Touch-panel supplier TPK Holding Co (宸鴻) yesterday said its consolidated revenue rose 3.17 percent to NT$11.38 billion (US$456.67 million) last month from August, representing an increase of 3.33 percent from the same period last year, according to a company statement.
TPK, a major supplier of touch modules for Apple Inc’s iPhone smartphones and iPad tablet computers, neither elaborated on its rising revenue for last month nor provided sales guidance for this month in the statement.
Credit Suisse analyst Jerry Su (蘇厚合) said before the release of TPK’s latest sales results that he expected the company’s sales for last month to continue growing on mass production of iPad mini and touch screens for non-Apple tablets and notebooks.
In the July-to-September quarter, TPK’s accumulated revenue totaled NT$37.661 billion, up 6.82 percent from NT$35.257 billion in the previous three months, and up 6.69 percent from NT$35.298 billion a year earlier, the company’s data showed.
The third-quarter results were in line with Credit Suisse’s forecast of a “mid-to-high single-digit” percentage growth in revenue from last quarter, and compared with Fubon Securities Co’s (富邦證券) forecast of a 7 percent sequential increase.
However, the figures were higher than the company’s guidance of a flat to slight increase. In August, TPK chief financial officer Freddie Liu (劉詩亮) told an investors’ conference that the company expected a low single-digit percentage increase in third-quarter revenue, citing increasing shipments of touch panels for tablets, e-readers and Ultrabooks.
To avoid overreliance on Apple, TPK has gradually expanded its business to non-Apple vendors, including Amazon.com Inc, Google Inc and Microsoft Corp, as the company aims to increase its customer base to boost revenue while reducing risk.
The company’s revenue from January to last month increased 14.6 percent from last year to NT$112.18 billion, according to the statement.
On Monday, smaller rival Wintek Corp (勝華) reported consolidated sales of NT$9.72 billion last month, pushing its third-quarter consolidated sales to NT$28.15 billion, up 25.84 percent from NT$22.37 billion in the second quarter and 13.86 percent higher than NT$24.72 billion a year earlier.
Shares in TPK rose 0.92 percent to NT$385.5 yesterday in Taipei trading, outperforming the TAIEX’s 0.44 percent decline, after several foreign brokerages recommended that investors load up on the company’s shares during their recent price pullback and ahead of Apple’s reported plan to launch the iPad mini — a smaller version of its popular iPad tablet — on Oct. 17.
Shares in Wintek were unchanged at NT$15.4, according to Taiwan Stock Exchange data.
Additional reporting by Lisa Wang
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