Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) yesterday reported its highest earnings per share (EPS) in five years for the October-to-December quarter, thanks to an improved product mix and operating efficiency, the electronic components supplier said in a statement.
The company posted fourth-quarter net profit of NT$2.51 billion (US$90.05 million), up 25 percent from a year earlier, but down 19 percent from the previous quarter on revenue of NT$44.57 billion. It was also up 8 percent year-on-year and 6 percent quarter-on-quarter.
Lite-On attributed the annual increases to steady growth in demand for products used in optoelectronics, cloud computing, 5G, artificial intelligence of things (AIoT) and automotive applications.
Photo: Chen Rou-chen, Taipei Times
EPS reached NT$1.11 in the quarter, the highest for the October-to-December period over the past five years, as gross margin and operating margin improved to 17.3 and 8.1 percent respectively, up from 16.2 and 4.4 percent a year earlier.
That brought last year’s total net profit to NT$13.89 billion, up 39 percent from 2020, with EPS rising from NT$4.31 to NT$6.01, a record, Lite-On said.
Gross margin increased 1.1 percentage points annually to 18.5 percent, while operating margin rose 1.4 percentage points to 7.9 percent, it said.
“Due to continually optimizing our product mix, improving our flexibility and response times through smart manufacturing and supply-chain management, and boosting our operational efficiency, 2021 resulted in a record profit margin and EPS,” the statement said.
Lite-On reported revenue of NT$164.83 billion for the whole of last year, up 5 percent from a year earlier.
The increase is as high as 10 percent if a business transfer in 2020 is excluded, said the company, which sold its solid-state drive business to Japan’s Kioxia Holdings Corp on July 1, 2020.
Last year, Lite-On’s optoelectronics segment contributed 20 percent of its total revenue, while the cloud computing and AIoT segment contributed 27 percent, and the information technology and consumer electronics segment contributed 53 percent.
The company continues to implement a market-oriented strategy, and expanded research and development by more than 20 percent last year, especially in optoelectronics, cloud computing, automotive electronics, and 5G and AIoT products, Lite-On president Anson Chiu (邱森彬) said.
Although its business model has shifted from original equipment manufacturing and original design manufacturing, the company aims to offer customers a systematic solution through in-house product development, Chiu said.
“Automotive electronics and 5G/AIOT products continued to obtain customer certifications in the past two years,” Chiu said in the statement. “As market momentum continues to grow, they will become the growth drivers for Lite-On.”
The company also aims to expand into smart grid solutions for household energy management in the medium to long term, creating a new growth driver, it said.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
Hong Kong authorities ramped up sales of the local dollar as the greenback’s slide threatened the foreign-exchange peg. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) sold a record HK$60.5 billion (US$7.8 billion) of the city’s currency, according to an alert sent on its Bloomberg page yesterday in Asia, after it tested the upper end of its trading band. That added to the HK$56.1 billion of sales versus the greenback since Friday. The rapid intervention signals efforts from the city’s authorities to limit the local currency’s moves within its HK$7.75 to HK$7.85 per US dollar trading band. Heavy sales of the local dollar by
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
RSS