Taroko Textile Corp (大魯閣纖維), a textile company aiming to transform itself into an operator of small-sized sports and recreation centers, said yesterday that it aims to set up 20 centers in China in the next three years after the first center it built in China’s Jiangsu province became profitable in the second month of operation.
The company launched the first center in April in a mall built by Japan-based retail and financial service provider Aeon Group in a suburban area of Jiangsu, and the center generated revenue of a 650,000 yuan (US$96,700) in May, exceeding its break-even point of 400,000 yuan a month, Rex Lin (林志松), CEO of the company’s overseas operations, said yesterday.
Jerry Hsu (許俊麒), vice president of Taroko, said that sales were higher than the company had forecast, as the suburban mall attracted more customers than they expected.
Taroko is expected to launch a center in Chengdu, China in October and another in Jinan, Shandong, China by the end of this year, Hsu said, adding that the company has high hopes for its Chengdu center.
Taroko’s sports and recreation center in Chengdu is located in a complex of department stores and office buildings built by Hong Kong-based real estate developer Wharf (Holdings) Ltd (九龍倉), and Taroko expects sales at the center to be higher than the one in Jiangsu, Hsu said.
By the end of next year, Taroko aims to increase the number of its centers in China to 10, Hsu said.
The 30 centers in Taiwan generated revenue of NT$66.7 million (US$2.22 million) last year, accounting for 7.43 percent of Taroko’s revenue of NT$897.94 million last year, according to the company.
With 92.57 percent of its revenue from the textile division, sales from its real-estate development and sports and recreation divisions will rise to above 50 percent from 2016, after its new mall in Greater Kaohsiung becomes operational at the end of next year, Hsu said.
The company plans to spend NT$4 billion to build the mall, which is the first project of the company’s real estate development division, and the mall is expected to generate NT$5 billion a year starting 2016, according to Taroko.
From January through last month, Taroko reported revenue of NT$429.32 million, down 12.13 percent from NT$488.59 million a year ago, according to the company’s filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Hsu said the decline was because the company closed its weaving division in China last year due to low profit margins.
Last quarter, the company registered losses of NT$60.76 million, up 4.67 percent from losses of NT$58.03 million the previous year, according to the filing.
Hsu said it would be difficult for the company to get back into the black this year because its real-estate development division would incur losses of NT$100 million in both this year and next year by building the mall in Kaohsiung.
However, Taroko has land properties with a market value of NT$1 billion, which could boost its profit if it can sell them, Hsu said.
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
‘LEGACY CHIPS’: Chinese companies have dramatically increased mature chip production capacity, but the West’s drive for secure supply chains offers a lifeline for Taiwan When Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) entered a deal with the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access to the promising Chinese market. However, nine years later, that Chinese foundry, Nexchip Semiconductor Corp (合晶集成), has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip space, leveraging steep discounts after Beijing’s localization call forced Powerchip to give up the once-lucrative business making integrated circuits for Chinese flat panels. Nexchip is among Chinese foundries quickly winning market share in the crucial US$56.3 billion industry of so-called legacy
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday held its first board of directors meeting in the US, at which it did not unveil any new US investments despite mounting tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, prompting market speculation that TSMC might consider boosting its chip capacity in the US or ramping up production of advanced chips such as those using a 2-nanometer technology process at its Arizona fabs ahead of schedule. Speculation also swirled that the chipmaker might consider building its own advanced packaging capacity in the US as part
A move by US President Donald Trump to slap a 25 percent tariff on all steel imports is expected to place Taiwan-made steel, which already has a 25 percent tariff, on an equal footing, the Taiwan Steel & Iron Industries Association said yesterday. Speaking with CNA, association chairman Hwang Chien-chih (黃建智) said such an equal footing is expected to boost Taiwan’s competitive edge against other countries in the US market, describing the tariffs as "positive" for Taiwanese steel exporters. On Monday, Trump signed two executive orders imposing the new metal tariffs on imported steel and aluminum with no exceptions and exemptions, effective
RSS