Largan Precision Co (大立光) yesterday reported a 38.67 percent increase in consolidated revenue for last month from a year earlier to NT$5.44 billion (US$179.5 million), the highest level for March in the company’s history.
Last month’s figure also grew 48.26 percent from February, ending three consecutive months of sequential losses, company data showed.
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The Taichung-based company is the world’s largest supplier of handset camera lenses, focusing on high-end products for Apple Inc’s iPhone and Android phone vendors, such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Samsung Electronics Co.
Largan last month benefited from pull-in orders related to the iPhone SE2, Samsung’s Galaxy S20, Huawei’s P40 and other new handset models, analysts said.
However, as the COVID-19 pandemic spans the world, revenue growth might weaken this month, they said.
"Given 98 percent of Largan’s revenue is from smartphones, it will be a tough year for the company, as the smartphone industry will likely face both a shipment decline and product mix weakness in 2020," Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) said in a note yesterday.
Largan’s 20-megapixel lenses and high-end models, which command higher prices, accounted for 20 to 30 percent of its total sales last month, while its 10-megapixel lenses made up 40 to 50 percent and 8-megapixel lenses 10 to 20 percent, the company said in a statement.
First-quarter consolidated revenue increased 34.52 percent from last year to NT$13.21 billion, higher than Capital Investment Management Corp’s (群益投顧) NT$11.94 billion estimate.
However, revenue fell 28.02 percent from the previous quarter due to lower pull-in orders from Chinese phone brands amid the pandemic, as well as the low-season effect last quarter, Capital said in a note.
Largan is to release its earnings results for the first quarter at an investors’ conference on Thursday, and give sales guidance for the second quarter, as well as the company’s dividend policy after it posted record earnings per share last year of NT$210.69.
As the firm’s capacity utilization rate declined, first-quarter gross margin is estimated to fall 5.27 percentage points quarter-on-quarter to 65.85 percent and net profit is forecast to decline 31.2 percent to NT$5.57 billion, or earnings per share of NT$41.52, Capital said.
Largan shares on Wednesday fell 1.83 percent to NT$3,760 in Taipei trading. They have dropped 24.8 percent this year, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
This story has been updated since it was first published.
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