Papermaker YFY's Revenues in 2012 to Challenge US$1.83 B.

Taipei, Nov.13, 2012 (CENS)--The major fine-paper maker Yuen Foong Yu Paper Mfg. Co., Ltd. (YFY) saw its No.5 and No.6 household paper-making machines and bio-pulp plant in Yangzhou (Jiangsu Province, China) come online in the third quarter, with 50% of capacity utilization currently and expected to gradually grow due to increasing orders.

YFY's Yangzhou plant's No.3 industrial paper-making machine is predicted to start volume production by the fourth quarter of 2013, boosting the plant's annual capacity to one million tons from the current 450,000 tons.

A representative of YFY indicated that the firm's bio-pulp plant in Yangzhou uses hay from wheat or rice as raw material, saving a third in cost compared to making pulp with waste paper, and has estimated annual capacity exceeding 60,000 tons.

Besides, YFY's No.5 and No.6 paper-making machines at the Yangzhou plant are expected to boost annual capacity of household paper to more than 110,000 tons once fully-loaded.

YFY saw profits in the first three quarters shoot up 250% year on year (YoY) to NT$469 million (US$15.63 million), with consolidated revenues up 0.31% YoY to NT$39.83 billion (US$1.33 billion), reaching 12% in operating gross profit margin of its parent company. However, due to low return-on-investment, the firm's EPS (earnings per share) only reached NT$0.51 (US$0.017), with NT$959 million (US$31.91 million) in pretax earnings and NT$851 million (US$28.37 million) in net profits.

YFY became a holding company after merging its fine paper division into Chung Hwa Pulp Corp. (CHP) in October, helping YFY to realize revenues from CHP. Institutional investors said that YFY's consolidated revenues in 2012 are likely to reach NT$55 billion (US$1.83 billion) and challenge NT$60 billion (US$2 billion) in 2013.