Epistar Corp (晶元光電), the nation’s biggest LED chipmaker, on Thursday reported that it swung into profit in the second quarter, although it was still in the red during the first half of the year.
Net income was NT$744.54 million (US$24.76 million) in the April-to-June quarter, or earnings per share (EPS) of NT$0.81, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Last quarter’s results were a substantial improvement from a net loss of NT$841.69 million made in the January-to-March quarter, or a net loss per share of NT$0.91. They also represented a 115 percent increase from a net income of NT$346.27 million a year ago, or EPS of NT$0.38.
In the first half, the company posted a net loss per share of NT$0.11, compared with EPS of NT$0.11 last year.
Primasia Securities Co yesterday attributed the second-quarter turnaround to a high sales mix of high-margin LED products and improving yields. Other positive factors include higher average selling prices and lower-than-expected expenses for promotions and research, the brokerage said.
If a European convertible bond-related non-operating charge of between NT$200 million and NT$250 million was excluded, Epistar would have reported a net income of NT$945 million for last quarter, or EPS of NT$1.03, according to UBS Securities Pte Ltd.
Epistar ranks as the world’s largest aluminum-gallium-indium-phosphide (AlGalnP) epitaxial wafer and chip supplier and the second-largest indium-gallium-nitride (InGaN) epitaxial wafer and chipmaker.
Over the past five years, it has acquired smaller competitors — including United Epitaxy Co (國聯光電), Epitech Technology Corp (聯詮光電), Highlink Technology Corp (連勇科技) and Huga Optotech Inc (廣鎵光電)— to expand capacity and outgrow peers.
Last month, the company announced a merger with smaller rival Formosa Epitaxy Inc (ForEpi, 璨圓光電) through a share-swap transaction, which is to take effect on Dec. 30, as capacity constraints caused its sales to fall by 1 percent from June to NT$2.79 billion.
Cumulative sales for the first seven months still expanded 39.36 percent to NT$17.15 billion from a year ago, company data showed.
UBS Securities analyst Samson Hung (洪希民) said revenue this month should be higher than last month as Epistar could outsource its orders to ForEpi.
Hung forecast demand from general lighting would remain strong to support revenue this quarter, up 14 percent quarter-on-quarter and 62 percent year-on-year.
The company’s rising scale and better product mix could also lift its gross margin to 24.7 percent this quarter from 21.43 percent last quarter, with operating margin improving to 16.6 percent from 12.87 percent last quarter, he said.
Epistar shares, which have outpaced the broader market by 11.2 percent so far this year, fell 1.03 percent to NT$67.0 in Taipei trading yesterday.
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
The US said it plans to help build a first-of-its-kind industrial hub in the Philippines to boost production of inputs crucial to US supply chains. The 4,000-acre hub is intended to be “a purpose-built platform for allied manufacturing” and “an investment acceleration hub where the specific industrial activities are shaped by market demand,” the US Department of State said on Thursday. The project — touted as an “economic security zone” — would be within the Luzon Economic Corridor, a flagship economic project backed by the US and Japan on the main Philippine island. The project was also described as “the first artificial intelligence
RSS