Speaker and earphone supplier Merry Electronics Co (美律) yesterday reported better-than-expected revenue for last month, thanks to its diversification strategy and product-mix adjustment.
Consolidated revenue rose 20.67 percent month-on-month and 91.85 percent year-on-year to a record-high NT$1.37 billion (US$46 million) last month.
From January through last month, revenue totaled NT$10.02 billion, up 44.24 percent from a year ago, Merry said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Last month’s figure met the forecast made by SinoPac Securities Co (永豐金證券) analyst Frank Kuo (郭勁甫), who expects the company’s revenue for this quarter to reach the high end of its guidance of a 12 percent sequential increase from last quarter’s NT$3.02 billion.
Kuo said the company’s high-power speakers would contribute more to its total sales this quarter, compared with about 20 percent last quarter and 14 percent in the second quarter, boosting its gross margin from 22.8 percent last quarter.
A leading electro-acoustic components manufacturer, Merry’s products include earphones, headsets, speakers and battery packs for clients such as Apple, Bose, Logitech and Beats.
HSBC Securities said increasing exposure to Apple could boost the company’s business beyond 2015, after Merry started supplying high-power speakers for Macbook and iMac products last year.
Apple is forecast to account for 15 percent to 20 percent of Merry’s total sales this year, up from a low-single digit last year, and the number could rise above 40 percent in 2015 after the company starts mass production of speakers for Apple’s iPhone and iPad in the second half of next year, HSBC said in a client note on Nov. 14.
INVESTOR RESILIENCE? An analyst said that despite near-term pressures, foreign investors tend to view NT dollar strength as a positive signal for valuation multiples Morgan Stanley has flagged a potential 10 percent revenue decline for Taiwan’s tech hardware sector this year, as a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar begins to dent the earnings power of major exporters. In what appears to be the first such warning from a major foreign brokerage, the US investment bank said the currency’s strength — fueled by foreign capital inflows and expectations of US interest rate cuts — is compressing profit margins for manufacturers with heavy exposure to US dollar-denominated revenues. The local currency has surged about 10 percent against the greenback over the past quarter and yesterday breached
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