TAICHUNG, Taiwan (BRAIN)—Stock values for Taiwan’s two leading bicycle makers, Giant and Merida, are going up as investors bet that rising oil prices will boost bicycle demand.
Bloomberg News reported that Giant’s stock hit a record at NT(New Taiwan)$91, or US$3, on Monday—its highest intraday level since Giant went public in 1994. The stock closed at NT$89.2 (US$2.94), up by 1.8 percent.
Merida Industry, the island’s number two maker, gained 1.3 percent to close at NT$71.7 (US$2.37). Giant’s sales for the month of April nearly doubled those of April, 2007, exceeding $NT1.1 billion (US$37.8 million).
Its accumulated revenues through the first four months were up 47 percent compared to the first third of ’07, hitting $NT4.6 billion, or US$153 million at June 9 exchange rates.
Although Merida’s April sales were down 8 percent compared with the same month last year to NT$661 million (US$21.8 million), its total revenues through the first four months are nonetheless up by 2.5 percent to $NT3 billion (US $100.3 million).
“As oil prices rise, bike makers continue to benefit. There’s been a direct correlation between the two prices,” Lilly Huang, an investment manager at National Investment Trust Co., in Taipei, told Bloomberg.
(Note: the figures are for Giant and Merida operations in Taiwan only, and do not include revenues from operations in China and Europe.)
—John Crenshaw
