Electronic component maker Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) said yesterday its net income grew 4.38 percent from the previous quarter but down 23.26 percent from last year.
For this quarter, the company said it expected a stable growth in revenue from last quarter.
"Looking ahead, sequential growth is expected in cloud-related and mobile devices to be newly launched, and stable business development in the fourth quarter," the company said in a statement.
In the July-to-September quarter, Lite-On posted a net income of NT$1.98 billion (US$67.6 million), up from the NT$1.897 billion it made in the second quarter, on strong sales growth in its core business units. The company reported a net income of NT$2.58 billion in the third quarter of last year.
Earnings per share (EPS) hit NT$0.88 in the third quarter, up from NT$0.83 three months earlier, but down from NT$1.15 a year ago, according to the Taipei-based company.
Commenting on its third-quarter results, Lite-On said its core business groups — optoelectronics and power supply units — posted sales growths of 10 percent and 5 percent year-on-year respectively in the quarter because of a steady increase in end-demand for high-end servers, networking equipment and mobile devices for cloud computing applications.
The company’s third-quarter revenue increased 2 percent sequentially to NT$31.29 billion, Lite-On said on Oct. 8.
However, because of higher operating expenses, gross margin dropped 0.3 percent to 13.1 percent in the third quarter, while operating margin fell 0.5 percent to 6.1 percent, it said yesterday.
For the first three quarters, Lite-On’s net income totaled NT$5.23 billion, with EPS of NT$2.31, on a revenue of NT$89.39 billion. Gross margin and operating margin were 13.1 percent and 6.1 percent respectively, up 6.6 percent and 10.1 percent year-on-year, which the company attributed mainly to an improved product mix, cost efficiency and effective supply chain management.
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