Pegatron Corp (和碩), which assembles iPhones and notebook computers, yesterday slashed its forecast for notebook computer shipments to a quarterly decline of between 5 and 10 percent this quarter as China’s COVID-19 lockdowns suspended productions and upended supply chain logistics.
That compared with the company’s previous guidance of a quarterly increase of between 25 and 30 percent this quarter.
Shipments of desktop computers and motherboards would drop by between 30 and 35 percent this quarter from last quarter, Pegatron said.
Photo: David Chang, EPA-EFE
Non-notebook computer business is to see a quarterly decline as well, it said.
In the January-to-March quarter, Pegatron reported a 64.3 percent year-on-year decline in net profit to NT$1.67 billion (US$56 million), from NT$5.22 billion, hitting the lowest level in about 11 quarters.
NON-OPERATING LOSS
On a quarterly basis, net profit slumped 78.8 percent from NT$7.86 billion.
The weak performance was due to a non-operating loss of NT$449 million, mainly due to value impairment from its shareholding of China’s Luxshare Precision Industry Co (立訊精密). Pegatron holds about 0.57 percent of Luxshare.
Pegatron booked non-operating gains of NT$1.6 billion a year earlier and NT$3.59 billion in the previous quarter, company data showed.
Operating income surged 90.7 percent annually to NT$4.23 billion last quarter, but plunged 45.6 percent from NT$7.77 billion the previous quarter.
First-quarter revenue contracted 28 percent quarterly, but surged 49 percent annually to NT$324 billion last quarter, with communications products acounting for 60 percent of total sales, it said.
CAPACITY EXPANSION
To boost capacity, Pegatron’s board of directors yesterday approved an additional investment of US$50.61 million in its US manufacturing facilities.
That followed the board’s approval in November last year of a proposal to invest US$164 million to expand its US plant.
The board also approved additional investment of US$40 million in its US subsidiary, Pegatron Electronics Inc, the company said in a regulatory filing.
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