Taiwan's Acer holds on to fifth profitable quarter
Taiwan's struggling personal computer maker Acer said Thursday it remained profitable in the three months to March despite a decline of 11.4 percent in revenues.
The company reported a net profit of Tw$173 million ($5.52 million) in the first three months of the year, the fifth consecutive profitable quarter.
"The results reflect Acer's effective product mix strategy according to market needs, operating expense control and inventory management," the company said in a statement.
Its revenues fell to Tw$67.95 billion, down from Tw$76.72 billion, while Stella Chou, a spokeswoman for the company, attributed the decline to "seasonal factors" and said "we expect the revenues to pick up in the high seasons in the next two quarters".
However, analysts were not optimistic.
"Data from the supply chains show that Acer's shipments may grow 8-9 percent in the second quarter, which is still lower than the 10 percent rise in shipment forecasts industry-wise," Vincent Chen of Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting told AFP.
The company started seeing profits in the first quarter of 2014 following a series of reforms initiated at the end of the previous year by founder Stan Shih.
He returned from retirement to become chairman and interim president after two top executives quit over the firm's poor performance.
Shih had founded Acer in 1976 and retired in 2004. In its heydey Acer was the world's second largest PC maker and one of the best known Taiwanese brands internationally.
Its fortunes worsened in recent years as sales were hit by competition from Apple and other rivals.
Last June Acer named co-founder George Huang to succeed Shih as chairman.
© 2015 AFP
