Taiwanese WLAN-equipment suppliers suffered unexpected revenue drop in Jan.

Taipei, Feb. 11, 2004 (CENS)--Leading Taiwanese suppliers of wireless local area network (WLAN) equipment reported unexpected recessions in revenue last month due chiefly to the weeklong Chinese New Year holidays and stock-backlog adjustments at retailers.

GemTek Technology Co., Ltd. Had revenue of NT$782 million (US$23.6 million at US$1:NT$33) last month, recessing 27.46% from December last year although representing a 76% gain from the same month of last year. Company executives attributed the monthly revenue shrinkage mostly to the Chinese New Year holidays, which took away a whole week from operation days of last month. They expected monthly revenue to come back to normal course this month and first-quarter revenue to post at NT$2.8 billion to NT$3 billion (US$84 million to US$91 million).

Throughout last year, the company posted pretax earnings of NT$548 million (US$16.6 million), or NT$6 per share, making it the most profitable company in the line. Its 2003 revenue was around NT$8 billion (US$242 million).

CyberTAN Technology Inc. raked in January revenue of NT$524 million (US$15.8 million), contracting 30% from NT$757 million (US$23 million) it quoted in December last year. The company's executives attributed the decline to the weeklong Chinese New Year holidays and retailers' import suspension for checking out stock pile-up. They also estimated shipment to return to normal pace this month.

Another reason behind the company's slower-than-expected January revenue performance was that chip supplier Broadcom reduced supply of older chips for part of CyberTAN's WLAN routers as a result of generation crossover of the chips.

CyberTAN projected revenue at NT$12 billion (US$363.6 million), a 30% gain from last year, and shipments at 12 million sets of WLAN equipment throughout this year. The company reported pretax earnings of NT$982 million (US$29.7 million), or NT$4.8 per share, on revenue of NT$9.1 billion (US$277 million) last year.

Global Sun Technology Inc. preliminarily estimated its January revenue at NT$500 million (US$15 million), far behind NT$907 million (US$27 million) it reported December last year. The company projected 2004 revenue at NT$10 billion (US$303 million) or so, compared with last year's NT$7.6 billion (US$230 million). Company executives said their company would place more efforts on equipment for global positioning systems (GPSs) this year in the wake of its cooperation with KG Telecom on the systems last year.

SerComm Corp.'s January revenue was NT$332 million (US$10 million), down 23% from December last year but up 43% over the same period of last year.

Last year, the company reported pretax earnings of NT$271 million (US$8.2 million), or NT$3.13 per share. The company expected 2004 revenue to hit NT$6 billion (US$181 million), soaring 50% from last year, due to a big order for its WLAN routers from Dell Computer. Industry insiders estimated the order to inject at least NT$100 million (US$3 million) into the company's monthly revenue.

Most of the island's WLAN-equipment suppliers originally expected a hefty January operation based on a prosperous second-half 2003 performance and expectation that delayed orders would fly in last month.