Electronics component maker Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) yesterday reported quarterly revenue of NT$60.1 billion (US$1.87 billion), up 1.48 percent from the previous year, but a decline of 3.8 percent from the previous quarter.
Consolidated revenue for the last quarter brought the company’s total revenue last year to NT$230.66 billion, up 8.38 percent from a year earlier, following an annual decline of 1.61 percent to NT$212.82 billion in 2013.
The company’s resilience is extraordinary, as about 70 percent of its business is related to the muted PC industry and still-struggling Finland-based subsidiary Lite-On Mobile Corp, while some promising segments such as camera modules are facing stiffer competition from Chinese rivals such as Sunny Optical Technology Group Co (舜宇光學) and O-film Tech Co Ltd (歐菲光).
Last month alone, the firm made revenue of NT$20.44 billion, a rise of 1.26 percent year-on-year and 2.3 percent month-on-month.
“Our core businesses showed steady consecutive growth, resulting from stable end-market demand,” Lite-On said in a press release.
The company’s six major core businesses are cloud computing, mobile devices, LED lighting, solid-state drives, automobile electronics and game consoles.
During the final quarter of last year, information technology business accounted for 48 percent of the firm’s total sales, while the optoelectronics business segment contributed 26.66 percent and the storage segment 16 percent.
Lite-On’s optoelectronics business has been dragged down by smartphone inventory correction in China since the second quarter of last year.
However, the inventory issue will no longer drag on the company after this quarter, while the cutthroat battle among smartphone brands in China will speed up the specification upgrade cycle, especially for cameras in terms of optical image stabilizers and optical zoom lenses, which will benefit first-tier component makers such as Lite-On, CIMB Securities Ltd said in a client note on Wednesday.
“To fulfill the incremental demand for high-end cameras and to avoid price competition in compact camera modules [CCM], Lite-On will increase its exposure in high-end CCM from 25 percent last year to 40 percent in the first quarter of this year,” CIMB analysts Felix Pan (潘俊宏) and Mike Yang wrote in the note.
“Lite-on will expand capacity by 20 percent this year, bringing its high-end CCM capacity to account for more than 60 percent of its total capacity by the end of the year. This move may further push second-tier suppliers out of the picture,” they said in the note.
Other bright spots for Lite-On are LED components and lighting products, in view of the growing demand for LED streetlights and vehicle lighting.
The company had earlier said that it expects the sales of LED streetlights in emerging markets to account for 50 percent of LED lighting revenue this year.
Lite-On shares closed at NT$37.75 in Taipei trading yesterday, up 1.21 percent from a day earlier, but underperforming the TAIEX, which gained 1.74 percent.
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