Smartphone vendor HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday posted the lowest quarterly profit since 2005 as the Taiwanese brand continues to suffer from fierce competition and the economic slowdown.
The Taoyuan-based company also saw consolidated revenue for the July-to-September quarter reach the low end of its earlier guidance, although the figure was lower than market expectations.
Shares in HTC, the world’s No. 5 smartphone maker, fell 0.86 percent to NT$287 in Taipei trading yesterday, ahead of the release of last quarter’s results. The stock has dropped nearly 78 percent from a NT$1,300 high in April last year, the Taiwan Stock Exchange’s data showed.
HTC, which makes and sells the Desire, Sensation and One smartphones, said in an e-mailed statement that its net profit for last quarter was NT$3.9 billion (US$132.6 million), or NT$4.7 per share, the lowest since the third quarter of 2005, when it posted NT$2.64 billion in net profit.
Last quarter’s profit was a 79.12 percent plunge from profit of NT$18.68 billion a year ago, or NT$22.07 per share, and a 47.31 percent decline from a quarter-earlier profit of NT$7.4 billion, or NT$8.9 a share, according to the company’s data.
HTC also said its sales dropped 12 percent month-on-month to NT$21.13 billion last month, driving its consolidated revenue for the third quarter to NT$70.2 billion, which represented a decline of 48.31 percent from the NT$135.82 billion the company posted a year earlier and compared with NT$91 billion in the previous quarter.
The third-quarter sales number met the low end of the company’s guidance issued on Aug. 3 that its revenue could shrink by double digits to a range of between NT$70 billion and NT$80 billion because of a weak macroeconomic climate and stiff competition with Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co.
The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of eight analysts was for a third-quarter net profit of NT$4.43 billion and a consolidated revenue of NT$75 billion.
HTC did not elaborate on its third-quarter performance in the statement yesterday, nor did it provide sales guidance for this quarter.
Analysts have predicted the company’s net profit could reach NT$5.2 billion this quarter on a revenue of NT$76.5 billion.