Inventec Corp (英業達), a contract notebook and server manufacturer, expects its performance to recover in the second half of the year, company chairman Richard Lee (李詩欽) said yesterday.
Business operations in the first quarter of the year continued to be tough, with the company suffering from declining revenues since 2010, Lee said at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting.
However, he said he expects the company’s business to start picking up in the second quarter.
CLOUD COMPUTING
The company’s participation in and promotion of cloud computing and related projects would drive growth for its server business and stimulate overall business, he said.
Inventec’s consolidated revenues edged up 0.7 percent to NT$380.03 billion (US$12.7 billion) last year from the year before, with net profit totaling NT$2.43 billion and earnings per share (EPS) of NT$0.79 last year, down from NT$3.48 billion and NT$1.18 respectively in the previous year.
Lee attributed the company’s lackluster performance to the economic slowdown, weak consumer demand, lower-than-expected orders and new manufacturing bases not yet achieving economies of scale.
Asked about a company layoff of more than 400 workers at the end of last year, Lee said it was due to the cancelation of tablet orders from a client, as well as lower-than-expected notebook PC shipments last year.
LAYOFFS
Inventec announced in October last year that it was laying off 432 workers after Hewlett-Packard Co said it was suspending production of its tablet computer, the TouchPad.
Shareholders also questioned the company’s compensation policy, saying that a remuneration of between NT$15 million and NT$30 million for Lee and company founder Yeh Kuo-yi (葉國一) might be too high given Inventec’s disappointing performance.
In response, Lee said it was something that could be reviewed to see if there was room for improvement.
Shareholders approved the company’s plan to distribute a cash dividend of NT$0.3 per share and a stock dividend of 3.5 percent.
Shares of Inventec rose 4.38 percent to NT$9.53 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
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