Lextar Electronics Corp (隆達電子), an LED manufacturing arm of AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), yesterday said its operating profit was back in the black in the second quarter this year because of a better product mix and an increased capacity utilization rate.
The company reported an operating profit of NT$352.23 million (US$11.69 million) for the three months to June, compared with a loss after tax of NT$53.28 million in the first quarter, when it booked a one-time inventory write-off.
Operating margin improved to 9.16 percent from minus-1.84 percent last quarter, while gross margin increased 10.6 percentage points to 17.4 percent, the company said.
“The improvement in gross margin was mainly due to an increased utilization rate of more than 80 percent in the second quarter from 65 percent in the first quarter, thanks to growing demand in the high season,” Lextar chief financial executive Chang Bo-yi (張博儀) said in a statement.
Chang also said that both the backlight and lighting markets recovered in the second quarter, and the days of inventory remained steady at 64 days in the quarter.
However, the company’s net profit declined last quarter 32 percent to NT$300.6 million, or earnings per share of NT$0.59, from NT$442.14 billion, or NT$0.92 per share, in the previous quarter, when it benefited from the reversal of a goodwill impairment loss.
Net profit more than doubled from NT$125.69 billion, or NT$0.3 per share, year on year it said.
Second-quarter revenue was NT$3.85 billion, up 33.1 percent from the prior quarter and 47.5 percent higher than last year.
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