Acer Inc (宏碁) yesterday said it is likely to post foreign-exchange gains for last quarter, dismissing market speculation that the company was hit by the sharp depreciation of the euro against the US dollar following Britain’s vote to leave the EU.
“We are doing OK in hedging foreign-exchange risks. Acer might even book a small forex gain for last quarter,” Acer chairman George Huang (黃少華) told reporters on the sidelines of an Acer news conference at the firm’s headquarters in New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止).
Industry watchers said that Acer — along with other Taiwanese technology companies — might be hurt by slowing European demand and forex losses after the UK’s historic vote, given its 40 percent revenue exposure to European markets.
As part of its efforts to hedge against volatile exchange rates, Huang said Acer purchased euros at a fixed rate against the greenback last month, adding that the euro’s recent depreciation would not negatively affect the company’s earnings.
The company does not anticipate forex losses for at least the next month or two, because it locked its euro exchange rate for three months, Huang said.
When asked whether Acer plans to increase the prices of its PC products in European markets to ensure profitability, Huang said the company would seek to keep prices stable for a while.
Acer might face pressure to maintain its margin performance this quarter if it does not increase PC product prices in Europe, but if it is the first among its peers to adjust prices, it would face even more problems, Huang said.
The company plans to monitor its peers before making any price changes, he added.
In related news, Acer inked a cooperation agreement with Fo Guang University in Yilan County to offer the university 60 Cloud Professor sets — a tool kit that contains an Arduino board and accessories that allow students to develop simple Internet-of-Things (IoT) products.
University president Yang Chaur-shin (楊朝祥) said that all freshmen would be required to enroll in a Cloud Professor course to learn how to develop IoT applications.
In addition to teaming-up with Fo Guang University, Huang said that Acer is in discussions with other education providers across Taiwan to introduce IoT courses that utilize the Cloud Professor kits.
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