TPK Holding Co (宸鴻) last quarter swung back to profit from a loss in the previous quarter as remote learning and work-from-home practices boosted shipments of touch products for tablets and notebook computers in the slow season, the company said yesterday.
Net profit last quarter reached NT$40 million (US$1.34 million), compared with a loss of NT$98 million in the final quarter of last year, the firm said.
Last quarter’s profit nearly doubled from NT$24 million a year earlier, it added.
Photo: CNA
The supplier of touch sensors and modules attributed the results to “surprising” growth in shipments of laptops and tablets as more employees and students worldwide remain home for telecommuting and remote learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shipments of touch sensors and modules for tablets and laptops last quarter expanded 10 percent quarterly, boosting their revenue contribution to 41 percent of total revenue, compared with 34 percent in the preceding quarter, the company said.
“The first quarter was better than we had estimated. The second quarter will be a slow season, as customers start to replenish inventory in preparation for peak demand in the second half,” TPK chief strategic officer Freddie Liu (劉詩亮) told a teleconference.
However, Liu said that the firm’s revenue decline this quarter would be slower than previous second quarters, with revenue falling 5 to 10 percent from NT$28.19 billion in the first quarter, he said.
TPK said that it would also retain its operating margin above a break-even level this quarter, similar to last quarter’s 0.4 percent.
“We continue to see strong demand from large tablets and notebook [computers] in the second quarter, aided by remote schooling and telecommuting,” TPK chief executive officer Leo Hsieh (謝立群) said.
However, the company expects demand from the smartphone segment to dwindle this quarter, extending weakness that began late last quarter, Hsieh said.
Shipments of touch products for smartphones last quarter shrank 29 percent quarter-on-quarter due to weak demand and supply chain disruptions, TPK said.
Touch sensors and modules for smartphones last quarter accounted for 42 percent of the firm’s revenue, down from 47 percent in the prior quarter, it said.
Despite offering an above-seasonal pattern forecast for this quarter, TPK is cautiously optimistic about the second half, given uncertainty about when the pandemic would be brought under control, and whether the government’s stimulus and relief measures would prop up economic growth, Hsieh said.
On a positive note, one customer still plans to roll out two foldable smartphones in the second half using TPK’s new silver-nanowire touch technology, he said.
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