Wistron Corp (緯創), a major graphics processing unit (GPU) server module supplier of Nvidia Inc, yesterday reported a significant improvement in its quarterly net profit for last quarter, thanks to a massive foreign exchange gains and an increase in the value of its stake in Luxshare Precision Industry Co (立訊精密).
Net profit soared to NT$3.26 billion during the second quarter, compared with NT$174 million in the first quarter. On an annual basis, net profit contracted 23.3 percent from NT$4.2 billion in the second quarter last year.
Earnings per share jumped to NT$1.16 last quarter from NT$0.06 in the first quarter, but decline from NT$1.53 last year.
Photo: Taipei Times
Wistron attributed the sequential growth to its non-operating income, including foreign exchange gains of NT$1.52 billion and a revaluation of its stake in Luxshare that added NT$535 million, Apple Inc’s Chinese supplier of iPhones.
During the first quarter, the company registered a foreign exchange loss of NT$316 million and a Luxshare revaluation loss of NT$361 million.
Wistron expects to book a final revaluation loss of NT$425 million during the current quarter, after divesting from the Chinese electronics maker entirely last month.
During the first two quarters of this year, Wistron posted net profit of NT$3.43 billion, up 1.2 percent from NT$3.39 billion in the same period last year.
Earnings per share rose slightly to NT$1.23 from NT$1.22.
Gross margin improved to 7.28 percent in the first two quarters of this year, from 6.2 percent a year earlier.
Wistron in March projected a lukewarm revenue outlook for this year, expecting revenue to be flat or up slightly from NT$984.4 billion last year due to weak demand for PCs.
Notebook and desktop computers contributed less than 50 percent of the company’s revenue in the first quarter.
Wistron also makes GPU servers and GPU accelerator cards, which together accounted for about 1.5 percent of its total revenue in the first quarter.
The company’s board of directors yesterday also approved a proposal to invest US$24.5 million to create a new subsidiary in Vietnam, Wistron Technology (Vietnam) Co Ltd, to cope with the company’s business expansion and its strategic planning.
The board also gave the go-ahead to a plan to sell 11.83 million common shares of Alpha Networks Inc (明泰科技). Following that transaction, Wistron would no longer hold a stake in Alpha Networks.
Since the beginning of this year, Wistron shares have skyrocketed from NT$29.2 to close at NT$114 yesterday, thanks to an artificial intelligence boom.
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