Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, reported that net profit declined for the second year in a row to its lowest level in about five years.
The company’s net profit last year shrank 6.97 percent annually from NT$138.73 billion (US$4.5 billion) to NT$129.07 billion, a Hon Hai financial statement released on Friday last week showed.
Earnings per share rose to NT$8.03, from NT$8.01 a year earlier, as a result of a 20 percent reduction in Hon Hai’s capital shares.
The financial statement also showed that net profit fell 12.62 percent to NT$62.62 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, from NT$71.66 billion a year earlier, mainly due to a slide in non-operating income, which plunged 82.85 percent annually from NT$63.22 billion to NT$10.85 billion.
However, gross margin in the October-to-December quarter rose to 7 percent, from 6.1 percent a year earlier, while revenue also climbed 4.59 percent to a record high of NT$1.81 trillion, compared with NT$1.73 trillion a year earlier, the statement showed.
Last year, overall revenue grew 12.47 percent to NT$5.29 trillion, from NT$4.71 trillion in 2017, with gross margin declining 0.17 percentage points to 6.44 percent and operating margin rising 0.18 percentage points to 2.57 percent.
This year, Hon Hai shopuld secure the largest share of Apple’s orders at more than 60 percent, analysts said.
Hon Hai, which is scheduled to have an annual shareholders’ meeting on June 21, has not announced its cash dividend distribution plan.
Last year, it issued a cash dividend of NT$2 per common share and returned NT$2 per share to shareholders after the capital reduction.
Separately, Foxconn Industrial Internet Co Ltd (FII, 富士康工業互連), an 85 percent-held subsidiary of Hon Hai, released its first annual income statement on Friday since launching its initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in June last year.
The company, which manufactures casings, network equipment and servers, reported annual revenue of 415.38 billion yuan (US$61.89 billion), an increase of 17.16 percent from 354.54 billion yuan a year earlier, on the back of rising sales of communication and networking equipment.
Net income reached 16.9 billion yuan, 6.52 percent higher than 15.87 billion yuan a year earlier, with earnings per share of 0.9 yuan, compared with 0.95 yuan in 2017.
Shares of Hon Hai ended 2.37 percent higher at NT$73.5 in Taipei trading on Friday.
FII, which debuted on June 8 at 13.77 yuan per share, rose 3.15 percent to close at 14.75 yuan in Shanghai on Friday.
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