Largan Precision Co (大立光), which makes lenses used in cameras and information technology products, yesterday reported record-high earnings of NT$7.42 billion (US$233.4 million) for last quarter, bringing its total net income to NT$144.85 billion for last year.
“We expect sales in this quarter to drop slightly from the previous quarter due to a slow season, but expect strong growth compared with the first quarter of last year, especially for this and next month,” Largan chief executive officer Adam Lin (林恩平) said during a conference call.
Largan’s gross margin for last quarter declined 1.88 percentage points to 50.61 percent from the previous quarter’s 52.49 percent, citing increased shipments of camera modules bundled with voice coil motors (VCM) in the last quarter.
Compared with gross margin in the third quarter that declined 5.71 percentage points from the second quarter, last quarter’s gross margin only dropped slightly due to yield rate improvements and good product mix, Lin said.
Lin said this quarter’s gross margin would depend on the average selling price of its products, the shipments of camera lens modules with VCM, product mix and yield rate performance.
The company’s quarterly net income jumped one-and-a-half times from the previous year’s NT$2.87 billion and 40.53 percent from the previous quarter’s NT$5.28 billion.
Largan said 99 percent of its revenue comes from camera lens modules for smartphones, tablets and notebook computers, pointing out that the smartphone segment accounted for between 85 percent and 90 percent of overall revenue.
The firm said foreign-exchange gains contributed NT$966 million to last quarter’s net income.
Earnings per share for last quarter were NT$55.34, bringing the whole-year figure to NT$144.85, which marks the highest level in the company’s history.
Looking forward, Lin said that volume-wise, Largan’s dual-camera products might contribute more revenue than its other products this year, citing increasing orders for dual-camera lens modules from different clients.
Lin said Largan has started to ship a small number of dual-camera lens modules with a zoom function, adding that the company also sent samples with an optical-zoom lens for testing.
Lin said the construction of a new plant at Taichung Precision Machinery Science and Technology Innovation Park (台中市精密機械園區) would be completed in the second half of next year and begin operations by 2017 at the earliest.
“We want the new plant’s construction to be firm and solid, so we have rented new plants to meet clients’ orders before the plant becomes operational,” he added.
Ahead of yesterday’s conference call, analysts forecast Largan’s sales would decline by double-digit percentage points this quarter from last quarter due to the slow season and inventory adjustments.
Largan shares rose 0.43 percent to NT$2,360 in Taipei trading yesterday, outperforming the TAIEX, which lost 0.16 percent.
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