Real estate brokers Hiyes International Co (海悅國際開發) and Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) both saw their earnings bolstered by a pickup in property transactions in the first quarter of this year, and expect the growth momentum to sustain this quarter and beyond.
Net profit at Hiyes soared to NT$919.11 million (US$28.44 million) from NT$30.41 million a year earlier, with earnings per share (EPS) rising from NT$0.26 to NT$7.93, the nation’s largest real estate agency by market share said in a statement on Monday.
The showing came after Hiyes’ net profit last year gained 77.16 percent to a record NT$1.66 billion, with EPS of NT$13.86, which allowed the firm to propose a NT$7 per share cash dividend and a NT$2 stock dividend pending approval at the company’s annual general meeting on June 18.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
Hiyes attributed its first-quarter performance to the nation’s buoyant economy, government interest subsidies and other favorable lending terms for first-home purchases.
Furthermore, capacity expansion plans by major local technology firms, chiefly Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), helped create jobs in different parts of the nation and lent support to real demand for new housing, the company said.
Hiyes also reaped NT$255 million in profit contributions from its private equity investments in construction companies, as the company continues to diversify its income sources to offset uneven seasonal profit distributions, it said.
Developers cannot recognize profits until completing construction of presale houses and delivering them to the buyers, largely in the fourth quarter of the year. The accounting rules make earnings in the slow season look weak.
The current quarter is a relatively low season, but Hiyes has accumulated more than NT$100 billion of projects, which would help subdue unfavorable seasonal effects, it said.
Hiyes said it is positive about its mid to long-term earnings outlook, as it has made arrangements to book profits from investments and non-core operations.
Sinyi Realty, the nation’s only listed broker, posted NT$459 million in net income during the first quarter of the year, a 8.42 percent decline from a year earlier, with EPS of NT$0.62.
The retreat came even though existing home transactions last quarter rebounded 26 percent to 81,000 units, lifting its income by 46.86 percent to NT$995 million, the company said.
However, the company’s property development arm failed to report any profits, it said.
Sinyi is not worried about its financial results going forward, saying that the property market would likely continue to recover on the back of the government’s interest subsidies and the wealth effect linked to the rising TAIEX.
When an apartment comes up for rent in Germany’s big cities, hundreds of prospective tenants often queue down the street to view it, but the acute shortage of affordable housing is getting scant attention ahead of today’s snap general election. “Housing is one of the main problems for people, but nobody talks about it, nobody takes it seriously,” said Andreas Ibel, president of Build Europe, an association representing housing developers. Migration and the sluggish economy top the list of voters’ concerns, but analysts say housing policy fails to break through as returns on investment take time to register, making the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
NOT TO WORRY: Some people are concerned funds might continue moving out of the country, but the central bank said financial account outflows are not unusual in Taiwan Taiwan’s outbound investments hit a new high last year due to investments made by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and other major manufacturers to boost global expansion, the central bank said on Thursday. The net increase in outbound investments last year reached a record US$21.05 billion, while the net increase in outbound investments by Taiwanese residents reached a record US$31.98 billion, central bank data showed. Chen Fei-wen (陳斐紋), deputy director of the central bank’s Department of Economic Research, said the increase was largely due to TSMC’s efforts to expand production in the US and Japan. Investments by Vanguard International
WARNING SHOT: The US president has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all imported vehicles, and similar or higher duties on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors US President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that a trade deal with China was “possible” — a key target in the US leader’s tariffs policy. The US in 2020 had already agreed to “a great trade deal with China” and a new deal was “possible,” Trump said. Trump said he expected Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to visit the US, without giving a timeline for his trip. Trump also said that he was talking to China about TikTok, as the US seeks to broker a sale of the popular app owned by Chinese firm ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動). Trump last week said that he had
RSS