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.
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