Largan Precision Co (大立光), the world’s largest mobile phone camera lens maker, yesterday posted record-high sales for last month, thanks to strong demand for smartphones.
The Taichung-based company said in a statement that its consolidated revenue rose 2 percent to NT$1.323 billion (US$43.8 million) last month from the previous month, and was 51 percent higher than a year earlier.
In the fourth quarter of last year, Largan’s consolidated sales grew 12 percent to NT$3.88 billion from the third quarter’s NT$3.48 billion, also a record quarterly level.
However, the quarterly increase of 12 percent was lower than the 24.2 percent it saw in the previous quarter because of higher costs for voice coil motors and the impact of a rising NT dollar. Voice coil motors are one of the major components in mobile phone cameras.
Nevertheless, for the whole of last year, the company again registered record-high revenue of NT$12.35 billion, up 51 percent from 2009, according to the statement.
The company has benefited from the rising adoption of 8-megapixel (MP) lenses by major handset brands and steady growth for 5MP lenses used in 3D cameras and tablet PCs.
In the fourth quarter, the sales contribution from the 5MP and 8MP lenses accounted for more than 50 percent of the company’s total sales, not much changed from the level seen in the third quarter, the company said.
Shares of Largan fell 1.07 percent to NT$737 yesterday ahead of the release of last month’s and last year’s revenue figures.
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