Airmate (Cayman) International Co (艾美特) plans to diversify its product portfolio by offering smart office appliances, company president Lin Yung-chang (林永昌) told an investors’ meeting in Taipei yesterday.
The move is expected to help improve the company’s profits and gross margin, as it would be relying less on electric fans and heaters, which saw declining sales in the first half of the year, Lin said.
While the two products accounted for about 94 percent of total sales in the first six months, sales of electric fans and heaters dropped 2.92 percent and 28.06 percent year-on-year respectively, company data showed.
“That suggests our performance depends a lot on the weather,” Lin said. “In a bid to change this, we aim to introduce smart office appliances to the Chinese market next year.”
Airmate said it aims to reach new markets and is considering tapping into Malaysia later this year, with electric fans as its main product, as the company’s sales in China in the first half of the year declined 13.01 percent annually.
China accounted for 53 percent of the company’s total sales, Airmate account manager Sandy Ho (何美秀) said.
Northeast Asia revenue contributed 33 percent, while combined sales in Europe and the US took up 14 percent, company data showed.
Airmate’s cumulative sales declined 3.56 percent year-on-year to NT$6.33 billion (US$201.32 million) in the first six months, but net income improved to a record NT$298.06 million, compared with net losses of NT$8.48 million a year earlier.
Earnings per share climbed to NT$2.45, compared with losses per share of NT$0.07 a year earlier, while gross margin increased 3.46 percentage points to 19.41 percent, reflecting an 11.64 percent decline in operating expenses and higher non-operating income, Ho said.
“There is still room for improvement in the second half as we enhance management efficiency,” she said, adding that the number of workers in China declined by between 1,300 and 1,500 people to 4,500 this month.
The company is building a new plant in China’s Shenzhen, which is expected to be completed in August 2021, Airmate chairman Shih Jui-pin (史瑞斌) said.
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