Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), the world’s largest notebook manufacturer by shipments, posted its first profit decline in a year after the US market slowed and Apple Inc’s iPad took sales from laptops.
Third-quarter net income fell 4.42 percent to NT$5.84 billion (US$191 million), from NT$6.11 billion a year earlier, Quanta said in a statement yesterday.
The average of 14 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg was for a net profit of NT$4.7 billion.
Earnings per share were NT$1.54 in the third quarter and NT$4.28 in the first three quarters on net income of NT$16.27 billion. Consolidated sales climbed to NT$277 billion in the third quarter and totaled NT$824.6 billion in the first nine months, Quanta said.
Shipments dropped 5 percent from the prior quarter to 13 million units, according to monthly company data. That’s worse than its Aug. 31 forecast for shipments to be flat to 5 percent higher in the period.
Quanta, which makes computers for Hewlett-Packard Co and Dell Inc, posted lower shipments than the prior quarter as the iPad crimped sales of laptops and demand in the US and Europe weakened.
Notebook shipments are expected to rise “slightly” in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter and growth will be moderate next year, Quanta said.
The company expects shipments in the first quarter to fall from the current quarter, vice chairman C.C. Leung (梁次震) told a briefing yesterday.
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