Local contract notebook maker Pegatron Corp (和碩) said yesterday its third-quarter shipments might fall by a single-digit percentage from the second quarter, but that it expects strong sequential growth in the fourth quarter.
“Because of Europe’s debt problem, we now have a cautious outlook for the third quarter,” local cable TV network UBN quoted Pegatron chief executive Jason Cheng (程建中) as saying on the sidelines of the company’s annual general meeting.
In addition to the impact of the eurozone crisis, consumers are waiting for the official launch of Windows 8 devices and this is another reason Pegatron has become cautious about its third-quarter shipments, Cheng said.
However, the company, a manufacturing spinoff of Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), is on track to meet its 30 percent to 35 percent sequential growth forecast for second-quarter shipments, Cheng said, adding that shipments would peak in the final quarter on rising seasonal demand.
Pegatron reported record monthly sales of NT$62.46 billion (US$2.09 billion) last month and its accumulated sales in the January-to-May period totaled NT$265.2 billion, up 89 percent year-on-year.
At yesterday’s meeting, shareholders signed off on the company’s financial report for last year and approved a company proposal not to pay any cash or stock dividend, because global economic uncertainties hurt the company’s profitability last year.
Pegatron reported a net income of NT$111 million last year, compared with NT$6.21 billion the previous year, with earnings per share of NT$0.05.
Revenue grew 13.1 percent to NT$599.9 billion from NT$530.5 billion in 2010, with a gross margin of 4.5 percent.
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