E Ink Holdings Inc (元太科技), the world’s largest supplier of e-paper displays for e-readers and luggage tags, reported that net profit last year grew 18 percent annually to NT$3.08 billion (US$100.96 million), the highest level in eight years.
That translated into earnings per share of NT$2.72, up from NT$2.32 in 2018, the company said on Wednesday in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Resilient demand for electronic shelf label (ESL) e-paper displays should be one of the pillars supporting the company’s growth, as E Ink has said that ESL displays tend to deliver higher gross margin than the average level of the company’s other products.
E Ink chairman Johnson Lee (李政昊) in November last year told investors that shipments of ESL e-paper displays would grow at an annual rate of between 20 percent and 30 percent last year and this year, as more retailers use e-paper displays to replace traditional paper labels in the US, Europe and Japan.
E Ink’s revenue last year fell 4.7 percent year-on-year from NT$14.21 billion to NT$13.6 billion, as the US-China trade dispute dampened consumer demand for e-readers and e-notes in the US, company data showed.
The annual decline matched the company’s projection.
The company said that its board of directors on Wednesday proposed a cash dividend distribution of NT$2 per common share, representing a payout ratio of NT$86.2 percent.
That translated into a dividend yield of 9.52 percent based on the stock’s closing price of NT$21 yesterday.
The board also approved a US$50 million to US$55 million investment program, the company said.
The capital would be used to expand capacity at a factory in Yangzhou, China, over the next three to five years, E Ink said, adding that the investment is aimed at facilitating the company’s mid-to-long-term expansion.
The cash dividend distribution plan and the Chinese investment program are subject to shareholder approval at an annual general meeting scheduled for June 18.
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