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Macronix reports healthy income growth

By Kevin Chen
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Apr 23, 2008, Page 12

Macronix International Co (旺宏電子) said yesterday its net income had grown 30.91 percent to NT$720 million (US$23.77 million), or NT$0.24 earnings per share, in the first quarter on higher shipments. The earnings per share were NT$0.19 a year ago.

Its first-quarter net income, however, was down 41.7 percent from the previous quarter when the producer of the so-called ROM products and NOR flash memory chips reported NT$1.24 billion profit, company tallies showed.

Net sales totaled NT$4.91 billion in the first quarter, down 4.76 percent from the previous year and also a decline of 18.75 percent from the previous quarter, the Hsinchu-based company reported the at an investor conference.

“Although our shipments were higher [in the first quarter than the previous quarter], the pricing pressure persisted and squeezed our net sales,” Paul Yeh (葉沛甫), vice president and chief financial officer at Macronix, told investors in a Webcast presentation yesterday.

The gross margin was much better than expected, as the ratio reached 44 percent in the first quarter on more shipments of high margin products and better factory utilization, Yeh said, which was compared to a forecast of between 38 percent and 42 percent the company made three months ago and a ratio of 33 percent a year earlier.

Capacity utilization rate reached 93 percent in the first quarter, compared to a ratio of between 80 percent and 88 percent predicted three months ago, company data showed.

Unlike many other high-tech firms that faced foreign exchange losses in the first quarter, Macronix reported a net foreign exchange gain of NT$17 million because of various hedging efforts, the company said.

But because of a net loss of NT$250 million on re-investment projects and a net inventory loss of NT$112 million for the quarter, the company’s net non-operating loss was NT$227 million in the first three months of the year, expanding from a loss of NT$74 million in the previous quarter.

Looking ahead, Macronix chairman and chief executive officer Miin Wu (吳敏求) predicted an increase in demand during the second quarter.

He said blended unit shipments would grow by a range of 15 percent to 20 percent from the first-quarter level but blended average selling prices (ASPs) would drop by a range of 10 percent to 15 percent in the meantime. Gross margin should remain at 38 percent to 42 percent in the second quarter, while capacity utilization will reach 90 percent to 95 percent, he added.

While shipments of its ROM products are expected to increase this quarter, falling ASPs would leave the company with flat second-quarter sales, Wu said. As for the output of NOR flash memory, he said the downside pressure on prices would relatively lighter than ROM products, by a range of up to 5 percent.

Capital spending for this year is expected to remain at NT$1.6 billion, similar to company projections in February. The capital spending was NT$628 million in the first quarter, Yeh said.

Sales are expected to improve significantly in the second half of the year, following a traditional slow season in last and this quarters, while gross margin is likely to climb higher later this year, he said.
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