‘OPTIMAL SCALE’: Chairman Paul Peng said that the company would not rush to join the capacity increase race, instead focusing on higher-priced, niche flat panels
Taipei Times
Date: Feb 08, 2018
By: Lisa Wang / Staff reporter
LCD panel maker AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電) yesterday reported that net profit for last quarter more than halved as a persistent decline in TV panel prices eroded gross margin and drove down its bottom line to the weakest level in one-and-a-half years.
Net profit tumbled 52.6 percent to NT$4.2 billion (US$143.49 million) during the three-month period ending in December last year, compared with NT$8.86 billion in the third quarter of last year. That represented a 53 percent slump from NT$8.97 billion a year earlier, a financial statement showed.
Gross margin slid to 13.9 percent after panel prices fell 5.6 percent, compared with 17.5 percent in the prior quarter and 18.8 percent a year earlier.
Last year as a whole, net profit more than quadrupled to NT$32.36 billion, compared with NT$7.82 billion in 2016. [FULL STORY]