BenQ Materials Corp (明基材料) debuted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday to a lukewarm reception, with the stock closing flat at NT$23.
The company, the nation’s largest maker of polarizers used in flat panels, made the shift from the Emerging Stock Market to the main bourse by issuing 23.6 million new shares.
BenQ Materials, a member of the BenQ Group (明基集團), started producing polarizers in 2005 as part of its diversification from its original focus on optical disc production.
Polarizers now account for about 93 percent of total sales, with the rest coming from its optical discs business.
Founded in 1998, BenQ Materials quickly seized a big share of the polarizer market thanks to another BenQ subsidiary — AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), Taiwan’s second-largest LCD maker.
BenQ Materials president Lin Tien-yu (林恬宇) told an investors’ conference on Thursday that the company aimed to become the world’s third-largest supplier next year, moving up a notch from its current No. 4 position.
The company said it would command 12 percent of the global polarizer market share by the end of the year.
To realize this goal, the firm acquired a facility in Tainan from rival Optimax Technology Corp (力特光電) in January. This has just started mass production and will gain further steam next year, Lin said.
The company also aims to leverage off its technology know-how in polarizers to start research and development into new product areas, such as 3D TV, medical equipment and green products, Lin said.
In terms of outlook for the panel industry, Lin said that after order cuts, the industry had likely touched bottom in the third quarter.
He added that BenQ Materials had seen not only a pickup in orders for the fourth quarter, but also orders for the first quarter next year.
Factory utilization rate, which averaged 70 to 80 percent in the third quarter, will drop to 60 to 70 percent in the current quarter with the new Tainan site coming onstream.
BenQ Materials said that revenues for the first three quarters rose 33.7 percent from a year ago to NT$13.2 billion.
Net income during the same period was NT$190 million, which translates to earnings per share (EPS) of NT$0.69. This compares with earnings of NT$5.64 million, or EPS of NT$0.21, last year.
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