Electronic components maker Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) yesterday posted 54 percent year-on-year growth in net income for last quarter, driven by growth in its camera modules, LED lighting products and PC keyboards businesses.
Lite-On told an investors’ conference that its net income last quarter expanded 16.5 percent quarter-on-quarter and 54.3 percent year-on-year to NT$2.31 billion (US$773.67 million), the highest level in the company’s history, which equates to earnings per share of NT$1.02.
Fourth-quarter sales last year also hit a record high of NT$32.06 billion, up 2.4 percent quarter-on-quarter and 10.3 percent year-on-year.
Lite-On chief executive Warren Chen (陳廣中) attributed the growth to continued expansion of sales of the company’s core products, including camera modules, LED lighting products, as well as keyboards and mouses used with desktop PCs.
Despite confronting challenges amid the economic downturn last year, Lite-On’s net income grew 4.3 percent to NT$7.54 billion from NT$7.23 billion the previous year, which represented earnings per share of NT$3.33, due to improved supply-chain management, cost reductions and a steady increase in the firm’s global market share, Lite-On said.
“Global markets and IT industries change at a very fast pace. We will need to be more aggressive this year to achieve growth in sales and net income,” Chen told investors.
Chen said Lite-On plans to manufacture cloud computing technology-enabled products this year, such as energy-efficient power supplies for data centers, to increase its sales drivers, in addition to camera modules, PC peripherals and LED lighting products.
He said that beginning next quarter, Lite-On would start shipping customized power supply products to the US’ Hewlett-Packard Co (HP) and Dell Inc, and China’s Alibaba Group (阿里巴巴), Baidu Inc (百度) and Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊).
“As the global economic environment remains weak, with many uncertainties unresolved, and the PC market’s growth momentum is likely to ebb due to rising demand for tablets and smartphones, we will consistently make adjustments to our product portfolio to find new drivers for sales growth,” Chen said.
This quarter, Chen forecast Lite-On’s sales would flatten year-on-year, but for the whole year he expects Lite-On to achieve its double-digit percentage growth target for annual sales.
Meanwhile, Lite-On board members yesterday passed a resolution that the company distribute a total NT$2.4 dividend this year on earnings made last year.
Lite-On said it plans to distribute a NT$2.35 cash dividend and a NT$0.05 stock dividend to shareholders.
Lite-On shares closed down 0.62 percent at NT$48.2 in Taipei trading yesterday, underperforming the benchmark TAIEX which gained 0.66 percent.
Based on its share price yesterday, Lite-On’s dividend yield was 4.98 percent.
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