Amtran Technology Co (瑞軒), which makes flat-panel televisions for Vizio Inc, yesterday posted a 37 percent revenue increase for last month after its goods were offloaded and shipped to customers, as the shipping crisis caused by Hanjin Shipping Co was resolved.
Revenue surged to NT$2.44 billion (US$7.75 million) last month from August’s NT$1.78 billion, according to data released by Amtran yesterday.
“Revenue took a nosedive in August as our goods were stranded after Hanjin’s vessels were seized by creditors due to financial woes,” Amstran spokesman Scottie Huang (黃裕平) said on the telephone yesterday. “As the problem was resolved, goods were shipped to clients and revenue rebounded.”
Revenue in the quarter ending Sept. 30 inched up a mere 0.42 percent to NT$6.71 billion, compared with NT$6.68 billion in the second quarter, due to a spike in flat panel costs.
On an annual basis, revenue grew 9.91 percent last quarter, the company said.
To cope with the continuing rise in flat panel prices, Amtran plans to make more 55-inch and 65-inch TVs this quarter to minimize profit erosion from higher panel costs, Huang said.
The price increases for large-sized flat panels are smaller than the mainstream ones, he said.
“The prices for smaller-sized [TV] panels have been soaring since March,” Huang said.
The prices for 32-inch TV panels have surged 40 percent to US$70 per unit last month, he said.
Drastic price hikes in mainstream TV flat panels will undermine the ability of TV vendors to offer steep price cuts during the year-end Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping season, Huang said.
“This year, the high season could be a weaker one than previous years, but there is still a chance for Amtran to see a growth in the fourth quarter by shipment,” Huang said.
Amtran expects shipments of its TVs and monitors to grow about 11 percent to 1 million units this quarter, compared with 900,000 units last quarter, Huang said.
If the quarterly forecast is fulfilled, Amtran will have shipped a total of 3.33 million units this year, exceeding the company’s target of 3 million units.
Commenting on the potential effects of China’s LeEco (樂視) taking over Vizio, Huang said the deal will not have any substantial effects on Amtran’s partnership with Vizio next year, as executives of Vizio’s management team will mostly retain their jobs.
The deal is to be completed in January next year. LeEco, dubbed as China’s Netflix, in July proposed to acquire Vizio, the No. 2 slim-screen TV vendor in North America, for US$2 billion.
Vizio is the biggest client of Amtran, accounting for 60 to 65 percent of the TVs shipped by Amtran, Huang said.
Amtran holds about an 8 percent stake in Vizio.
Amtran also makes flat-panel TVs for China’s Xiomi Corp (小米).
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