Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) expects its business performance in the first half of this year to be better than the same period last year, supported by rising demand for its cloud-computing and LED lighting segments and a relatively lower base last year, a company executive said yesterday.
“The first half of this year is expected to be better than last year, while the second half of this year is to outperform the first half,” Lite-On chief executive officer Warren Chen (陳廣中) told an investors’ conference in Taipei, citing the company’s business performance pattern in the past few years.
Chen made the remarks after the company reported net income of NT$7.22 billion (US$220.35 million), or earnings per share of NT$3.11, for last year, up 11.76 percent from the previous year’s NT$6.46 billion, or NT$2.8 per share.
Lite-On investor relations senior director Julia Wang (王玉玲) said that thanks to improvements in supply-chain management and growth in the company’s core business, Lite-On’s gross margin grew by 0.75 percentage points to 13 percent last year.
The operating margin also increased by 0.91 percentage points annually to 4 percent last year, she added.
Chen said the company is to continue to focus on increasing profitability this year through resource integration and operational efficiency.
However, he said it is difficult to offer investors a range of revenue forecasts for the year due to the uncertain outlook of the global economy.
Chen said he expects Lite-On’s cloud-computing and LED lighting segments to remain the firm’s main growth drivers this year.
“The demand for SSD [solid-state drive] and server power management systems are to support the company’s cloud-computing business this year,” he said.
The outlook for Lite-On’s automotive and outdoor LED lighting products also looks good as the company foresees rising demand in global markets, Chen said.
“We are confident that the firm’s automotive LED lighting products’ global market share can reach 20 percent by 2018, supported by an increasing number of clients,” he said.
However, Chen said the oversupply in camera modules used in high-end smartphones has led to downward pressure on the average selling prices of the products.
“In addition, the smartphone demand in the Chinese market this quarter is weaker than our expectations, which weighs on the uncertainty of the outlook of camera modules this year,” he said.
The company’s board yesterday approved a dividend payout of NT$2.24 per share — including a cash dividend of NT$2.19 per share and a stock dividend of 0.5 percent per share.
The company said it aims to maintain a policy of high dividend payout ratios, as the planned dividend implies a ratio of 72 percent.
The planned dividend distribution also suggests a yield of 5.84 percent based on the firm’s share price of NT$37.5 at the close of Taipei trading yesterday.
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