Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) said on Monday that it would dole out year-end bonuses equivalent to seven months’ basic salary to employees of the conglomerate’s four major entities.

In a statement, FPG said its general management department had made the decision regarding the bonuses for workers at Formosa Plastics Corp., Nan Ya Plastics Corp., Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp., and Formosa Petrochemical Corp. based on their combined pretax profit for 2021.

According to the business group, the aggregate pretax profit of the four major companies topped NT$300 billion (US$10.83 billion) or NT$9.25 per share in 2021.

Based on Formosa Plastics Group’s formula, when the pretax profit hits NT$4.1 per share, the group will issue year-end bonuses equivalent to 4.5 months of basic salaries, and when profits per share rise by NT$1, the bonuses will increase by the amount equivalent to 0.6 months of basic salaries and vice versa.

However, the minimum will be three months of basic salaries and the maximum will be capped at seven months of basic wages, according to FPG.

The local petrochemical industry got a significant boost from the booming global energy market last year, and FPG said the decision to issue the year-end bonuses equivalent to seven months’ salary would allow its employees to have a good Lunar New Year, with the upcoming Year of the Tiger starting on Feb. 1.

The conglomerate’s decision on the amount for year-end bonuses at its four major entities has been watched closely by market observers as the group is one of the important in the local old economy sector.

Other companies under the FPG umbrella, however, will calculate their own year-end bonuses independently.

Meanwhile, FPG said the combined net profit raked by the four major entities hit NT$240.38 billion, up 230 percent from a year earlier after generating NT$1.67 trillion in consolidated sales.

Formosa Plastics, the conglomerate’s flagship enterprise, posted NT$71.38 billion in net profit, up 256.3 percent from a year earlier, with earnings per share at NT$11.21, a record high for the company.

Formosa Plastics said it benefited from a 16-40 percent price hike in its products such as polyvinylchloride (PVC), liquid caustic soda, and ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) in the fourth quarter.

For its part, Nan Ya Plastics posted a new high of NT$81.29 billion in net profit or NT$10.25 per share in 2021 on the back of solid demand for chemical materials used in electronics devices.

In addition, Formosa Chemicals & Fibre raked in NT$38.34 billion in net profit with EPS at NT$6.55 in 2021, while Formosa Petrochemical posted NT$49.37 billion in net profit or NT$5.18 per share.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel