Goodway and Awea to Jointly Set up Plant in Vietnam

Taipei, March 25, 2008 (CENS)--Taiwan's most profitable machine-tool manufacturers, including Goodway Machinery Co. and Awea Mechantronic Corp., will jointly set up an assembly plant in Vietnam.

Each of the two companies will invest US$1 million to US$2 million to set up the assembly plant in Vietnam. The proposed plant will focus on the production of double-column machine tools, C-type machine tools and lathes with an aim to penetrate the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) unified market.

Both companies have opted for 36,000 square feet in Hanoi, northern Vietnam to set up the new plant, which will start to be built in the second quarter of this year and will be completed by the middle of next year.

Edward Yang, chairman of both Goodway and Awea, noted the establishment of the plant in Vietnam will help his companies develop the ASEAN market as the products produced in Vietnam would enjoy favorable custom duties when sold in that market.

Yang said both Goodway and Awea have been enjoying influx of orders since the beginning of this year. Of them, Awea currently has NT$2 billion (US$65.57 million at US$1:NT$30.5) worth of orders in hand with order visibility exceeding seven months. Goodway has NT$800 million (US$26.22 million) worth of orders in hand with order visibility extending for over three months.

Thanks to the influx of orders, each of the two companies will see sales grow over 20% year-on-year this year.

Because of the booming demand for machine tools the world over, Goodway and Awea registered NT$6.83 (US$0.22) and NT$6.58 (US$0.215) in after-tax earnings per share as Taiwan's No.1 and No.2 most profitable concern last year, respectively.

Yang noted Goodway has been making all-out efforts to diversify product lines over the past few years. In addition to CNC (computerized numerically controlled) lathes, Goodway will introduce some new models of machine tools, including Swiss-type vertical lathes, box-way vertical machining centers, in the second quarter of this year.