Phison Electronics Corp (群聯) yesterday posted 5.32 percent annual growth in net profit for last year after significant growth in higher-margin memory products for mobile phones.
Gross profit soared 62 percent annually to a record of NT$3.48 billion (US$115.16 million) last quarter, the NAND flash memory controller supplier said in a statement.
That brought last year’s gross profit to NT$11.15 billion, up 22 percent from NT$9.13 billion in 2018.
Combined shipments of better-margin solid-state-disc and embedded multimedia card modules for handsets last quarter grew 78 percent annually, the company said.
Net profit last year climbed to NT$4.55 billion, compared with NT$4.32 billion in 2018, the third-highest level in the company’s 20-year history. That translated into earnings per share of NT$23.05, up from NT$21.91 the prior year.
Revenue last year rose 10 percent to NT$44.69 billion after soaring 30 percent to NT$13.17 billion in the fourth quarter.
Phison Electronics’ flash memory developing arm Kingston Solutions Inc (KSI, 金士頓電子) is no longer a drag on its bottom line after the unit turned around last quarter.
It recognized a NT$345 million loss from the 33 percent-held unit in the first three quarters of last year before booking a NT$52.41 million profit from KSI last quarter, a Phison Electronics filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed.
The company’s board of directors has approved the distribution of a cash dividend of NT$13 per common share, same as last year and representing a payout ratio of 56.4 percent, the company said.
That implied a 5.18 percent dividend yield based on the company’s closing price of NT$251 yesterday.
Phison Electronics chairman Pua Khein-seng (潘健成) has said that recovery in the NAND flash memory industry would continue for the remainder of this year after a brief dip this quarter due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
NAND flash memory prices are expected to pick up further next quarter, driven by new product launches from the world’s major electronics vendors, Pua said.
To cope with the upswing, Phison Electronics is increasing NAND flash memorychip orders from suppliers in the US and South Korea, he said.
Phison Electronics in January said that it plans to spend NT$1.3 billion to build a new fab in Taiwan this year to scale up its research and development team, and increase materials for high-end NAND flash products.
Construction is to begin this month.
The company’s operating expenses rose 34 percent last year as it invested in advanced technology to cope with rising demand for 5G-compatible technology, industrial devices and servers.
It is to hold an investors’ teleconference on Friday to provide detailed financial figures and its business outlook.
AI REVOLUTION: The event is to take place from Wednesday to Friday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center’s halls 1 and 2 and would feature more than 1,100 exhibitors Semicon Taiwan, an annual international semiconductor exhibition, would bring leaders from the world’s top technology firms to Taipei this year, the event organizer said. The CEO Summit is to feature nine global leaders from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), Applied Materials Inc, Google, Samsung Electronics Co, SK Hynix Inc, Microsoft Corp, Interuniversity Microelectronic Centre and Marvell Technology Group Ltd, SEMI said in a news release last week. The top executives would delve into how semiconductors are positioned as the driving force behind global technological innovation amid the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, the organizer said. Among them,
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