Taiwan-based Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) yesterday announced unaudited consolidated fourth-quarter and 2003 financial results and provided 2004 panel shipment and price forecasts, according to the company.
Its consolidated sales grew 20.6% to NT$29.76 billion in the fourth quarter of 2003, up from NT$24.68 billion in the third quarter, while pre-tax profits surged 2,344% to NT$2.86 billion from NT$117 million in the previous quarter.
The company expects its TFT LCD panel shipments to rise to 12.06 million units in 2004, up from 10.21 million in 2003, thanks to sufficient key component supply, according to C.C. Liu, sales and marketing vice president of CPT.
However, it estimates panel shipments decreased about 7.4% to 801,600 units in January from 866,800 units in December as the Chinese New Year holiday fell at the end of the month, Liu said, projecting sales and pre-tax profits reached NT$9.6 billion and over NT$1.5 billion, respectively, for the month.
He added that CPT would not raise its panel prices for the first quarter and said prices might fall for the rest of the year, explaining that 17- and 19-inch TFT LCD and LCD TV panel prices would fall as the second quarter is the traditional off-peak season and global LCD TV panel supply would exceed demand by 5.9 million units in 2004.
The company forecasts pre-tax profits of NT$3.3 billion in the first quarter. In December 2003, it expected 2004 pre-tax profits and sales to reach NT$8.53 billion and NT$121.38 billion, respectively.
CPT will invest NT$110 billion in new TFT LCD and color filter (CF) lines – two 4.5-generation (4.5G) lines and one 6G line for TFT LCDs and the same for CFs – through 2006. It plans to sign a NT$30 billion bank loan, issue 700 million new shares and NT$16.3 billion worth of ECBs (euro-convertible bonds) in the third quarter of this year to help fund the lines.
The company plans to build its new 6G CF line in the third quarter of 2004 and will decide on strategic partners in June or July, Liu said.
|
CPT: 2004 TFT LCD panel shipment forecast (million units) | ||
|
Size |
Shipments | |
|
Large-size |
17-inch |
4.07 |
|
15-inch |
2.65 | |
|
Notebook-use |
2.13 | |
|
LCD TV-use |
0.5 | |
|
Small-size |
2.71 | |
|
Total |
12.06 | |
Source: company, compiled by DigiTimes, February 2004.
|
CPT: 2003 unaudited consolidated financial results (NT$b) | |||||
|
|
3Q |
4Q |
4Q TFT segment |
2003 |
2003 TFT segment |
|
Sales |
24.68 |
29.76 |
19.72 |
89.04 |
50.79 |
|
Gross profits |
3.36 |
5.53 |
4.81 |
10.42 |
8.10 |
|
Gross margin |
13.6% |
18.6% |
24.4% |
11.7% |
15.9% |
|
Operating profits |
1.77 |
3.68 |
3.67 |
4.72 |
4.74 |
|
Pre-tax profits |
0.12 |
2.86 |
3.23 |
1.29 |
4.39 |
|
Net profits |
- |
- |
- |
0.98 |
- |
|
EPS (NT$) |
- |
0.56 |
- |
0.19 |
- |
Source: company, compiled by DigiTimes, February 2004.
Article translated by Carrie Yu and edited by Richard So
