Trinity Metallize goes public on OTC market

Taipei, April 1, 2003 (CENS)--Trinity Metallize Co., Ltd., one of the leading suppliers of powder-metallurgy (P/M) parts in Taiwan, made an initial public offering (IPO) yesterday on Taiwan's over-the-counter market at NT$27.5 per share (US$0.8 at US$1:NT$35).

Trinity makes power-tool parts such as forged gears and bearings. It plans to use capital raised from the IPO to add two production lines for making higher value-added motorbike and auto parts.

The company hopes to raise NT$60 million (US$1.7 million) in cash by year-end to finance the expansion project. The fund will be added to the company's cash reserve of about NT$100 million to NT$120 million (US$2.8 million to US$3.4 million) and 2002 dividend of around NT$23 million (US$657,000).

Trinity executives said that their company might also accelerate investment in a facility in mainland China if there is money left over after the new expansion in Taiwan. The mainland factory is scheduled to begin pilot production this month, making power-tool parts for the Taiwan factory.

Trinity executives expect their company to post higher profits this year compared with 2002 thanks to the cost savings expected from the mainland factory.

The company reaped pretax earnings of NT$62 million (US$1.8 million), or NT$2.96 per share, on revenue of NT$360 million (US$10 million) last year. It has set a goal of making NT$82 million (US$2.3 million) on planned revenue of NT$438 million (US$13 million) this year, resulting in estimated pretax earnings of NT$4 per share.

Trinity was founded in 1994. Its major customers in Taiwan include Mobiletron Electronics Co., Ltd., Choon Nang Electrical Appliance Ltd., and Shayany Ye Enterprise Co., Ltd. It is also a supplier of Robert Bosch, Black & Decker, Metabo, Roybi and Hitachi.

P/M is a process for converting fine metal powders into solid products. It is particularly useful for manufacturing complex shapes to close tolerances in high volumes and at relatively low production costs. P/M uses a blend of very fine metal powders that are carefully selected for particle size and shape. The mixture's main constituent is iron powder, to which small quantities of other elements are added to produce alloys with specific properties (tensile strength, toughness, hardness etc.). The blended powder and a lubricant are compacted under high pressure in a shaped die to form a "green" component.