Everlight Electronics Co (億光), the nation’s largest LED chip packager and lighting product supplier, yesterday said its operations could pick up in the second half of this year, thanks to orders from Japanese and South Korean backlight clients.
“The [operation in the] first half is not very good, but I expect a better second half,” Everlight chairman Robert Yeh (葉寅夫) told reporters after the company’s annual general meeting in New Taipei City.
Yeh said he expects demand for Everlight’s backlight units, which contributed more than 20 percent to the firm’s total revenue last year, to improve in the second half after receiving orders from its new Japanese and South Korean TV clients.
Photo: Luo Chien-yi, Taipei Times
The two clients can help Everlight expand its reach in their markets, he added.
As for LED lighting, which accounted for 12 percent of the firm’s total revenue last year, Yeh said Everlight has received more orders from international lighting brands, after court rulings in Germany and the US last year found Japan’s Nichia Corp’s patents to be invalid.
The victories in the patent lawsuits have helped Everlight remove legal ties from Nichia in many markets this year, he said.
In an effort to diversify the company’s operations, Everlight has been investing in new LED lighting applications other than the competitive blue/white LED lighting applications, Yeh said.
Everlight has expanded the manufacturing scale of its automotive LED lighting products this quarter, Yeh said, adding that the company has started mass producing ultraviolet (UV) products for the healthcare industry.
The company has also tapped into the virtual reality and Internet-of-Things (IoT) fields with its invisible lighting products, Yeh said.
Overall, Yeh expects the sales contribution from the LED lighting segment to grow from last year’s 12 percent to nearly 20 percent this year.
Shareholders of Everlight yesterday approved the company’s proposal to distribute cash dividends of NT$3 per share, based on net income of NT$1.83 billion (NT$56.5 million), or NT$4.27 per share, for last year.
That translates into a payout ratio of 70.25 percent, lower than the previous year’s 77 percent.
The cash dividend plan suggests a yield of 6.53 percent, based on Everlight’s closing price of NT$45.90 in Taipei trading yesterday.
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