Acer Sees Non-combined Revenue Plunge 29.91% YoY in Oct.

Taipei, Nov. 14, 2012 (CENS)--Slowing its restocking pace to control its inventory levels in response to market uncertainty after the launch of Windows 8, Acer Inc., one of the world's top five PC brand vendors, saw its non-combined revenue for October decline by 29.91% year on year (YoY) to NT$25.526 billion, according to the firm.

If compared to a month earlier, the October non-combined revenue represented a deeper drop of 32.1%, making Acer an underdog among Taiwanese PC vendors, who mostly witnessed their revenues for the same month either surge slightly or remain unchanged.

Institutional investors said that despite Windows 8 already hitting the market on October 26, the global PC industry, however, has persistently showed uncertainty over consumer markets, and therefore insiders differed in inventory stocking in the month, which could somewhat be reflected in revenue results they reported.

Under the scenario, the investors said, Acer's sharp revenue decline in October resulted mainly from its strategy for slow-moving inventory after a restocking commenced in September. The company is expected not to significantly raise its inventory levels in the short term until the consumer market is actually revived by Windows 8.

In fact, Acer's move to slow inventory restocking regardless of the launch of Windows 8 could be tracked earlier, when the chairman J.T. Wang commented that despite a hype, the new operating system is widely deemed to have brought the most drastic, uncertain revolution ever seen in the field. In response, he mentioned, most PC brands and distributors, after witnessing PC sales slacken due partly to the rise of smartphones and tablet PCs and partly to global economic doldrums, tend to maintain inventories at conservative levels as a result.

But, to outdo rivals in a new round of competition after Windows 8 lands on the market, Acer has already unveiled its V5 15-inch laptop with a touchscreen, which sells for US$599 per unit, US$50 lower than the competing model, VivoBook, from Asus.

Acer forecasts its PC sales growth for the fourth quarter of this year at between plus and minus 5% compared to a quarter ago, but is optimistic about market outlook for next year.