Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (鴻海精密), which assembles iPhones and iPads for Apple Inc, yesterday posted 10.77 percent growth in revenue for last month, but total revenue last quarter shrank 29 percent sequentially because of slowing demand for Apple’s smartphones and tablets.
Revenue expanded to NT$260.38 billion (US$8.68 billion) last month, from NT$235.06 billion a month earlier, according to the company’s filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. On an annual basis, last month’s figure slid 27.28 percent from NT$35.81 billion.
In the first three months, Hon Hai made NT$808.97 billion in revenue, down 29 percent from NT$1.14 trillion in the final quarter of last year, or down 19.21 percent from NT$1 trillion in the same period of last year.
The contraction beat the forecast by Daiwa Capital Markets analyst Birdy Lu (呂家霖), who expected Hon Hai to report a nearly 28 percent decline in revenue to NT$823.94 billion for last quarter.
For this quarter, Lu predicted that Hon Hai would see a mid-to-single-digit quarterly decline in revenue because of a lack of new product launches from key clients, but expected the company to see revenue rebound in the second half of the year, driven by new orders of Apple products and Sony’s new PS4, as well as new large-screen TVs.
Separately, Amtran Technology (瑞軒科技), which makes flat-screen TVs for Vizio Inc, yesterday reported 41 percent growth in revenue for last month because of higher shipments.
Revenue increased to NT$2.13 billion last month, from NT$1.5 billion in February, according to the company’s financial statements submitted to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. That represented an annual contraction of 43.09 percent from NT$3.75 billion.
In the first quarter, Amtran generated NT$6.43 billion in revenue, down 38.36 percent from NT$10.43 billion a year earlier due to slackened demand in the slow season. Pre-tax profit is expected to plummet 42 percent to NT$0.4 per share, from NT$0.69 per share in the fourth quarter of last year, the company said.
Amtran shipped 220,000 units of TVs and monitors last month, surging 46 percent from 150,000 units in February, company spokesman Scottie Chiu (邱裕平) said. Shipments are expected to grow by “double-digit percentage” this quarter from last quarter’s 670,000 units, he added.
Demand “looks okay in the second quarter,” Amtran chairman Alpha Wu (吳春發) said, adding that a stronger rebound would occur in the second half, supported by new orders and seasonal demand.
Starting from July, Amtran would ship LCD TVs to a German client, he said, without elaborating.
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