Inventec Corp (英業達) yesterday said its PC-related business for last quarter was affected by weak global demand, causing it to remain cautious about the PC industry this quarter and next quarter.
However, the company still managed to report increases in net income last quarter both annually and quarterly, despite weakness in its solar business.
Net income grew 3 percent year-on-year and 11 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$1.68 billion (US$54.79 million), with earnings per share of NT$0.51.
Gross margin declined to 5.27 percent from the previous quarter’s 5.3 percent, but rose 3.94 percentage points from a year earlier.
“Apart from the PC segment, Inventec’s revenues were also affected by its solar business,” Inventec chief financial officer Yu Chin-pao (游進寶) told an investors’ conference yesterday.
Yu said solar business accounts for at least 5 percent of Inventec’s total revenues, adding that its solar business in the first half of this year was “okay,” but it encountered turbulence last quarter which affected Inventec’s revenue.
“That said, Inventec’s solar business will remain profitable next year, as we still have Canada as our destination market in North America and clients from Europe and Japan,” Yu said.
Inventec’s consolidated revenue was NT$101.34 billion last quarter, down 17 percent from last year’s NT$122.46 billion and 3 percent lower than the previous quarter’s NT$104.9 billion.
Non-PC products accounted for 50 to 60 percent of the firm’s total revenue last quarter, Yu said, adding that server products increased from 25 percent to 30 percent.
“Handheld devices accounted for a double-digit percent of our revenue,” he said.
David Ho (何代水), chief executive officer of Inventec’s handset subsidiary, Inventec Appliance Corp (英華達), said shipments of handsets and smart home products are scheduled to reach 45 million to 50 million this year, adding that handsets account for 65 percent of its total shipments.
“Shipments of handsets and smart home devices from our two plants in China will have double-digit growth next year,” Ho said.
Overall, the company’s outlook for this quarter is likely to be flat from last quarter, as the PC segment enters a slow season, Yu said.
Inventec is especially conservative about the PC industry next year in light of the continued impact from consumers’ strong demand for handheld devices, Yu said.
“Although PC market demand is weak and Inventec’s PC segment business scale and revenue may be affected, we will increase the proportion of high-margin products in our product portfolio to stabilize our profitability,” Yu said, adding that Inventec plans to expand its operations in non-PC business this quarter.
Separately, Inventec yesterday posted monthly sales of NT$36.82 billion for last month, down 18.14 year-on-year and slightly improved from the previous month’s NT$36.77 billion.
That brought the company’s cumulative revenue for the first 10 months of this year to NT$359.75 billion, down 3.15 percent from a year earlier.
Inventec shares closed at NT$21.60 in Taipei trading yesterday, up 2.37 percent from a day earlier and outperforming TAIEX’s 0.24 percent rise.
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