A 30 percent jump in sales of electric bikes allowed Giant Manufacturing to post an overall sales increase of 3 percent to 13.9 billion Taiwanese dollars (€397.0m-$467.5m) in the first quarter of this year. Electric bike sales grew at a double-digit rate in Europe, where the company is planning to boost their production in the Netherlands to get over new European anti-dumping duties on the items it imports from China. Sales were off slightly in the U.S. and the Chinese market remained soft. The gross margin narrowed by 0.9 percentage points to 17.9 percent in the quarter. Net earnings were cut nearly in half to NT 257.8 million (€7.4m-$8.7m), due in part to the appreciation of the yuan and an increase in Taiwan's corporate tax rate from 17 to 20 percent.

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