Formosa Plastics Group to pay minimum year-end bonuses amid losses

Taipei, Jan. 12 (CNA) The Formosa Plastics Group (FPG), one of Taiwan's leading conglomerates, will give year-end bonuses equal to three months of salary to its employees despite incurring losses in 2025, it said Monday.

The three months of salary are the minimum year-end bonus the group can pay out under its corporate policy.

The group's four major companies -- Formosa Plastics Corp., Nan Ya Plastics Corp., Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp., and Formosa Petrochemical Corp. -- posted a combined net loss of NT$1.093 billion (US$34.59 billion) in 2025, compared with NT$8.46 billion in net profit a year earlier.

FPG's year-end bonuses are usually closely watched by the market because they tend to set the trend for non-tech industrial companies in Taiwan.

Based on a formula for calculating year-end bonuses, the threshold for the four entities to issue year-end bonuses equivalent to 4.5 months' salary is an average of NT$4.1 in pretax earnings per share (EPS).

For every NT$1 increase or decrease in the average EPS from NT$4.1, the year-end bonus is raised or cut by an amount equal to 0.6 months of salary, with the maximum total bonus set at seven months' salary and the minimum at three months' salary, according to the formula.

The FPG faced headwinds in the global petrochemical market in 2025 due to a supply glut amid market disruptions caused by the United States' unpredictable tariff polices, the weakness of the Chinese economy, and the Taiwan dollar's strength.

Formosa Plastics, the flagship entity of the group, incurred a net loss of NT$10.05 billion in 2025, up from a loss of NT$1.23 billion in 2024, with a loss per share at NT$1.58.

Foreign exchange losses contributed to NT$1.16 billion of the net loss in 2025, compared to foreign exchange gains of NT$600 million in 2024.

After posting a net profit of NT$379 million in 2024, Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp. reported a net loss of NT$5.49 billion and a loss per share of NT$0.94 in 2025 as falling crude prices pushed down product prices.

Bucking the downtrend, Nan Ya Plastics Corp. posted a net profit of NT$4.51 billion in 2025, up 35 percent from a year earlier, with earnings per share at NT$0.57.

It was helped by strong sales and earnings fueled by the ongoing AI boom that were posted by tech sector subsidiaries such as memory chip supplier Nanya Technology Corp. and printed circuit board maker Nan Ya PCB Co.

Formosa Petrochemical Corp. posted a net profit of NT$9.94 billion in 2025, up 66.5 percent from a year earlier, with EPS of NT$1.04, as the production utilization rate in its naphtha cracking facilities rose to 82.8 percent, boosting revenue from its oil refinery products.

In addition, prices of its oil products sold overseas maintained a steady premium over international crude oil prices, Formosa Petrochemical said.