Wistron Corp (緯創), one of Apple Inc’s iPhone assemblers, yesterday reported that first-quarter net profit plunged 95 percent quarter-on-quarter and 84 percent year-on-year to NT$113 million (US$4.05 million), dragged by non-operating losses.
That compared with a net profit of NT$726.71 million a year earlier and NT$2.32 billion in the fourth quarter of last year.
Earnings per share (EPS) dipped to NT$0.04, from NT$0.26 a year earlier and NT$0.83 the previous quarter.
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Wistron attributed the losses to its holdings of Luxshare Precision Industry Co (立訊精密), whose share price has plunged about 40 percent since it bought 3 billion yuan (US$466 million) of the cable and connector supplier’s common shares in July last year.
Last year, Wistron sold two of its subsidiaries — Wistron InfoComm Manufacturing (Kunshan) Co (緯新資通崑山) and Wistron Investment (Jiangsu) Co (緯創投資江蘇) — to Luxshare for 3.3 billion yuan. The stock purchase, which came after the sales, gave Wistron an 0.81 percent stake in Luxshare, which it described as a “strategic partner.”
Wistron’s operating income surged 62 percent year-on-year to NT$3.08 billion last quarter, but declined 28 percent from a quarter earlier.
Consolidated revenue slid 2 percent year-on-year to NT$177.3 billion last quarter.
The company also reported consolidated revenue for last month of NT$68.22 billion, down 2.01 percent from a year earlier.
QUANTA
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), the world’s largest laptop contract maker, reported consolidated revenue of NT$84.84 billion last month, down 10.2 percent month-on-month, but up 1.7 percent year-on-year.
Cumulative revenue in the first four months of this year was NT$353.79 billion, up 29.3 percent year-on-year.
The company shipped 6.1 million laptops last month, down 7.58 percent month-on-month, but up 32.6 percent year-on-year.
COMPAL
Fellow laptop contract manufacturer Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) experienced a sharper month-on-month drop in revenue, which fell 17.38 percent month-on-month and 5.25 percent year-on-year to NT$89.35 billion.
Compal shipped 4.4 million laptops last month, down 20 percent from a month earlier, but up 2.33 percent year-on-year.
The company said that demand remained strong, but tight components supply, including CPUs, monitors and power supplies, affected shipments.
Compal expects to ship more than 47 million laptops this year, at least 10 percent more than it did last year.
Contract electronics manufacturer Inventec Corp (英業達) yesterday posted sales of NT$38.19 billion for last month, down 6.8 percent month-on-month and 22.5 percent year-on-year.
Cumulative sales in the first four months of the year rose 8.75 percent year-on-year to NT$150.04 billion.
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