Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), the world’s top contract laptop maker, yesterday reported 17.9 percent quarterly growth in net profit last quarter due to increased notebook shipments prior to the year-end holidays.
Net profit was NT$5.48 billion (US$179.93 million), compared with NT$4.65 billion in the previous quarter.
The Taoyuan County-based company attributed the growth in net profits to increased notebook shipments, which amounted to 12.1 million units, up 10 percent from the 11 million units shipped during the July-to-September period last year.
However, net profit only grew by 0.5 percent year-on-year, mainly because of up to 9 percent contraction in notebook shipments from 13.3 million units a year ago, the company said.
For the whole of last year, Quanta posted a 19.3 percent decline in net profit to NT$18.61 billion from those in 2012, according to its latest financial report.
“We expect sales from the company’s non-notebook business to grow and account for more than 35 percent of its total sales this year,” said an investors relations official, who declined to be named.
Quanta said sales from its non-notebook business, mainly tablet and server assembling services, accounted for about 35 percent of its total sales of NT$880 billion last year, including a share between 13 and 14 percent from those of its server manufacturing business
Sales of notebooks were expected to flatten this year as International Data Corp (IDC) has predicted global PC shipments will fall by 3.8 percent, after contracting 10.1 percent last year, the company said.
“We are upbeat about Quanta’s profitability this year, as the company plans to boost its server shipments by 20 percent this year from last year, which will possibly help raise its sales as well as gross margin quarter by quarter,” Taipei-based Yuanta Securities Co (元大證券) analyst Vincent Chen (陳豊丰) said by telephone.
Quanta’s notebook sales would account for about 60 percent of its total sales this year, supported mainly by new orders from rivals such as Inventec Corp (英業達) and Pegatron Corp (和碩) as a result of industry consolidation, he said.
Citing Quanta’s internal business goal for the new year, Chen said the company plans to ship more higher-margin branded servers to clients this year, particularly those of providing online services powered by larger data centers.
Sales by Quanta’s server business were estimated to account for 14 percent of its total sales this year, while those by all-in-one personal computer and tablet manufacturing businesses would account for a 14.2 and 6 percent share respectively, Chen said.
Quanta plans to hold its annual general meeting at its headquarter on June 19.
It did not release a shareholder dividend plan for this year.
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