GIS Holding Ltd (業成), which supplies touch modules for Apple Inc’s iPads and MacBooks, yesterday said its net profit last year grew 10 percent annually, benefiting from increased demand for notebook computers and tablets as the stay-at-home trend persisted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Net profit rose to NT$3.73 billion (US$131.79 million), compared with NT$3.39 billion in 2019, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
It was the fourth consecutive year that the company’s annual profit surpassed its share capital of NT$3.39 billion.
Photo: Chen Mei-ying, Taipei Times
Earnings per share rose to NT$11.04 last year from NT$10.02 the prior year. Gross margin dropped to 8.62 percent last year from 8.86 percent in 2019, the company said.
GIS is 24 percent owned by iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密).
The Miaoli-based company has aimed to increase shipments of higher-definition touch modules equipped with mini-LED backlights for tablets and OLED touch modules for smartphones.
Revenue grew 6.16 percent to NT$127.1 billion last year from NT$119.72 billion in 2019.
Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) said GIS has benefited from pandemic-driven demand for notebook computers and tablets with touch modules, with a revenue contribution of 75 to 80 percent.
GIS received extra orders from Apple, but lower orders from Chinese touch module supplier O-film Tech Co (歐菲光) due to trade frictions between the US and China, the investment consultant said in a report.
GIS in a separate filing said its board of directors has approved a plan to distribute a cash dividend of NT$4 per common share, representing a dividend yield of 3.4 percent based on the stock’s closing price of NT$114.5 yesterday.
The plan is subject to shareholder approval at an annual general meeting set for May 28.
GIS also plans to invest NT$3.4 billion to expand production capacity at a Chinese touch module factory in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, it said yesterday.
The company’s revenue grew 9.75 percent annually to NT$6.39 billion last month from NT$5.83 billion.
That represented a monthly decline of 21 percent from NT$8.11 billion in January, due to fewer working days.
Revenue in the first two months of this year rose 10.53 percent to NT$14.5 billion, compared with NT$13.12 billion in the same period last year.
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