Nien Made Enterprise (Stock Ticker: 8464, hereinafter referred to as NM or Nien Made) is a leading
manufacturer principally engaged in the manufacture and distribution of various window coverings. The
firm’s production bases are primarily located in China and Cambodia, and the headquarters is located in
Taichung, Taiwan. NM was founded in 1974 and was the OEM manufacturer of window treatments in Lukang
in Central Taiwan during our early years. During the Economic Takeoff of Taiwan in the 1990s, many young
people became less willing to be engaged in traditional industries, and the lack of labor became the major
bottleneck for the development of Nien Made. To break through the bottleneck, we set up factories in
Guangdong in China in the mid-1990s. The capacity expansion in China fueled Nien Made’s growth for more
than a decade.
In recent years, the production capacity in China has reached the full load condition. China’s one-child policy
caused the labor shortage and resulted in the rising wages repeatedly, which became a challenge for Nien
Made’s medium and long term development. Faced with the manpower structure problem in China, Nien
Made adopted a transnational production strategy to reduce the impact and expand capacity. Our new
production capacity in Cambodia has been put into operation since the 2014H2.
Window treatment products can be divided into low-priced ready-made merchandises distributed in
large chain stores and high-priced custom size window coverings sold in small specialty stores. Nien
Made’s products are available in large chain retailers like Home Depot and Walmart. Nien Made provides
professional cutting machines of window treatments to a portion of the large chain retailers in Northern
America to offer low-priced cut-to-size blinds and shades for consumers. Nien Made is the one and only
Asian manufacturer with capabilities of R&D, manufacturing, service and maintenance of the professional
cutting machines in large chain stores in North America, and this advantage also enables NM to have a close
relationship with large retailers in North America.
In addition to expanding the market opportunities of ready-made size window coverings, we have also
penetrated our coverage of the custom-made shutters market since 2001, and created our own brand,
Norman®. After 2007, Nien Made set up 11 regional business centers in North America and successfully
developed the distribution network with thousands of small specialty stores, dealers and designers that
further raised barriers against existing and potential competitors. The new custom blinds and shades
developed in the future will be integrated into the existing channels for sales and become our market share
and profitability drivers.
On December 22nd, 2015, Nien Made was relisted on Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE). Through the issuance
of new shares, outstanding shares increased to 293mn shares (+12.5%) from 265mn shares and NM raised
NTD$4.85bn of funds. Healthy operating cash flows and the fund raised in the capital market enabled
our short-term and long-term loans to decrease to NTD$2.31bn in 2015 from NTD$6.03bn in 2014. In
2016Q1, NM’s bank loans were fully liquidated. Under the debt-free status, we distributed cash dividends of
NTD$8.077/share (totaling NTD$2.36bn) in 2016. In 2017, NM paid cash dividends of NTD$10/share (totaling
NTD$2.93bn), and in the following year of 2018, we continued to distribute cash dividends of NTD$10/share
(totaling NTD$2.93bn).
The foreign ownership ratio in shares increased significantly to 38% at the end of 2017 from 19% at the
end of 2015. To provide transparent information of corporate social responsibility, corporate governance
and other issues, NM will continue to disclose the operating/CSR performance and results in our annual
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report.