Acer Inc (宏碁) plans to gradually list some of its new business units on the local stock market over the next few months in a bid to cultivate multiple growth engines, Acer chairman and chief executive officer Jason Chen (陳俊聖) said yesterday.
“We have made a turnaround and corporate transformation in the past few years. It is time to move on to a new phase to seek sustainability,” Chen told a media gathering at Acer’s headquarters in New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止).
Acer has engaged in corporate transformation by shifting its emphasis from traditional personal computers to thin-and-light notebook computers, gaming products and virtual reality (VR) hardware, while carrying out “many” new business initiatives over the past few years, Chen said.
The new businesses have ranged from “smart” parking and charging solutions, digital signage solutions, and VR content building to Acer’s Pawbo accessories, which enable pet owners to track, monitor and interact with their pets.
Acer has also developed the Acer English System — an educational solution that combines voice recognition and big data analysis — for the Chinese market, as China plans to add an oral English test to its college entrance exam in 2021, Chen said, adding that “thousands” of middle and elementary schools in China have adopted the system.
Some of the new businesses have been profitable for two or three consecutive years, which is in line with the Taipei Exchange’s listing regulation, he said, without elaborating.
The businesses with losses still developed innovative technologies and showed great potential, Chen said, adding that Acer plans to apply with the Industrial Development Bureau to gain recognition for its listings on the Taipei Exchange.
The company has no plan to list them on stock markets in China, he added.
Acer’s net profit reached NT$1.75 billion (US$58.36 million) in the first three quarters of this year, an increase of 110 percent from NT$833.31 million in the same period last year.
Average gross margin grew 0.38 percentage points to 10.7 percent in the first nine months of this year — a 13-year record for the period — while average operating margin rose 0.78 percentage points to 1.4 percent — a six-year record, company data showed.
Acer shares yesterday closed 0.24 percent higher at NT$20.6. They have increased 57.25 percent since the beginning of the year.
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