A total of 940 firms listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) saw their combined pretax profit for the first nine months of this year soar by almost 93 percent from a year earlier on the back of ongoing economic recovery momentum, according to the TWSE.
Data compiled by the exchange showed that the 940 companies listed on the main board collectively posted NT$3.17 trillion (US$114 billion) in pretax profit for the January-September period, up 92.8 percent from a year earlier, according to data compiled by the exchange.
The 940 companies include 77 foreign firms which have launched primary listings on the local main board but exclude 14 Taiwanese financial holding firms, the TWSE said.
The exchange said the significant growth in pretax profit for the nine-month period was partly due to strong global demand for tech gadgets, such as 5G applications, high-performance computing devices, and automotive electronics as the COVID-19 pandemic sped up the development of the digital economy worldwide.
The exchange said the semiconductor industry was the major beneficiary of the trend.
In addition, the TWSE said the shipping industry got a boost from rising freight rates in the wake of port congestion worldwide amid COVID-19, while the plastics industry enjoyed improving profitability due to a spike in international crude oil prices.
In the first nine months of this year, the 940 companies generated NT$25.85 trillion in consolidated sales, up 19.92 percent from a year earlier, according to the TWSE.
Meanwhile, the Taipei Exchange (TPEx), which runs the local over-the-counter (OTC) market, said 790 companies listed on the market raked in a combined NT$236.7 billion in pretax profit for the nine-month period this year, up 43 percent from a year earlier.
Out of the 790 firms, 516 reported growth in pretax profit with the semiconductor, electronics component, and steel industries leading the upturn, the TPEx said.
In the first nine months of 2021, the 790 firms on the OTC market collectively posted NT$1.93 trillion in consolidated sales, up 18 percent from a year earlier.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel