Major makers of passive devices posted revenue gains in Dec. 2002

Taipei, Jan. 13, 2003 (CENS)--Three main local manufacturers of electrical passive devices listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange witnessed their December 2002 revenues rise from the same month of 2001, with Thinking Electronic Industrial Co., Ltd. Recording the highest growth of 25.18%.

The other two companies are Lelon Electronics Corp. and Chilisin Electronics Corp.

Thinking Electronic produces thermistors (thermal resistors) mainly. The company rang up revenue of NT$66.18 million last month, rising by 25.18% from December 2001 but edging down by 2.55% from November last year. The company garnered revenue of NT$730 million last year, growing by 19.98% from 2001.

Thinking Electronic estimated its pretax profit for last year at NT$180 million, approximately the goal for 2002 and the five-year highest annual level. Based on the current capital, the company's pretax profit for last year was equivalent to earnings per share of NT$2.2, jumping by over 40% from 2001.

Lelon Electronics is the largest manufacturer of aluminum electrolytic capacitors in Taiwan. The company registered NT$156 million in December revenue, going up by 23.92% from a year earlier but dropping by 18% from the preceding month. The company raked in revenue of NT$2.315 billion last year, rising by 18.23% from the NT$1.958 billion posted in 2001 and fulfilling 99.23% of the NT$2.333 billion projected for 2002.

Lelon has a large portion of its production undertaken at its factory in Huizou of Guangdong Province, mainland China. The company is setting up a second factory also in Huizhou, with completion scheduled for next month or March. With the production capacity of the second factory to be gradually expanded to 400-450 million aluminum electrolytic capacitors in 2005, the two factories in Huizhou will then have a total monthly production capacity of 600 million capacitors.

Chilisin Electronics specializes in producing various kinds of inductors. The company's domestic business operation chalked up revenue of NT$65.59 million last month, rising by 9.5% from a year earlier but dipping by 15.3% from November 2002.

Including its overseas production, Chilisin Electronics brought total revenue of NT$109 million last month, slipping by 14.7% from a month earlier. The company's total revenue for last year came to NT$1.442 billion.

Chilisin Electronics has recently received orders for inductors used in LCD (liquid crystal display) monitors and cellular phones from the local manufacturer BenQ Corp. and Samsung and LG of South Korea as well as for those used in notebook PCs from the local maker Quanta Computer Inc. With these orders, Chilisin Electronics expects a minimum annual revenue growth of 20% for this year.