Camera lens mold maker Zhong Yang Technology Co Ltd (中揚光電) on Friday said it is seeking an initial public offering in Taiwan this year to fund its capacity expansion to cope with growing demand for camera lenses used in mobile phones and vehicles.
Zhong Yang is the latest in a slew of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) subsidiaries debuting their shares in Taiwan or China. Hon Hai holds a share of about 30 percent in the company via its investment arms.
“Our production lines are being fully utilized,” Zhong Yang chairman Cheng Cheng-tien (鄭成田) told an investors’ conference. “We are adding more equipment... We aim to more than double our capacity in the next year or so, as we are also adding new customers.”
Zhong Yang said it has an optimistic view for its outlook.
“Although worldwide sales growth for smartphones is reaching its ceiling, demand for camera lenses are on the rise,” Zhong Yang president Lee Jung-chou (李榮洲) said. “New phones with three or four cameras are to offer improved features for 3D sensing and selfies.”
“On-screen fingerprint recognition is also popular and such features will be available on a lot of smartphones next year,” Lee said. “We have received a lot of orders to supply camera lens molds for fingerprint cameras.”
In the first three quarters, about 85 percent of the company’s revenue came from mobile phone camera lens molds and 10 percent from automotive camera lens molds. In that period, Zhong Yang made NT$939.23 million (US$30.41 million) in revenue, a 30 percent increase from the same period last year.
However, net profit fell 12.46 percent year-on-year to NT$151.64 million, or NT$2.53 per share, due to higher operating costs. The company more than doubled its research and development for the year to Sept. 30, spending NT$59.73 million, up from NT$21.3 million in the same period last year.
The Taichung-based firm supplies molds to the world’s major camera lens suppliers, including China’s Sunny Optical Technology (Group) Co (舜宇光學) and Kantatsu Co, a handset camera lends manufacturing arm of Sharp Corp.
The company started as a supplier of plastic molds and has gradually increased its reach to supply glass molds and to make handset camera lenses.
Last year, the company began supplying glass molds after merging with lens maker Eterge Opto-Electronics Co (紘立光電) to make inroads into molds for vehicles and smart-city surveillance systems.
Zhong Yang expects its automotive molds to grow by between 50 and 60 percent annually next year and by a higher rate in 2020, as its products have been adopted by the world’s major car brands from Germany, France and Japan for advanced driver-assistance systems.
The company plans to auction 60 million shares to investors at a floor price of NT$58 each from Thursday to Monday next week ahead of its debut.
It also plans to offer 8 million shares to existing stakeholders from Friday next week to Dec. 4 at a starting price of NT$50 each.
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