Acer Posts New Low in After-tax Earnings in Q1

Taipei, April 28, 2011 (CENS)--Acer Inc., Taiwan's leading personal-computer vender, registered only NT$0.45 in after-tax earnings per share in the first quarter of this year, a new quarterly low over the past eight years, which institutional investors believe to be the worst for Acer.

Despite a 10% decline in shipments of PCs in the second quarter from the previous quarter, Acer said its operating profit margin in the second quarter will remain the same as the previous year's. An industry insider forecasts Acer's operating profit margin will fall between 1.5% and 2% in the second quarter.

Acer registered NT$127.8 billion in consolidated sales in the first quarter of this year, down 14.3% from the previous quarter, but only 11.5% if denominated in greenbacks, the currency the maker mainly uses to settle sales.

According to self-audited financial statement, Acer posted NT$1.93 billion in operating net income in the first quarter of this year, plummeting 56% from NT$4.39 billion of the preceding quarter. The company's after-tax net income reached NT$1.187 billion in the first quarter, shedding 64% year-on-year and down 70% from the preceding quarter.

Institutional investors predicts Acer's operating profit margin will recover to between 1.8% and 1.9% in the second quarter of this year, and climb to approximately 2% in the third quarter of this year.