AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電), the nation’s No. 2 LCD panel maker, said yesterday sales grew 24.5 percent last month from the previous month after shipments of computer and TV panels hit a new record.
That brought the company’s first-quarter revenues to NT$111.56 billion (US$3.52 billion), down 2.9 percent from NT$114.86 billion in the fourth quarter “high season,” showing that demand had bucked a conventional downtrend in the first quarter.
On an annual basis, the first-quarter result more than doubled last year’s NT$50.74 billion revenues, showing the company’s business has bounced back from the industry’s downcycle.
AU Optronics said shipments of PC and TV panels totaled 27.22 million units in the first quarter, down 0.6 percent quarter-on-quarter but up 107.1 percent year-on-year, which was close to the company’s expectation of flat shipments.
Meanwhile, Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管) and Hannstar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶) also posted monthly growth of 23.9 percent and 24.7 percent in sales last month with NT$8.27 billion and NT$5.3 billion respectively.
Separately, Chunghwa Picture said its board approved a plan to reduce capital by 60.59 percent to improve its financial structure.
To achieve that goal, the Taoyuan-based company said it would cut NT$99.89 billion by canceling 9.989 billion common shares, to NT$64.97 billion.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
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