PChome Online Inc (網路家庭) on Thursday reported net income of NT$195 million (US$6.22 million) for last quarter, up 27.45 percent year-on-year and up 13.37 percent from the previous quarter, thanks to gains in market share and an increasing sales contribution from non-IT products.
Last quarter’s earnings were 10.5 percent higher than the market’s estimate of NT$177 million, mainly owing to higher-than-expected gross margin and higher operating margin, Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) said.
The firm’s gross margin of 17.8 percent and operating margin of 4.7 percent for last quarter also beat market consensus by 0.2 percentage points and 0.3 percentage points respectively, Yuanta analyst Livia Wu (吳靚芙) said in a research note yesterday.
Overall, the company’s annual net income grew 39.16 percent to NT$761.94 million last year, or NT$7.8 per share, from NT$547.51 million, or NT$5.81 per share, the previous year.
Wu said PChome’s sales mix for this year would see non-IT products continue increasing from 30.6 percent last year and 28.1 percent in 2013. The non-IT products include items in the computer, communications and consumer electronics segments.
In the first two months of the year, PChome’s sales totaled NT$3.76 billion, up 15.3 percent from last year’s NT$3.26 billion, according to the company’s filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Yuanta forecast sales of PChome will grow 14.28 percent year-on-year to NT$5.47 billion this quarter or increase 3.65 percent quarter-on-quarter, driven by Lunar New Year shopping.
Overall, the company’s sales for this year would likely increase 13.1 percent to NT$22.95 billion from last year’s NT$20.29 billion, Wu said.
“We expect PChome to continue gain market share in Taiwan this year on the back of its high stock keep unit count, its unparalleled fast delivery service and cheaper pricing strategy,” Wu said.
PChome last year shorten its product delivery time in Taipei to less than six hours from 24 hours.
The company’s shares declined 0.77 percent to NT$386 in Taipei trading yesterday, outperforming the TAIEX, which lost 1.2 percent.
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