Taiwan-based contract electronics maker Qisda Corp (佳世達) yesterday announced that it has settled legal proceedings pertaining to the insolvency of its mobile device arm.
The announcement followed a settlement of international arbitration proceedings with Siemens AG last year.
It has now resolved all legal proceedings with the insolvency administrator of BenQ Mobile Holding GmbH & Co and other related entities, according to a company statement.
“All parties agreed to withdraw existing lawsuits and waived all claims it had or might have against other parties respectively. All material litigations arising out of Qisda’s purchase of the Siemens mobile device business in 2005 have now been resolved,” the statement said.
Qisda emphasized the decision was made for the best interests of shareholders, and that the move would not adversely impact on Qisda’s normal operations and financial conditions, and instead would allow the company’s management to focus on core business operations.
BenQ Corp (明基) acquired Siemens’ handset unit in October 2005, but the handset unit failed to take off in the face of intense competition from major players including Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.
The handset unit dragged BenQ into six straight quarters of losses and BenQ eventually liquidated the German unit and retreated from the cellphone market.
After the setback, BenQ in September 2007 spun off its manufacturing arm into Qisda while retaining its brand name business within BenQ.
BenQ has since turned its attention to other branded products such as projectors, LCD TVs and e-readers for differentiation over local consumer electronics rivals, including Acer Inc (宏碁) and Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), which rank in the world’s top five in the computer business.
“After three years of endeavoring to adjust respective business operations and financial structures, both companies have gone past the acquisition phase. With the resolution of such litigations, Qisda’s contract manufacturing business and BenQ’s branded business will be ready for a full sprint,” the statement said.
Qisda reported that consolidated revenue rose 1.5 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$22.9 billion (US$751 million) in the third quarter, on net profit of NT$440 million, or earnings per share of NT$0.23.
LCD monitors, imaging scanners and printers, e-readers, mobile Internet devices and communications products demonstrated growth in the third quarter, it said.
It said LCD monitors and projectors will enter the low season in the fourth quarter, while e--readers, mobile Internet devices and communications products would grow with high volumes.
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