Acer Inc (宏碁) yesterday reported a significant increase in net income for last quarter, supported by non-operating gains of NT$1.54 billion (US$49.16 million).
Net profit was NT$538.47 million last quarter, expanding from last year’s NT$2 million and the previous quarter’s NT$46 million, the company said in a statement.
“The surge in net income last quarter was due to non-operational gains, which largely came from foreign-exchange gains of more than NT$900 million,” an Acer official said by telephone.
The company booked a operating loss of NT$279 million for its core business last quarter as price hikes of key components, such as panels, brought down an operating income of NT$866 million in the first quarter.
Inventory management for a product-cycle transition also weighed on Acer’s profitability last quarter, it said.
Acer reported an operating margin of minus-0.5 percent for the April-to-June quarter, compared with 1.48 percent a year earlier and 1.54 percent the previous quarter.
Gross margin dropped 0.87 percentage points annually and 2.23 percentage points quarterly to 9.62 percent, the company said.
When asked if pricing effects from key component supplies is to extend into this quarter, Acer said it was still too early to tell.
The company said it plans to leverage its resources and might choose another key component supplier in an effort to better manage its costs, but warned that continued increases in prices for panels and DRAM would place more pressure not only on Acer, but on other PC brands.
The company’s board yesterday approved the resignation of S.T. Liew (劉思泰), president of Acer’s build-your-own-cloud (BYOC) smart products business, effective from Oct. 1.
Liew joined Acer in 2010 and has played an important part in the development of its “smart” devices, the company said in a statement.
Acer said Maverick Shih (施宣輝), co-head of the BYOC business with Liew, would lead the division.
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