent, based on its share price of NT$283 on Friday.
The plan still has to be approved at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting, which is scheduled for June 27.
Hiwin posted a revenue of NT$12.44 billion last year, up 0.57 percent from NT$12.37 billion a year ago, the filing said.
Daiwa Capital Markets on Wednesday upgraded Hiwin to “buy” from “outperform” and raised its target price for the company to NT$385 from NT$300, citing its strong outlook on the back of the improvement in the purchasing managers’ index in Europe since October last year.
“Our research on Taiwanese machine-tool makers shows strong growth momentum in sales of machine tools in Europe. This is especially important for Hiwin, in our view, as Europe accounts for a high proportion, or about 25 percent, of the firm’s total sales,” Daiwa analysts Christine Wang (王琦清) and John Lai said in a report.
Wang and Lai added that they expected the demand recovery in Europe to be sustainable.
Hiwin is likely to post a revenue of NT$15.87 billion and profit of NT$3.05 billion this year, Daiwa said.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘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