Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday said sales increased last month from October, but were still lower than a year ago, while expecting the launch of new low-end models to help its sales recovery.
Consolidated revenue reached NT$21.23 billion (US$730 million) last month, up 23.36 percent from NT$17.21 billion in October, the Taoyuan-based firm said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange after the market closed.
However, last month’s figure, however, represented a 31.39 percent decline compared to the NT$30.92 billion recorded for the same period of last year, the filing showed.
In the first 11 months of the year, accumulated revenue was NT$267.5 billion, down 39.14 percent from NT$439.43 billion a year earlier.
HTC did not elaborate on its latest sales results, but analysts attributed the monthly increase to substantial growth in low-end smartphones in emerging markets.
The resolving of prolonged patent disputes between HTC and Apple Inc also boosted US carriers’ confidence in the company, lifting sales of its high-end smartphones in the US market, they added.
“We think there is a high likelihood that HTC will achieve double-digit sales growth this month and reach its target sales of NT$60 billion for this quarter, driven by increasing demand for low-end smartphone products, such as the HTC T528 series in China, and high-end models like the HTC Droid DNA in the United States” Fubon Securities Co (富邦證券) analyst Jeff Pu (蒲得宇) said by telephone yesterday.
Pu said HTC’s sales of NT$21.23 billion last month were 7.7 percent lower than Fubon’s estimate of NT$23 billion, and he attributed the results to the shortage of components and supplies of its Windows Phone 8X in the US and T528 series smartphones in China.
In a report released on Thursday last week, Fubon said HTC’s settlement with Apple has opened up a window to regain its share of the US market.
HTC and Apple announced a 10-year deal on Nov. 11, ending all patent-infringement lawsuits between the two. The Taiwanese firm will make royalty payments to Apple on a quarterly basis, Bloomberg reported yesterday, citing an agreement filed in a US court.
In addition, HTC is fixing its marketing strategy by rebuilding its team and by allocating more resources for promotional activities to spur sales, Fubon said in the report, while raising its target share on the stock to NT$310.
HTC shares closed at NT$277 in Taipei trading, down 2.12 percent from the previous session.
HTC yesterday launched the new One SV low-end Android-powered smartphone to boost year-end sales.
Jack Tong (董俊良), president at HTC’s Northern Asia office, said the company hoped the new model could sustain sales momentum for the popular HTC J smartphone through January next year.
Unlike most of HTC’s low-end models, the One SV has a dual-core processor and is equipped with a 4.3-inch high-definition screen that has damage-resistance glass, a 500-mega pixel rear camera that enables users to take pictures while filming and a Beats audio sound system.
HTC said One SV will hit the market on Dec. 15, with a price tag of NT$11,900 without a contract, while users could pay a monthly subscription fee of NT$898 to own the smartphone at a minimum cost for the handset of NT$1,990 under a two-year contract with Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大).
“The company has adopted the right strategy of developing not only high-end, but low-cost smartphones that have high price-performance ratio to increase market penetration, but HTC needs to increase sales volume of its low-end models if it wants to grab market share back from rivals,” Pu said.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
PRESSURE EXPECTED: The appreciation of the NT dollar reflected expectations that Washington would press Taiwan to boost its currency against the US dollar, dealers said Taiwan’s export-oriented semiconductor and auto part manufacturers are expecting their margins to be affected by large foreign exchange losses as the New Taiwan dollar continued to appreciate sharply against the US dollar yesterday. Among major semiconductor manufacturers, ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing services provider, said that whenever the NT dollar rises NT$1 against the greenback, its gross margin is cut by about 1.5 percent. The NT dollar traded as strong as NT$29.59 per US dollar before trimming gains to close NT$0.919, or 2.96 percent, higher at NT$30.145 yesterday in Taipei trading
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