Fresh from its spinoff last Saturday, the new BenQ Corp (明基電通) -- the former brand-name unit of the Taiwanese consumer electronics company -- yesterday said it would focus on projectors and monitors to generate annual revenue growth of 25 percent to 30 percent.
The company expects to post revenues of NT$80 billion (US$2.4 billion) next year and forecasts further growth to NT$100 billion the year after, company president Conway Lee (
This year, the company expects to break even or post a profit with sales of about NT$60 billion, he said.
The old BenQ formalized its split last Saturday, with the brand-name business retaining the company's title, BenQ Corp, while its contract electronics business was renamed Qisda Corp (佳世達) to focus on original design manufacturing.
Lee said his main task was to stabilize operations and draft the company's product roadmap.
concrete results
"If we can show concrete results in the first year, then we can talk about future plans, such as launching an initial public offering [Qisda retained the company's listing on the Taiwan Stock Exchange] or welcoming strategic partners," he told a media gathering at the company's Neihu headquarters yesterday, the first work day after the spinoff.
"But for now, we will have to wait for the transformation to be completed," he said.
Lee, 48, also serves as BenQ CEO and president of BenQ Europe BV. He was based in the Netherlands for nine years before being called back to Taipei to manage the new BenQ.
"It is a high-pressure job," Lee said.
"I will have to bring BenQ to the position it deserves and create profits for shareholders and the company," he said in describing the challenges of his new role.
With a slew of products under its belt, BenQ is going to focus on projectors and monitors to push its brandname.
The company's own-brand projectors ranked No. 3 worldwide last year in terms of market share, while its monitors ranked fifth globally.
Those two products will help BenQ recover its past glory, he said.
handsets
However, BenQ will not give up on its handsets -- a product most consumers associate with the brand, said Peter Chen (
BenQ acquired Siemens AG handset unit in October 2005, which led to six straight quarters of losses for the parent firm and eventually the liquidation of the German unit.
The company said last month at its earnings briefing that it had sold 70 percent of its BenQ-Siemens cellphone inventory in the second quarter at a low price and would liquidate all stock by this quarter.
"Handsets give us a positive asset value, and we will introduce new phones that offer appealing features and design within the next six months," Chen said.
Chen added that the phones would be sold in select market and would focus on value-added models, such as smartphones and third-generation phones.
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