Honmyue to expand operations at home and abroad in 2005

Taipei, Dec. 15, 2004 (CENS)--To meet possible challenges ensuing from the cancellation of the Multi-Fiber Agreement on global textile quotas in 2005, Honmyue Ent. Co., Taiwan's professional manufacturer of industrial-use cloth, is to reinforce its production bases in mainland China, Thailand and Vietnam.

Yen Ming-chou, general manager of Honmyue, noted that his company intends to invest more to expand operations in mainland China. The firm will set up a new textile plant in Dongguan of Guangdong Province to turn out long- and short-fiber cloths. Besides, it also intends to invest US$12.8 million to establish an integrated textile plant in Jiaxing of Zhejiang Province, to produce cloths for upholstery and industrial use.

In Vietnam and Thailand, Honmyue focuses its operations on down-stream dyeing process. The company plans to cooperate with a local cloth maker in Vietnam to tap the textile dyeing market there, and will purchase an integrated plant in Thailand for cloth weaving and dyeing.

Honmyue has recently purchased a total of 786 weaving machines from King Textile Co., a big boost to the company's operations in Taiwan. Honmyue will domestically keep focusing on the production of high-end items on small volume and further purchase rear-end laminating and printing plants to upgrade the quality of its products.

Over the past two years, Honmyue has closely cooperated with a nylon plant of Acelon Chemicals & Fiber Corp., a leading nylon filament yarn maker in Taiwan. With the cooperation, Honmyue has experienced steady profit growth, garnering a second-highest monthly profit of NT$30.57 million (US$899,118 at US$1=NT$34) in October, a sharp rise of 64% from the same month of last year. In the first 10 months of the year, the company raked in total pretax earnings of NT$173 million (US$5.1 million), with earnings per share (EPS) of NT$1.56 (US$0.046).

Due to active expansion in operations at home and abroad, Honmyue expects its revenue to grow 20% to NT$5 billion (US$147.06 million) in 2005.