Touch-panel controller chip manufacturer Elan Microelectronics Corp (義隆電子) posted a 9.78 percent decline in net profits last quarter, citing slow seasonal demand.
In the final quarter of last year, the firm’s net profits dropped to NT$323 million (US$10.95 million), or NT$0.82 a share, from third-quarter net profits of NT$358 million, or NT$0.92 a share.
However, Elan’s full-year net profits still surged to a record high of NT$1.16 billion, or NT$3 per share, on record-high revenue of NT$7.28 billion, the company’s financial statement showed. That nearly tripled the NT$471 million, or NT$1.2 per share, that it posted in 2011.
“This quarter will be a better period than last quarter,” Elan chairman and president Yeh I-hau (葉儀皓) told an investors’ conference yesterday.
Revenue would be higher this quarter than last quarter’s NT$1.86 billion, becuase of strong global demand for tablets and touchscreen PCs running Microsoft Corp’s Windows 8, Yeh said.
Elan’s clients have placed more orders for customized touch-panel controller chips because the company can mass-produce tailor-made units and is expanding its production capacity in China to meet the growing demand, Yeh said.
Elan’s shipments of IC’s using touch panels used in smartphones will increase by 40 percent in the current quarter, while tablet shipments will grow by 1 percent to 2 percent, Yeh forecast.
Elan plans to mass-produce single layer panels and upgrade its technology to manufacture panels larger than 23 inches, Yeh said
Elan’s shares closed up 0.82 percent in Taipei trading yesterday, underperforming the broader market’s 1.13 percent rise.
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