E-commerce company PChome Online Inc (網路家庭) yesterday reported NT$121 million (US$3.93 million) in net losses for the first quarter of this year, after posting NT$8.18 million in net profit the previous quarter.
The company has posted five quarters of losses since the fourth quarter of 2021.
The company said its consolidated revenue in the January-to-March quarter fell 23.03 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$10.16 billion, and was also down 13.3 percent from a year earlier.
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By segment, the business-to-consumer e-commerce business saw sales drop 16.57 percent year-on-year to NT$9.14 billion, the online marketplace's sales fell 17.12 percent to NT$300 million, while the financial technology business posted sales of NT$388 million, up 21.25 percent, company data showed.
Overall, the company had losses per share of NT$0.96 in the first quarter, compared with earnings per share of NT$0.06 in the previous quarter and losses per share of NT$0.25 from a year earlier.
The figures reflect the effects of inflationary pressures, a weakening global economy and industry inventory adjustments that had hit demand for consumer electronics and adversely affected the company’s business-to-consumer e-commerce services last quarter, PChome said in a statement.
The company also blamed the quarterly losses on higher operating expenses related to rents and equipment spending at its A7 Smart Logistics Center in Taoyuan’s Gueishan District (龜山), the statement said.
The company's operating expense ratio, which is calculated by dividing all operating expenses by revenue, stood at 12.97 percent in the first quarter as operating expenses totaled NT$1.32 billion versus NT$10.16 billion in revenue. Last quarter's ratio rose from 12.22 percent a year earlier, according to the company's financial statement.
Nonetheless, the first-quarter results indicate that the company still faces challenges across all of its business units, including in e-commerce, online marketplaces, mobile payments and other Internet services, even though PChome had started corporate restructuring efforts in August last year in a bid to catch up with its peers and return to profitability.
PChome said it remains confident in its business outlook in the second half of the year, expecting the consumer electronics business to pick up following the launch of new models by major brands in the third quarter.
In addition, its cross-border e-commerce platform Bibian (比比昂) continued to report steady growth last quarter, while sales in its financial technology business increased by more than 20 percent from a year earlier, the company said.
“The overall domestic consumer market will gradually improve in the second half of the year ... and the company’s business in the second half of the year is expected to be better than the first half,” PChome said.
The company also pledges to continue corporate restructuring in upcoming quarters and strive to gain traction on revenue and profit, it said.
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