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AU Optronics back in the black in Q2

AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the world's third-biggest flat panel maker, yesterday posted a 33-fold rise in profitability for the second quarter, on the back of rising prices for computer screens.

Net income climbed to NT$5.99 billion (US$182.5 million), or NT$0.79 a share, from NT$182 million, or NT$0.03 per share, a year earlier, the firm's statistics showed.

AU Optronics posted a net loss of NT$5.1 billion in the first quarter ending in March.

"Profitability in the second quarter improved as a result of an average rise of 5 percent in computer panels, despite a small drop in TV panels," chief financial officer Max Cheng (鄭煒順) told investors yesterday.

Second-quarter sales jumped to NT$106 billion from NT$60.9 billion a year earlier.

AU Optronics released its second-quarter figures after the stock market closed.

Shares closed up 2.3 percent to NT$54 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.

The Hsinchu-based company said it was looking forward to ushering in a better second half.

In the third quarter, shipments of large-sized PC and TV panels should rise by around 5 percent and 20 percent respectively, Cheng said, based on a foreseeable shortage in supplies.

Shipments of small and medium-sized panels, meanwhile, will also grow 20 percent, he said.

Average prices for computer and TV panels should jump by 8 percent and 5 percent respectively in this quarter, he said.

Company statistics show the prices of its TV screens were down to US$301 in the second quarter from US$305 in the first quarter, while PC panels were up to US$110 from US$105.

"We reiterate our positive view on the liquid-crystal-display industry, and expect the current cyclical upswing to continue into next year," Macquarie Research said in a note.

It expects panel prices to continue to rise steadily in the current quarter with PC panels up by 5 percent to 10 percent, and TV panels up by 5 percent quarter on quarter.

The firm said it will increase its capacity by 20 percent next year, in line with industry demand.

Its so-called 7.5-generation plant, which mainly produces television screens measuring 40 inches and above, will churn out 80,000 sheets of glass a month next year, up from 40,000 last month.

Its second 6th generation factory -- obtained from Quanta Display Inc (廣輝電子) after the latter was acquired by AU Optronics in April last year -- will produce 120,000 sheets of glass a month, up from 80,000 last month, AU vice chairman Chen Hsuan-bin (陳炫彬) said.

AU Optronics said capital spending next year will fall to NT$70 billion from as much as NT$95 billion this year.

It also said it has no plans to build an 8th generation plant yet.
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