"Our success to date is, in large part, due to the many entrepreneurs in the Palm Economy who have developed products and services complementary to our own offerings," said Robert Hayes, Director of Palm Ventures. Palm is making an initial US$50 million investment in the new division.
As well as helping Kye's ODM production to grow, Palm's strategy will help it to increase its IA-related revenue. Information appliance products will account for 27 percent of total revenue this year, the manager at Kye said, and about 30 to 40 percent next year.
The transition to OEM and ODM production and the release of new IA products has already benefitted Kye's revenue and share price. The company this week reported August revenue of NT$475.3 million, up 78.6 percent on the same period last year. Revenue for the first eight months came to NT$3.28 billion, 68 percent of Kye's target for the year of NT$4.8 billion. Local media reports say the company may adjust predicted revenue up to NT$5.2 billion.
The improved revenue and operating profit will see Kye make a positive net income of NT$488 million and earnings per share of NT$3.3 for the year, according to Frank Wu. Last year, the company reported a net loss of NT$369 million, and a negative EPS of NT$2.5. The turnaround has benefited Kye's share price, which has risen nearly 166 percent in the past year. Yesterday, while the rest of the market tumbled, the stock rose 6.38 percent to NT$50 on turnover of 8.5 million shares.
RSS