Taiwan PC maker Acer’s Q1 profit plummets

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Taiwan’s struggling personal computer maker Acer said Thursday, May 12, its net profit fell 73% year-on-year in the first 3 months to March due to huge losses from foreign exchange.

The company, once the world’s second largest PC maker, reported a net profit of Tw$46 million ($1.43 million) in the first 3 months, compared with Tw$173 million in the same period last year, it said in a statement.

Consolidated revenue came in at Tw$56.32 billion, down from Tw$67.95 billion in the 2015 first quarter, it added, saying the figures reflected around Tw$900 million of losses in foreign exchange due to the appreciation of the Taiwan dollar. The company did not give further details for the decline in consolidated revenue.

Gross profit in the first quarter was Tw$6.67 billion while operating income rose 54% on-year to Tw$866 million, despite the decline in consolidated revenue, it said.

“The results reflect Acer’s effective product mix strategy according to regional market needs and inventory management,” the company statement said.

“Acer’s gross profit and operating income are better-than-expected which show that it’s doing fine with inventory control and product management,” said Arther Liao, an analyst at Fubon Securities.

Acer has struggled as demand tapered off and competition increased from the likes of Apple.

In March the company announced a corporate reshuffle that separated off its new businesses, including cloud services and smart devices.

It formed a holding company to manage its new businesses which it said would help speed up the “overall company transformation.” – Rappler.com