Evergreen’s Taiwanese affiliate poised for higher profits

Evergreen’s Taiwanese affiliate poised for higher profits    Evergreen Marine Corp. (Taiwan) Ltd. is expected to report higher consolidated profits for 2003, following the filing of stronger unaudited and non-consolidated results to the Taiwanese stock market.
   The Taiwanese company said it made a non-consolidated net profit of NT$3.4 billion ($101 million) last year, three times the net income of NT$1.1 billion earned in 2002.
   Despite the strong improvement, the results are difficult to interpret because they are not consolidated, and cover only a small part of the entire Evergreen group. Evergreen Marine Corp. (Taiwan) is the stock market-listed arm of the group, which also includes Evergreen International in Panama and other subsidiaries.
   The non-consolidated operating result of Evergreen Marine Corp. (Taiwan) for 2003 was a loss of NT$1.8 billion ($51 million), as compared to an operating profit of NT$34 million in 2002. However, its non-operating result soared to NT$5.5 billion ($163 million) last year, from NT$1.3 billion in 2002, thanks to a higher investment income.
   Non-consolidated revenues at Evergreen Marine Corp. (Taiwan) jumped to NT$35.1 billion ($1 billion) last year, 62 percent more than the NT$21.6 billion figure reported for 2002.
   Evergreen Marine’s head office in Taiwan would not comment on the latest figures reported to the stock market.