Macronix International Co (旺宏電子), a local memory chipmaker that counts Nintendo Co among its clients, reported yesterday its quarterly net income after tax had grown to a five-year high of NT$2.12 billion (US$67.4 million) in the July-to-September quarter on higher shipments.
The company’s earnings per share rose to NT$0.68 in the third quarter, from NT$0.28 in the second quarter and NT$0.69 a year ago, Macronix said in a stock exchange filing issued yesterday.
Macronix also bucked a downward trend that was seen recently among other local chipmakers when they unveiled their third-quarter figures, given the worldwide economic slowdown.
The company’s third-quarter net income rose 2.63 percent from the same period last year when the producer of the so-called ROM products and NOR flash memory chips reported NT$2.07 billion in profits. Quarter-on-quarter, net income surged 150 percent from NT$849 million in the April-to-June period, the company said.
Revenue totaled NT$7.56 billion in the third quarter, up 4 percent from the previous year and a jump of 46 percent from the previous quarter, because of seasonal demand and more ROM delivery, the Hsinchu-based company said on its Web site.
The company said, however, it had lowered its revenue forecast for the fourth quarter because of slow demand and the impact of uncertain economic environment ahead.
For the fourth quarter, Macronix chief executive officer Miin Wu (吳敏求) told investors via a Web cast that the company expected total unit shipments to be lowered by between 18 percent and 25 percent from the third quarter, with average selling prices falling by up to 5 percent in the meantime.
In addition, the firm’s capacity utilization rate may drop to between 80 percent and 85 percent in the fourth quarter, from 97 percent and 99 percent in the previous two quarters, respectively; gross profit margin is expected to stay at between 38 percent and 42 percent in the October-to-December quarter, down from 43 percent in the third quarter and 41 percent in the second quarter, because of fewer shipments of high margin products and weaker factory utilization.
Shares of Macronix rose 6.94 percent to NT$8.63 yesterday in Taipei trading. So far this year, the stock has declined 42.3 percent, the Taiwan Stock Exchange’s data showed.
Wu said the company’s capital spending for the third quarter was NT$256 million. The company said earlier that it planned NT$1.6 billion for capital expenditures this year.
With quarterly profits made over the past three quarters, Macronix stressed it had a strong cash position and a lower debt ratio, indicating its ability to survive the industrial downturn.
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