Wistron Corp (緯創), the nation’s No. 3 contract laptop computer maker, yesterday posted a 25.6 percent drop in quarterly net profits for the first three months of this year from a year ago.
Net profits dropped to NT$2.01 billion (US$69 million) in the first quarter, from NT$2.71 billion. Last year’s figures were based on the company’s filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Compared with the final quarter of last year, net profits fell 35 percent from NT$3.1 billion because of seasonal slow demand.
Yesterday, Wistron said the board approved two investment plans including a proposal to spend US$20 million to set up a Chinese subsidiary in Chongqing to assemble notebook computers.
The investment aimed “to cope with growing demand from customers and rising global demand for information products, as well as to help boost Wistron’s future growth,” the company said in an e-mailed statement.
Wistron also received the board’s approval to invest NT$110 million to form a Malaysian subsidiary to make LCD TVs to meet demand in Southeast Asia.
The board also approved a proposal to distribute NT$3.2 per share in cash dividends and NT$0.5 per share in stock dividends based on last year’s net profits of NT$12.03 billion, or NT$6.15 a share.
Wistron's board also approved a fundraising plan to issue 250 million common shares through a rights issue, or in the form of global depositary receipts.
The proceeds will be used to fund the company’s operations and to buy raw materials, Wistron said in the same statement. The PC maker hoped to complete the share sale by the end of June.
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