Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (
Chunghwa Picture Tubes said it eked out profits of NT$1.02 billion (US$31.61 million), or NT$0.13 per share, for the October-December period of last year, from losses of NT$4.53 billion in the fourth quarter of 2004.
During the same period, gross margin more than doubled to 11 percent from 5 percent quarter-on-quarter, rather than a mild increase as the company expected in November last year.
"The supply almost matched demand in the fourth quarter of 2005, compared to a surfeit a year earlier," Brian Lee (
The price for LCD panels recovered to US$158 per unit during the final quarter of last year, up around 14 percent from US$139 a year ago, according to the company's statistics.
Lee also contributed the better-than-expected performance to selling more high-margin LCD panels for notebook computers.
Unit sales of notebook computer panels grew to make up 22 percent of the company's total sales, up from 18 percent in the third quarter, according to Chunghwa Picture Tubes.
Revenues jumped some 42 percent to NT$33.78 billion, the firm posted earlier.
Chunghwa Picture Tubes would further strengthen its cost-control ability to cope with the cyclical LCD industry, Lee said.
Last quarter, Chunghwa Picture Tubes saved 5 percent in cost, compared to the third quarter of 2005, which was one of the major factors helping the company return its books to the black, Lee said.
The company declined to offer a detailed outlook for the current quarter, citing a quiet period as the government reviews the US$300-million overseas bond issuance.
Chunhwa Picture Tubes plan to use the proceedings to fund a next-generation plant.
Chunghwa Picture Tubes yesterday cut its projected capital spending for 2006 by almost 13 percent to NT$22.8 billion from the original estimated figure of NT$26.1 billion, according to the company.
For 2008, the company said it planned to spend NT$8.8 billion on new facilities and equipment.
Chunghwa Picture Tubes also said that it scrapped its money-losing plasma-display-panel (PDP) business a few months ago.
The company posted pre-tax losses of NT$6.19 billion for the PDP business last quarter.
Chunghwa Picture Tubes shares were down 2.33 percent to NT$9.62 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
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