Ginko International Co (金可國際), which makes contact lenses and lens-care solution, maintained its revenue growth target of 25 percent in the second half of this year as the company gradually increases sales of its disposable contact lenses in China.
“Ginko aims to increase sales of its disposable contact lenses to between 33 percent and 35 percent of its total revenue this year, from 25 percent last year,” Ginko vice president Sonny Pan (潘銘雄) said on Thursday.
The disposable contact lens segment is growing more rapidly compared with the contact lens and lens-care solution markets in China, which posted a composite annual growth rate of 17 percent from 2008 through last year, Pan said.
Last quarter, sales of disposable contact lenses increased to 33 percent of the company’s total revenue, compared with 31 percent in the first quarter.
From January through last month, revenue grew 24.02 percent to NT$3.3 billion from NT$2.66 billion the previous year, according to a company filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Ginko said its revenue for this month and next month would reach the highest August-to-September sales level in the company’s history, adding that revenue this quarter would post a quarterly increase of between 10 percent and 15 percent.
Ginko in June received approval from China to market its Hydron-brand daily disposable contact lenses. The company expects its monthly and biweekly disposable contact lenses to be approved next quarter.
Taiwan-made Hydron disposable contact lenses enjoy a 15 percent price premium over others sold in China, Pan said.
Overall, the company plans to start selling its Taiwan-made products in China next quarter, Pan said, hoping to increase their sales contribution to 10 percent of total revenue in 2016 from 5 percent next year.
Ginko enjoyed a market share of 32 percent in the Chinese contact lens market last year, followed by Bausch & Lomb Inc, which had 24 percent, according to the company.
The company plans to reduce the turnover days of account receivable to 150 days in China in the second half of this year, from 180 days in the first half, as Ginko does not need to expand its market share by offering long-term payment plans to clients, Pan said.
In the April-to-June quarter, Ginko posted a profit of NT$405.15 million, or earnings per share of NT$4.37, up 10.99 percent from NT$365.04 million (NT$4.02 per share) the previous year and 20.6 percent higher than NT$335.95 million, or earnings per share of NT$3.64, the previous quarter, the company said.
Last quarter’s results were lower than a market consensus forecast because of foreign-exchange losses resulting from the depreciation of the yuan, SinoPac Securities Co (永豐金證券) said yesterday.
SinoPac forecast that Ginko will report a profit of NT$1.72 billion this year, up 21.12 percent from NT$1.42 billion last year. The figure was 3.9 percent lower than NT$1.79 billion it previously forecast.
Ginko shares fell 0.22 percent yesterday to close at NT$447.5, outperforming the GRETAI, which closed down 0.77 percent.
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