Acer Inc (宏碁) yesterday posted its smallest quarterly profit in more than six years after slowing demand for low-cost notebooks resulted in missed targets and prompted its president to quit last month.
First-quarter net income at the world’s second-largest supplier of notebook computers declined 64 percent to NT$1.19 billion (US$41.1 million), from NT$3.29 billion a year earlier, according to calculations based on a statement from the Taipei-based company.
Earnings per share were NT$0.45 in the first quarter, the company said.
Acer’s consolidated revenue in the first quarter hit NT$127.8 billion, representing a 14.3 percent decline quarter-on-quarter and a fall of 21 percent year-on-year.
Operating profit, which comprises income from its primary business of designing and selling electronics, fell 56 percent to NT$1.93 billion.
Net income is the smallest since the second quarter of 2004.
Acer promoted global IT operations chief Jim Wong (翁建仁) to the post of president after Gianfranco Lanci resigned last month. Chairman J.T. Wang (王振堂) plans to restructure the company to focus on developing products beyond laptops, which account for 73 percent of sales.
Shipments could decline for a third straight quarter in the three months ending June, the Taipei-based company said this week.
Shares of Acer have declined 43 percent this year.
The company will hold an investor conference on Thursday.
Additional reporting by Jason Tan
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