Simplo Technology Co (新普科技), which supplies battery packs for Apple Inc’s iPhones and Macbooks, yesterday forecast a lukewarm 2.87 percent growth in revenue for this quarter as consumers tighten their purse strings amid weak macro-economies.
In the best-case scenario, revenue could expand to NT$16.1 billion (US$496 million) in the current quarter, compared with last quarter’s NT$15.65 billion, Simplo said, but revenue could go down 0.96 percent to NT$15.5 billion.
Net profit could grow by between 6.71 percent and 15.44 percent sequentially to between NT$795 million and NT$860 million, compared with last quarter’s NT$745 million.
Gross margin is likely to hold steady at about 10.12 percent this quarter, according to the company’s forecast.
“The third quarter will not be a high season as it is in the past. I feel that [the industry] is entering a winter,” company chairman and chief executive officer Raymond Sung (宋福祥) told reporters on the sidelines of an investors’ conference.
“The macroeconomies are faltering. End demand for notebook computers, smartphones and tablets looks flattish,” Sung said. “But Simplo will continue to grow.”
Notebook computers might be a relatively bright spot for Simplo this quarter, while tablet business is likely to decline from last quarter, Sung said.
However, he expects a significant sequential growth next quarter on new product launch from clients.
“Simplo is managing the industry’s ups and downs better than its rivals as the company has been diversifying its product lineup,” Sung said.
“Revenue from non-information technology products account for 5 percent to 8 percent of the company’s total revenue next year, up from 5 percent, or 6 percent this year,” Sung said.
The biggest revenue source among its non-IT products is battery packs used in electric bikes, with new clients from Europe, the company said.
New growth in engines could be from portable battery packs for camping or traveling, and from robotic arms, the company said.
Simplo is to start taking orders for its robotic arms and the company plans to use 500 robotic arms in its factories as of next year, Sung said.
He said 80 percent of the components used in the robotic arms are made in-house, as Simplo has been heavily investing in robotics industry over the past few years.
In the first half of this year, Simplo’s net profit fell slightly to NT$1.48 billion, compared with NT$1.51 billion in the same period last year. That translated into earnings per share of NT$4.8 in the first half of this year, down from NT$4.9 per share from the previous year.
Local rival Dynapack International Technology Corp (順達) posted NT$258.56 million, or NT$1.7 per share, for the first half of this year.
Shares of Simplo fell 0.41 percent to NT$120.5 yesterday on Taipei’s over-the-counter market, matching the TPEX’s decline of 0.41 percent.
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