General Interface Solution Holding Ltd (GIS, 業成控股) on Friday reported double-digit percentage growth in revenue for last month, bringing last quarter’s revenue to a record high, a sign that the touch-panel module unit of Hon Hai Group (鴻海集團) remains relatively stable compared with other Taiwanese firms in Apple Inc’s supply chain.
Consolidated revenue reached NT$17.64 billion (US$571.6 million) last month, up 10.8 percent from the previous month and 32.71 percent from a year earlier, figures on GIS’ Web site showed.
With monthly sales returning to positive annual growth from October, fourth-quarter revenue increased 65 percent from the previous quarter to NT$51.68 billion, higher than the market consensus estimate of 50 percent growth and the highest in the company’s history, the data showed.
On an annual basis, last quarter’s revenue rose 11.8 percent.
As a leading touch and LCD display module supplier for Apple iPhones, GIS also produces liquid-crystal modules for Apple’s iPad tablets and MacBook laptops, as well as ultrasonic fingerprint sensor solutions for Samsung Electronics Co, which helped it overcome muted demand for smartphones last quarter.
Even so, GIS’ cumulative revenue for the whole of last year was still 1.81 percent lower than in 2017, totaling NT$128.44 billion, the data showed.
The first quarter is traditionally the low season for touch solution suppliers, but ultrasonic fingerprint solutions business should help a bit, Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) analyst George Chang (張家麒) said in a note.
“The key to watch is whether ultrasonic will see more customer adoption, in addition to Samsung, in 2019,” Chang said, adding that potential revenue contribution from the new business would also depend on whether the company could add more capacity.
The company has yet to release its earnings results for last quarter. In the first three quarters of last year, the company reported a net profit of NT$2.34 billion, down from NT$4.95 billion for the same period in 2017, with earnings per share of NT$6.91.
Gross margin and operating margin decreased to 8.3 percent and 2.37 percent respectively, from 12.49 percent and 7.84 percent the previous year.
Shares in GIS fell 0.7 percent to NT$85.6 on Friday in Taipei trading. The stock fell 54.77 percent last year in a correction that reflected investors’ concerns about the company’s declining revenue and profit.
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