Everlight Electronics Co (億光電子), Taiwan’s largest LED chip packager and lighting products supplier, yesterday reported strong annual growth in net income last quarter, driven by the improving demand for LED consumer lighting products and high-margin infrared applications.
Everlight’s net profit was NT$445.65 million (US$14.2 million) last quarter, jumping significantly by 41.23 percent from last year’s NT$315.07 million and slightly higher than the previous quarter’s NT$445 million, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
As a result of an improved product portfolio, gross margin reached 25.1 percent during the April-to-June quarter, increasing by 2.85 percentage points from last year’s 22.25 percent and by 0.07 percentage points from the 25.03 percent the previous quarter, the company said.
Everlight’s operating margin also improved to 7.85 percent last quarter, adding 1.81 percentage points from last year’s 6.04 percent and 0.72 percentage points from the previous quarter’s 7.13 percent, company data showed.
Everlight’s gross margin last quarter was its highest since the first quarter of 2014, while its operating margin was the highest in the past five quarters, according to the firm’s filings with the stock exchange.
In addition to the improving demand for backlight units used in consumer LED lighting products, market analysts said the recent stabilizing prices of LED chips also helped lower the pressures of the LED chip packagers’ profitability.
Market analysts said that as the LED industry entered its traditional peak season this quarter, Everlight’s performance is forecast to outpace the last quarter on the back of steady, rising demand.
Company chairman Robert Yeh (葉寅夫) in June told shareholders that he expects demand for Everlight’s backlight units, which accounted for more than 20 percent of the company’s total revenues last year, to grow in the second half of this year, after receiving orders from new Japanese and South Korean TV clients.
In the first half of this year, Everlight’s net profit totaled NT$890.64 million, expanding slightly by 1.71 percent from NT$875.85 million made over the same period last year, the firm’s filing showed.
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