HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday posted weaker-than-expected revenue for last month, marking the company’s 17th consecutive month of year-on-year declines and putting the firm’s hopes of its smartphone business breaking even this quarter into doubt.
The firm posted revenue of NT$6.58 billion (US$209.47 million) last month, representing a 4.51 percent contraction from NT$6.88 billion in the same period last year, according to the firm’s filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
However, the figure is a 4.12 percent increase from July’s NT$6.31 billion, the filing showed.
HTC posted accumulated revenue of NT$46.58 billion in the first eight months, just more than half the NT$88.83 billion recorded over the same period last year, company data showed.
HTC smartphone and connected devices president Chang Chia-lin (張嘉臨) last month told investors that he foresees the company’s revenue and profitability improving this quarter from the May-to-June period, on the back of momentum in sales of its flagship smartphone and its virtual-reality headset, the HTC Vive.
Chang said the company expects shipments of the HTC 10 this quarter to be similar or higher than last quarter and hopes its smartphone business can break even this quarter.
However, given HTC’s shipments last quarter, it is unlikely its smartphone business will become profitable this quarter, analysts said.
The firm’s smartphone sales for July and last month were NT$12.88 billion, about 68 percent of its total revenue of NT$18.86 billion in the last quarter, analysts said.
If the firm’s sales were to post a quarterly increase, its revenue this month would need to exceed NT$5.98 billion, even as demand for the HTC 10 declines, as it has been on the market for more than five months, analysts said.
In an effort to expand demand for its smartphones, the company unveiled the mid-end HTC One A9s handset at the IFA electronics show in Berlin last week.
It has been widely speculated that HTC plans to introduce a new series of its Desire 10 handset later this month and that Google will unveil two new smartphones manufactured by HTC in the middle of next month.
HTC shares yesterday rose 0.12 percent to sell at NT$83.9 on the local bourse yesterday.
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