Amtran Technology Co (瑞軒), which makes slim-screen TVs for Xiaomi Corp (小米), said net profit more than doubled last year, primarily supported by a lavish asset gain.
Net profit expanded to NT$1.74 billion (US$53.5 million) last year, compared with NT$845 million in 2013, according to a company statement released on Friday. That translated into earnings per share of NT$2.12 last year, up from EPS of NT$1.01 a year earlier.
Amtran attributed last year’s strong growth to “strong non-operating income, including foreign exchange gains and profits from its holding of Vizio Inc.”
The non-operating gains include profits from Vizio’s US$172 million initial public offering on the NASDAQ in July last year. Amtran holds about a 20 percent share of Vizio, one of the largest TV vendors in North America.
The TV maker did not provide detailed figures about non-operating gains.
Gross margin fell to 8 percent last year from 11.83 percent a year earlier, according to the company statement.
The TV maker on Friday also said that its board has approved a cash dividend of NT$1.8 per common share, representing a 85 percent payout ratio.
That also meant an attractive dividend yield of 10.85 percent, based on the stock’s closing price of NT$16.85 on Friday.
Amtran shipped 2.02 million LCD TVs last year, up by about 20 percent from 1.7 million in 2014. Revenue jumped 16 percent to NT$20.7 billion last year from 2014’s NT$17.84 billion.
“Orders from Vizio, Sharp and Xiaomi have helped boost Amtran’s shipments this year,” market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said.
Overall, Taiwanese contract LCD TV makers last year saw their shipments increase 4.6 percent to 33.96 million units, boosted by orders from Chinese brands such as Xiaomi and LeTV (樂視), according to TrendForce’s tally.
Amtran, ranked No. 5 among local TV makers, and TPV Technology Ltd (冠捷) were the two companies among the top five TV vendors in Taiwan seeing shipment growth.
TPV’s shipments rose 8.2 percent annually last year to 17.48 million units.
This year, local LCD TV makers are likely to face growing competition from Chinese rivals and are expected to ship 33.55 million fewer units this year, or 1.21 percent, compared with last year, TrendForce said.
Major competition came from a TV manufacturing arm of China’s LCD panel maker BOE Technology Group Co (京東方), it said.
BOE’s TV manufacturing affiliate produced 5.82 million LCD TVs last year, tracking behind Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the nation’s second-largest LCD TV maker.
This year, the Chinese firm aims to grow shipment to 9 million units, TrendForce said, challenging Hon Hai’s No. 2 position.
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