Acer Inc (宏碁), the world’s third-largest PC brand, yesterday reported record-high earnings last year, despite a weaker fourth quarter as Europe, a major market, was battered by snowstorms and a financial crisis.
The Taipei-based company said in an e-mailed statement that net income jumped 32.5 percent year-on-year to NT$15.1 billion (US$476 million) last year, while earnings per share (EPS) rose to NT$5.70 last year from NT$4.31 in 2009. Both were record highs for Acer.
Operating income grew 18.6 percent to NT$18.2 billion, while consolidated revenue rose 9.7 percent to NT$629.7 billion — both of which were historical highs, Acer said.
Fourth-quarter net income rose 11.4 percent year-on-year to NT$3.9 billion from NT$3.5 billion, the company said in the statement. However, last quarter’s profit was 9.1 percent less than the NT$4.29 billion it made in the third quarter.
Consolidated revenue in the fourth quarter, meanwhile, fell 11 percent year-on-year to NT$149.7 billion from NT$168.2 billion. Compared with the third quarter, Acer also saw a 10.47 percent decline from NT$167.2 billion.
“In the fourth quarter of 2010, Acer’s results were affected by unfavorable weather and economic conditions in Europe, hence consolidated revenues did not reach expectations,” it said in the statement.
Operating profit last quarter was 11.8 percent lower year-on-year at NT$4.4 billion, while operating margin slid to 2.93 percent, from a record 3.2 percent in the third quarter and 3 percent a year earlier.
Acer did not say how much the New Taiwan dollar’s appreciation against the greenback eroded its bottom line in the fourth quarter. It only said in the statement that it used an average exchange rate of NT$31.652 last year, compared with NT$32.9494 in 2009.
The NT dollar strengthened 3.07 percent against the US dollar in the fourth quarter last year and closed at NT$29.30 yesterday.
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