The 924 Taiwanese and 80 overseas companies with primary listings on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) reported combined pretax profit of NT$3.53 trillion (US$110.05 billion) for last year, down 25.96 percent from NT$4.76 trillion a year earlier, the exchange said yesterday.
The TWSE-listed firms generated NT$36.76 trillion in combined revenue, down 8.82 percent year-on-year from NT$40.31 trillion, the exchange said in a statement.
The decline in pretax profit came as listed companies encountered inventory adjustments amid a volatile and uncertain global economic environment, it said, citing factors such as inflation pressure, interest rate hikes by central banks globally and geopolitical tensions.
Photo: CNA
Listed companies that saw their profit drop last year were mainly those in the shipping, semiconductor and plastics sectors, it said.
However, 427 companies bucked the downtrend by posting gains in pretax profit, especially those in the financial services, automobile, and building material and construction sectors, due to improved market fundamentals, it added.
Financial services providers benefited from positive market conditions, which led to an increase in investment gains and handling fees last year, the TWSE said.
Firms in the automobile sector posted strong bottom lines last year due to improved supply of automotive chips and components, as well as the post-COVID-19 pandemic market boom, while newly completed houses contributed to profit increases in the building materials and construction sector, it said.
Meanwhile, the combined pretax profit of the 819 companies on the over-the-counter Taipei Exchange (TPEX) fell 20.93 percent to NT$265.6 billion last year, while their combined revenue dropped 6.18 percent to NT$2.55 trillion, the smaller exchange said in a separate statement.
The TPEX said that 308 firms posted higher profit than the previous year, led by those in the building materials and construction, financial services and tourism sectors.
Despite the decline in combined pretax profit, there are still many over-the-counter companies with sound fundamentals that deserve investors’ attention, it said, adding that 51 companies’ earnings per share (EPS) exceeded NT$10 and 106 firms’ EPS were between NT$5 and NT$10, while 181 were between NT$2 and NT$5.
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