In the News: 2006

Taiwan’s Golf Equipment Makers Enjoyed Rich Harvest in Q1
     
Taiwan Economic News
17 May 2006

Taiwan’s leading golf club and head manufacturers, including O-TA Precision Industry Co., Advanced International Multitech Co. (AIM), Fu Sheng Industrial Co., and Dynamic Precision Casting Mfg., Co., all reaped a good harvest in the first quarter of this year.

Thanks to growing ODM (original design manufacture) orders from its clients-Ping and Nike, O-TA enjoyed an annual revenue rise of 69.13% in the first quarter, translating into after-tax earnings per share (EPS) of NT$2.77 (US$0.082 at US$1 = NT$34), the highest among golf club and head makers on the island.

In the same quarter, ATM’s revenues posted a modest annual growth of 9.56%, far behind that of O-TA. But the firm still raked in robust profits of NT$2.4 (US$0.071) in net EPS. Fu Sheng, the world’s largest golf head producer, saw its gross profit rate rebound to 26.95% in the first quarter, sharply up from last year’s corresponding figure of 23.11%. As a result, the firm’s after-tax EPS for the quarter stood at NT$0.81 (US$0.024), for a whopping annual rise of 76.1%, much higher than the corresponding figure of 64.9% recorded by O-TA and 39.5% by ATM.

Dynamic turned profitable in the second half of last year and the posted even better business performance in the first quarter of this year with a net EPS of NT$0.97 (US$0.029).

Market observers indicted that Taiwan’s leading golf club & head makers would keep enjoying good performances in the second quarter, traditionally an off season for golf equipment market. They further believed that the business of Taiwan’s manufacturers in the second half of the year would be better than in the first half.