Lextar Electronics Corp (隆達電子), the LED manufacturing arm of AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), yesterday said strong demand for LED backlights for LCD panels and the upcoming holiday seasons are expected to drive up its sales momentum from next quarter.
The seasonal peak in panel sales in the third quarter, China’s Golden Week holiday in October and the Christmas shopping season are expected to boost Lextar’s sales of LED backlights and lighting products next quarter, chairman David Su (蘇峰正) said at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting.
“Lextar expects to see the penetration rate of LED backlit products improve to between 80 and 90 percent this year from between 60 and 70 percent last year,” the Chinese-language online news outlet Cnyes.com quoted Su as saying yesterday.
“The continual drop in the manufacturing cost of LED lighting products and falling prices will help boost market demand for household LED lighting products,” he added.
Sales of LED lighting products account for 30 to 40 percent of Lextar’s total sales, while those of LED backlit products account for 60 to 70 percent, Su said, adding that he expected LED lighting products to contribute more than 50 percent to the company’s sales next year.
Shareholders yesterday approved the company’s proposal to distribute a cash dividend of NT$0.45 per common share this year on earnings made last year. That translates into a dividend yield of 1.5 percent, based on its share price of NT$29.95 yesterday.
According to Lextar’s financial statement, Lextar’s consolidated revenue last year expanded 10.5 percent to a record NT$10.06 billion (US$336.68 million), from NT$9.1 billion the previous year. Net profit was NT$290 million, or earnings per share of NT$0.69.
Su said Lextar in February joined Wellypower Optronics Corp (威力盟), a backlight arm of AU Optronics, to codevelop new products from this year, aiming to strengthen their product manufacturing technologies to give them an edge in the competitive LED market.
“When there are too many players in a market, especially in the LED industry, companies will have to collaborate with each other to gain competitive strength,” news Web site MoneyDJ quoted Su as saying in a report yesterday.
In a filing submitted to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, Lextar reported that sales last month grew 53.16 percent to NT$1.31 billion from NT$861.75 million a year ago. Cumulative sales in the first five months of the year increased 39.25 percent to NT$5.42 billion from NT$3.89 billion during the same period last year.
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