Electronic component maker Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) last week reported better-than-expected profit margins and earnings per share for last quarter, thanks to a better product mix, strict operating expense control and effective inventory management, the company said.
Lite-On also announced that Raymond Soong (宋恭源) and Warren Chen (陳廣中) have resigned as chairman, and vice chairman and group chief executive officer, respectively, with Tom Soong (宋明峰) elected as chairman by the board of directors and Anson Chiu (邱森彬) appointed to serve as president, with effect from Saturday.
Tom Soong is the son of Raymond Soong, while Chiu formerly served in the company’s optoelectronics branch.
Photo: Chen Jou-chen, Taipei Times
Lite-On reported a gross margin of 19.41 percent last quarter, with operating margin hitting 8.72 percent and earnings per share rising to a record high of NT$1.48.
Net income increased 119.15 percent quarter-on-quarter and 43.9 percent year-on-year to NT$3.45 billion (US$116.9 million), according to the company’s financial statement released after its quarterly earnings conference last week.
With more contributions from its cloud computing, PC and optoelectronics businesses, the company’s revenue for last quarter reached NT$41.796 billion, a quarterly increase of 28.3 percent, the statement said.
The increase in sales exceeded the company’s forecast of 18 percent and was carried by strong demand from its cloud computing, notebook, 5G and artificial intelligence of things (AIoT) businesses.
However, last quarter’s revenue was still down 6 percent from a year earlier due to difficulties in supply chain management amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
By segment, the information technology unit remained Lite-On’s biggest business with a sales contribution of 68 percent last quarter. Its optoelectronics unit accounted for 17 percent of sales, and the storage unit contributed to 11 percent of sales, company data showed.
“Lite-On once again posted upbeat results in the second quarter. We believe it can repeat its solid performance going forward on the back of steady demand growth for cloud computing, 5G and AIoT, as well as continued operating expense control and improving factory efficiency aided by more automation equipment,” Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) analyst Tate Chen (陳德穎) said in a note on Friday.
In the first half of the year, the company’s revenue dropped 13.16 percent annually to NT$74.37 billion. Gross margin increased 2.8 percentage points to 17.3 percent, and operating margin rose 1.8 percentage points to 5.9 percent.
That resulted in net income jumping 30 percent to NT$5.02 billion, with earnings per share of NT$2.16.
In the third quarter, Lite-On expects its optoelectronics, cloud computing, 5G, AIoT and gaming businesses to grow more than in the second quarter, with demand for products related to the PC sector likely to remain stable.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last