Young Fast Optical Co (洋華光電), a manufacturer of small to medium-sized touch panel sensor products, returned to the black in the third quarter on the back of rising shipments of medium-sized products, a company official said yesterday.
Young Fast posted NT$31 million (US$1.06 million), or NT$0.22 per share, in net profit in the third quarter, compared with a net loss of NT$390 million, or a loss of NT$2.6 per share, in the second quarter, the company’s financial report showed.
The profit-making third quarter ended three consecutive quarters of losses.
However, the NT$31 million net profit was still lower than that during the same period last year, when the company reported a net profit of NT$246 million, or NT$1.64 per share.
Young Fast chairman Lin Teh-jeng (林德錚) attributed the third-quarter results to the strong sequential growth of shipments of medium-sized touch-panels.
This also caused Young Fast’s operating margin to rebound to 9.6 percent in the third quarter, from minus 4.6 percent in the second quarter.
“[We are] moving in the right direction,” Lin told a teleconference with investors.
Lin said the company’s medium-sized touch panel products started mass production during the July-and-September period with an encouraging yield rate.
Healthy production levels, as well as strong demand from clients launching new Windows 8 products, may help the company extend this momentum, Lin added.
However, the supply of film products may be an area of uncertainty for the company’s sales in the near future, Lin said, adding that current supply has been tight.
However, Lin said that high-level customer concentration could help the overall supply to downstream clients remain manageable.
Therefore, company revenue will continue to expand by double-digit percentages sequentially in the fourth quarter, with operating margin gradually improving, Lin said.
Lin further expected the risk of tight supply to ease in the second half of next year, following upstream film manufacturers expanding production.
Young Fast may spend a total of NT$2.5 billion in capital expenditure this year, while setting aside another NT$2.5 billion next year for raising capacity and for investment in products, including medium-sized touch panels and metal films, Lin said.
In the first three quarters of the year, Young Fast still posted net losses of NT$528 million, or NT$3.5 per share, compared with net earnings of NT$483 million, or NT$3.21 per share, recorded in the same period last year, statistics showed.
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