Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) yesterday said that its net income for its brand business nearly doubled last year on the back of improved business operations, narrowing losses in its mobile phone business, and growing shipments of gaming and ultra-light laptops.
As profit surged 194 percent annually to NT$2.63 billion (US$86.87 million) last quarter, net income last year jumped 187 percent to NT$12.14 billion, Asustek said.
Earnings per share soared from NT$5.7 to NT$16.3 and gross margin rose from 10.6 percent to 13.4 percent, it said.
Although revenue of its brand business last quarter inched up slightly by 1 percent to NT$89.29 billion, full-year revenue declined 6 percent from NT$352.45 billion in 2018 to NT$332.53 billion last year, Asustek said.
Buoyed by the results, Asustek yesterday maintained a confident outlook regarding market demand in the long term, while forecasting a sequential decline in sales this quarter due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
PC sales are expected to fall by up to 40 percent quarter-on-quarter, while components sales would contract by 5 percent, the company said.
“COVID-19 is a big challenge and will impact business in the short term,” Asustek co-CEO S.Y. Hsu (許先越) told investors, adding that the company is facing a decline in demand and difficulties in securing supplies.
“In the mid-term, we expect to see an increase in demand due to the recent rise in distance-leaning and telecommuting,” Hsu said.
“Overall market demand will undoubtedly falter if the virus remains at large … but we [will be able] to rise to such challenges through continuous product innovations and improvements to our operational efficiency,” he said.
“We are [still] seeing positive factors this year, including an end to the shortage of central processing units as well as mining processors … we are also entering a new PC cycle,” Hsu said.
Asustek would continue to focus on developing gaming and ultra-thin laptops, as well as expanding its content creator product line, ProArt, he said.
The company has secured orders for its smart healthcare, smart manufacturing and smart retail solutions, Hsu said.
Asustek’s board of directors yesterday proposed distributing a cash dividend of NT$14 per share.
Separately yesterday, rival PC maker Acer Inc (宏碁) posted net profit of NT$2.63 billion for last quarter, a 13.98 percent decline from the previous year, with earnings per share falling to NT$0.87.
The company’s board of directors has proposed distributing a cash dividend of NT$0.77 per common share.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
RSS