Siliconware Precision Industries Co Ltd (SPIL, 矽品精密), the world’s third-largest chip packager and tester, on Friday reported a 47 percent annual decline in net profit for last quarter, eroded by a spike in financial liabilities.
Net profit plummeted to NT$1.49 billion (US$51.2 million) in the final quarter of last year, from NT$2.83 billion a year earlier.
On a quarterly basis, net profit dipped 34 percent from NT$2.26 billion.
Earnings per share were NT$0.48 in the quarter, the company said in a statement.
The poor performance was due to declining revenue last quarter amid falling prices, a strong New Taiwan dollar and a weaker product mix, SPIL said, adding that a loss of NT$463 million in the fair-value adjustment of its convertible bonds also squeezed its profits.
A 3.82 percent rally in its stock price in the fourth quarter of last year boosted the value of its convertible bonds, or the debt, which led to the fair-value change of financial liabilities, SPIL said.
The company said it consequently saw declines in both its gross margin and operating margin last quarter, with its gross margin falling from 23.6 percent a year earlier and 21.9 percent a quarter earlier to 20.7 percent, and its operating margin falling from 13.7 a year earlier and 12.5 percent a quarter earlier to 10.7 percent.
For the whole of last year, net profit dipped 30.5 percent to NT$6.9 billion, compared with NT$9.93 billion in 2016, hitting the lowest level in four years, SPIL said, adding that earnings per share dropped from NT$3.19 in 2016 to NT$2.11 last year.
Its gross margin last year fell from 22.7 percent in 2016 to 20.1 percent and its operating margin fell from 12.6 percent to 10.4 percent, while total revenue shrank 1.81 percent year-on-year from NT$85.11 billion to NT$83.55 billion, the company said.
SPIL last year allocated NT$12.93 billion for capital expenditure, but the company said it plans to spend more this year to expand capacity and its research and development capability, after its board approved a capital expenditure budget of NT$19.2 billion on Dec. 20 last year.
Separately, SPIL on Tuesday said that trading of its shares would be terminated on April 17 on both the Taiwan Stock Exchange and NASDAQ Composite if shareholders approve a share exchange agreement with Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體) during an extraordinary general meeting on Feb. 12.
SPIL shareholders would be paid NT$51.2 per share and their approval would pave the way for its merger with ASE later this year, the company said.
Once the share exchange is completed, SPIL would become a subsidiary of a newly formed ASE Industrial Holding Co (日月光投資控股), the company said, adding that ASE would also become a subsidiary of the holding company and its shares would be delisted from the local stock market as well.
The holding company is expected to launch a stock listing on April 30 on both exchanges, SPIL said.
Taiwan’s long-term economic competitiveness will hinge not only on national champions like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) but also on the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, a US-based scholar has said. At a lecture in Taipei on Tuesday, Jeffrey Ding, assistant professor of political science at the George Washington University and author of "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers," argued that historical experience shows that general-purpose technologies (GPTs) — such as electricity, computers and now AI — shape long-term economic advantages through their diffusion across the broader economy. "What really matters is not who pioneers
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
INFLATION CONSIDERATION: The BOJ governor said that it would ‘keep making appropriate decisions’ and would adjust depending on the economy and prices The Bank of Japan (BOJ) yesterday raised its benchmark interest rate to the highest in 30 years and said more increases are in the pipeline if conditions allow, in a sign of growing conviction that it can attain the stable inflation target it has pursued for more than a decade. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda’s policy board increased the rate by 0.2 percentage points to 0.75 percent, in a unanimous decision, the bank said in a statement. The central bank cited the rising likelihood of its economic outlook being realized. The rate change was expected by all 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The
RSS