PRODUCT PORTFOLIO:The fall is widely believed to be a result of Apple Inc’s release of the iPhone X, while foreign-exchanges losses also dragged down gross margin

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 15, 2017
By: Lauly Li  /  Staff reporter

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, yesterday unexpectedly reported an annual contraction of nearly 40 percent in net income to NT$21.02 billion (US$696.49 million) for the third quarter.

The NT$21.02 billion marked Hon Hai’s lowest net profit in the third quarter since 2011, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

Gross margin retreated by 1.61 percentage points year-on-year and 0.98 percentage points quarter-on-quarter to 5.83 percent, the weakest in the past 16 quarters, the filing showed.

Operating margin plunged by 2.19 percentage points year-on-year and 0.98 percentage points quarter-on-quarter to 1.73 percent, the lowest level in the past 17 quarters, the company data showed.    [FULL  STORY]