Leading industrial PC maker Advantech Co (研華) plans to acquire Aures Technologies SA, a French company known for its point-of-sale (POS) and kiosk equipment, to expand its global coverage in smart retail products and services.
Advantech proposed to acquire 3.938 million Aures shares from the French firm’s major shareholder and through a public tender offer at up to 6.7 euros per share, the PC maker said in a statement after announcing the deal at the Taiwan Stock Exchange late on Friday.
The company aims to acquire up to 100 percent equity of Aures, a well-known brand in the western market with a strong presence for its POS equipment in Europe, Australia and the US, the statement said.
Photo: Fang Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
Advantech also plans to subscribe newly issued convertible bonds from Aures, totaling 5 million euros (US$5.35 million), to support its working capital, it added.
The companies expect to close the transaction following the completion of internal approval processes by both parties and regulatory approval from relevant authorities, the statement said.
The deal comes as the global retail industry has gone through significant challenges in the past few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions, global inflation and interest rate hikes. At the same time, the rise of artificial intelligence and shifts in consumer behavior have spurred industry transformation and consolidation trends.
It has identified smart retail as a sector with significant potential and believes the deal would create greater synergy, as the two firms complement each other in terms of regional coverage, product portfolio and organizational capabilities, said Advantech, the first regional industrial PC vendor dedicated to smart cities and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Following the acquisition, Aures would maintain its independent operations, while Advantech assists in optimizing its management system, creating synergies through product roadmap integration, technical support and cross-selling initiatives, the statement said.
Advantech on Friday also reported net profit of NT$1.99 billion (US$61.1 million) for the January-to-March quarter, which was down 32.7 percent from a year earlier and 13 percent lower than the previous quarter.
Earnings per share were NT$2.32 in the quarter, the lowest since the second quarter of 2021, when it was NT$2.31 per share, while gross and operating margins declined to 40 percent and 13.8 percent respectively.
First-quarter revenue was NT$13.88 billion, down 20.21 percent year-on-year and 8.31 percent quarter-on-quarter, as the company’s business units — comprising embedded IoT, industrial cloud and video, applied computing, industrial IoT and service IoT — all underperformed with double-digit percentage declines.
By region, sales in Taiwan in the quarter outperformed other markets, with annual growth of 9 percent and shipments to China posted only a single-digit percentage fall on the back of transportation and semiconductor equipment-related projects, the company said.
However, sales to North America, Europe, North Asia and emerging markets registered double-digit percentage declines on an annual basis due to weak demand, it said.
Advantech said challenges of overall economy and regional markets remain severe for this quarter and customers are still conservative about placing new orders.
However, the anticipated acceleration of global manufacturing automation, smart energy and infrastructure upgrades is expected to further drive the company’s related new project shipments in the second half of the year, it said.
Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), founder and CEO of US-based artificial intelligence chip designer Nvidia Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) on Friday celebrated the first Nvidia Blackwell wafer produced on US soil. Huang visited TSMC’s advanced wafer fab in the US state of Arizona and joined the Taiwanese chipmaker’s executives to witness the efforts to “build the infrastructure that powers the world’s AI factories, right here in America,” Nvidia said in a statement. At the event, Huang joined Y.L. Wang (王英郎), vice president of operations at TSMC, in signing their names on the Blackwell wafer to
AI BOOST: Although Taiwan’s reliance on Chinese rare earth elements is limited, it could face indirect impacts from supply issues and price volatility, an economist said DBS Bank Ltd (星展銀行) has sharply raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 5.6 percent, citing stronger-than-expected exports and investment linked to artificial intelligence (AI), as it said that the current momentum could peak soon. The acceleration of the global AI race has fueled a surge in Taiwan’s AI-related capital spending and exports of information and communications technology (ICT) products, which have been key drivers of growth this year. “We have revised our GDP forecast for Taiwan upward to 5.6 percent from 4 percent, an upgrade that mainly reflects stronger-than-expected AI-related exports and investment in the third
RARE EARTHS: The call between the US Treasury Secretary and his Chinese counterpart came as Washington sought to rally G7 partners in response to China’s export controls China and the US on Saturday agreed to conduct another round of trade negotiations in the coming week, as the world’s two biggest economies seek to avoid another damaging tit-for-tat tariff battle. Beijing last week announced sweeping controls on the critical rare earths industry, prompting US President Donald Trump to threaten 100 percent tariffs on imports from China in retaliation. Trump had also threatened to cancel his expected meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea later this month on the sidelines of the APEC summit. In the latest indication of efforts to resolve their dispute, Chinese state media reported that
CHINESE EXPORT CURBS: A dispute between China and the Netherlands could halt chip supply, affecting vehicle production, US and European auto associations said Groups representing major automakers late on Thursday warned that a chip disruption stemming from a dispute between China and the Dutch government could quickly affect US auto production. Automakers and their suppliers received notice from chipmaker Nexperia (安世半導體) last week that it could no longer guarantee delivery of its chips, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association said, adding that manufacturing could be significantly disrupted. In the US, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents General Motors, Toyota, Ford, Volkswagen, Hyundai and nearly all other major automakers, urged a quick resolution. “If the shipment of automotive chips doesn’t resume — quickly — it’s going to
RSS