Touchpanel maker Wintek Corp (勝華科技) yesterday said its board has approved the filing of a restructuring application and emergency injunction in a move which seeks the court’s protection of its assets and a chance to overcome financial difficulties.
Wintek has invested a huge sum of money to expand touchpanel manufacturing technologies and capacities over the past five years, but demand has been below expectation and caused losses for the past three-and-a-half years, Wintek spokesman Jay Huang (黃忠傑) told a media briefing.
“The company hopes to carry out plans to improve its financial structure while it is under the protection of injunction to preserve the company’s property,” Huang said.
When asked by reporters if the company plans to privatize after filing the reorganization, Huang said: “No, we will not become unlisted.”
As the company undergoes reorganization, investors can trade Wintek shares by cash only, Huang said.
Wintek’s stock price plummeted 6.95 percent to NT$5.22 yesterday.
“I will keep leading [the company] … I will fight to the end,” Wintek chairman Hyley Huang (黃顯雄) said.
Wintek on Sept. 30 announced plans to introduce strategic partners, sell assets and streamline its workforce to weather its financial woes.
The plans include readjusting the number of employees, Huang said.
The company currently has 4,000 employees in Taiwan, but as the financial reforms have not yet been finalized, the number of employees to be laid off is not known, Huang said.
Huang said the debt that Wintek faces in China is NT$20 billion (US$658.04 million), including both short-term and long-term debt.
In Taiwan, the company has a total debt of NT$10 billion, he added.
Wintek reported consolidated assets of NT$76.58 billion, exceeding its consolidated debt of NT$51.73 billion in the first half of the year, Huang said, adding that the company has hired professional advisers to draw up financial reconstruction plans, with a view to lowering its debt.
The company reported sales of NT$5.14 billion last month, down 6 percent year-on-year and down 1.8 percent month-on-month.
Wintek posted NT$17.46 billion in quarterly sales for the July-to-September period, down 16 percent from the previous quarter’s NT$20.79 billion, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
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