Inventec Corp (英業達) expects to grow its revenue and profitability this year, driven by its handheld, server and solar segments in the second half of this year, company executives said yesterday.
“I am optimistic about our operations in the second half, based on order forecasts by clients and peak sales season for the electronics industry,” chairman Richard Lee (李詩欽) told a media briefing after the company’s general meeting in Taipei.
With steady growth in Inventec’s handheld, server, commercial PC and solar power businesses, Lee said he foresees Inventec’s revenue expanding by more than 1 percent from last year’s NT$395.47 billion to NT$400 billion (US$12.26 billion to US$12.4 billion), despite the uncertain global economy this year.
Lee said Inventec’s profitability this year could grow from last year’s net income of NT$5.56 billion, but added that it is hard to forecast a growth range due to unpredictable foreign exchange rates.
Inventec’s gross margin improved to 5.9 percent in the first quarter, thanks to continued efforts in industrial automation and an improving product portfolio, Lee said.
The company’s goal is to maintain the momentum throughout the year and outpace last year’s gross margin of 5.3 percent, Lee said.
David Ho (何代水), the CEO of Inventec handset subsidiary Inventec Appliance Corp (英華達), said the company would stand by its annual shipment goal for this year of between 70 million and 75 million handheld devices, including 40 million or 45 million smartphones.
Inventec Appliance, which contributed 12.4 percent of Inventec’s total revenue in the first quarter, helps assemble smartphones for Chinese handset vendor Xiaomi Corp (小米) and wearable devices for US company Fitbit Inc.
Ho dismissed market speculation that Xiaomi cut smartphone orders to Inventec, saying that the firm stuck to forecast orders to Inventec.
“The shipment momentum in the first half of this year is relatively weak, but the momentum will pick up in the second half following some clients’ launches of new smartphones and handheld devices,” Ho said, referring to Inventec Appliance’s handheld shipments, including to Xiaomi.
Ho said handheld shipments in the first half of this year would contribute nearly 40 percent of the company’s total shipments of between 70 million and 75 million units, while the second half of this year is expected to generate more than 60 percent of total shipments.
Shipments of servers, which contributed 30 percent of the company’s total revenue last quarter, are expected to climb by a double-digit percentage this year, supported by increasing demand from Chinese clients, Inventec said.
Shareholders approved a plan to distribute a cash dividend of NT$1.4 per common share, based on last year’s net income of NT$5.56 billion, or NT$1.55 per share.
That translates into a payout ratio of 90.32 percent, greater than the 88.4 percent in the same period last year.
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