Thanks to lighting product sales increasing sharply as a result of reduction of LED prices and increased acceptance of LED lamps by consumers, Everlight’s Q2 earnings jump twofolds QoQ.
The company earned NT$0.55 per share in Q2, more than double the NT$0.2 per share it made the first quarter.
In the first half of 2012, the company had total after-tax net income of NT$302 million (US$10 million at US$1: NT$30), dwindling 66% year on year. The earnings were diluted into NT$0.75 per share.
The company’s spokesman, B.Y. Liu, estimated the company’s operation for the second half to be better than first-half results thanks to tight control on costs and expenses.
Improved capacity utilization hiked the company’s gross margin to 23.6% in the second quarter, higher than 20.2% it registered in the first quarter, not to mention the 14-17% range reported by its Taiwanese industry peers.
Furthermore, Liu pointed out that lighting will account for at least 10% of the company’s revenue in the second half of this year, compared with 8% in the first half. He estimated the company’s gross margin for the rest of this year will increase along with shipments increasing.
In developing the LED lighting market, the company has adopted a two-pronged strategy, equally stressing brand name operation and contract manufacturing operation.
Liu noted that the LED industry has begun recovering since the second quarter as undercutting competition among the manufacturers has less intensive. He estimated price decline in the LED market to be less than 5% in the second half.
So far, a 7W LED light bulb has marked down to the US$10 range and is expected to further drop at a double digit rate until the end of 2013, Liu estimated. At the same time, LED backlights are gaining penetration rate mostly thanks to increased uses in TVs and tablet PCs.
