Largan Precision Co (大立光), a leading supplier of camera lens modules, yesterday reported revenue of NT$3.93 billion (US$127.5 million) for last month, year-on-year growth of 24.92 percent.
On a monthly basis, revenue rose 55 percent from NT$2.53 billion in February, according to figures posted on the company’s Web site.
The Taichung-headquartered company posted combined revenue of NT$9.82 billion for the first quarter of this year, up 10.45 percent compared with NT$8.88 billion in the same period last year.
However, the quarterly figure was 21.14 percent lower than the NT$12.44 billion posted for the fourth quarter last year, company data showed.
Largan did not elaborate on its first-quarter revenue and calls to the company went unanswered due to the four-day Tomb Sweeping holiday.
Largan chief executive Adam Lin (林恩平) earlier this year said that, despite sluggish growth in the smartphone market, smartphones are now often equipped with two or more high-quality camera lenses, with the trend boding well for the company’s outlook.
Revenue for this month might surpass NT$4 billion on orders from Huawei Technologies Co (華為), Chinese-language news outlet Cynes.com reported yesterday, citing analysts.
As one of the largest suppliers in the industry with nine factories in Taiwan and two in China, Largan counts Apple Inc, Samsung Electronics Co, HTC Corp (宏達電), Huawei and Xiaomi Corp (小米) among its major clients.
Last month, up to 60 percent of Largan’s shipments consisted of 10-megapixel lenses, followed by 20-megapixel lenses making up 20 to 30 percent and 8-megapixel lenses accounting for 10 to 20 percent, the company said.
Largan could shed some more light on its first-quarter bottom line, the progress of its search for a plot of land in Taichung to facilitate further capacity expansion and its guidance for the second quarter on Thursday next week during its quarterly conference with investors and analysts.
Separately, smartphone maker HTC reported another drop in revenue last month at NT$1.31 billion, down 52.64 percent compared with NT$2.8 billion in the same period last year.
The decline did not come as a surprise as the firm’s sales have been declining since 2012 in the face of rising competition in the global market for both high-end and low-end smartphones.
However, last month’s revenue was a 107.94 percent improvement from February, when revenue was NT$630 million.
In the first quarter, HTC’s revenue fell 66 percent year-on-year to NT$2.94 billion, as the company did not launch any new smartphones.
While no new phones are expected to be unveiled in the near future, the company is devoting itself to the development of its virtual-reality platform.
The Taoyuan-based company announced on Wednesday last week that it is teaming up with Qualcomm Inc by deploying technologies from the US-based chip designer in its ViveWave mobile virtual-reality platform.
Largan shares fell 1.62 percent to close at NT$4,550 and HTC shares dropped 0.86 percent to close at NT$40.45 in Taipei trading on Wednesday, the last trading day before the holiday.
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