Shipments of passive electronic components increased in October

Taipei, Nov. 11, 2003 (CENS)--Taiwan's listed makers of passive electronic components, including Yageo Corporation, Chilisin Electronics Corp., Holy Stone Enterprise Co., Thinking Electronic Industrial Co., Lelon Electronics Co., and Luxon Electronics Corporation, saw substantial sales growth in October.

Yageo saw its revenue in October hit a 22-monthh high and its affiliate Chilisin Electronics Corp. also scored record revenue in the same month. Holy Stone saw sales revenue hit a historic high in October for the fourth consecutive month.

Thinking is expected to post NT$95 million (US$2.79 million at US$1:NT$34) in sales revenue in October, reaching a record high for the fifth straight month. Lelon and Luxon also saw October increase from the previous month.

An industry analyst attributed the sales growth of the above-mentioned companies to their increased shipments and the booming demand for the passive electronic components worldwide. In addition to the growth in shipments, domestic firms in this line also enjoyed a slight increase in the unit prices of their products.

Yageo netted NT$1.515 billion (US$44.55 million) in combined sales turnover in October, a new record since December 2001. The company attributed the brilliant performance to the booming market demand for cell phones, personal computers and peripheral equipment, which rely on passive electronic components. Thanks to the expansion in sales turnover, the company anticipated its gross operating rate will rise to 28% in the fourth quarter of this year from the third quarter's 27.1%.

To meet customers' booming demand, Yageo is planning to expand production capacity and make all-out efforts to boost production equipment utilization rate. The company anticipated to have annual production capacity of 8.6 billion multi-layer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) and 18 billion resistor chips by the end of the year.

With the successful development of new export markets and the expansion of production capacity, Chilisin registered NT$168 million (US$4.94 million) in combined sales revenues at home and abroad in October, hitting a historic high record.

Holy Stone also registered historic high revenue of NT$748 million (US$22 million) in sales turnover in October, up 65.59% from the same month of last year and hitting a record high for the fourth consecutive month.

The company boasted it garnered NT$5.559 billion (US$163.5 million) in sales turnover in the first 10 months of this year, reaching 98.1% of its projected annual revenue goal for 2003.

Although Thinking hasn't yet released financial statement, the company will continue its high gear in sales turnover in October. The company just scored a record revenue in September.