Lextar Electronics Corp (Lextar) today reported consolidated revenue for the second quarter of 2014 of NT$ 3.8 billion (US $130 million), up 17.7 percent from previous quarter. Consolidated gross margin was 14.5 percent, with a 2 percent QoQ growth. Net profit for 2Q 2014 was NT$ 163 million; a basic EPS for 2Q was NT$ 0.32.
For the first half of 2014, Lextar reported consolidated revenues of NT$ 7.0 billion, a 4.2 percent YoY growth. A basic EPS for the first half of 2014 was NT$ 0.37.
According to B.Y. Chang, the CFO of Lextar, sales in the second quarter of 2014 increased due to stronger demand recovery for both backlighting and lighting products which led to surging orders. In fact, orders surpassed the company’s capacity and thus prompted the company to revamp at LED packaging lines. The capacity bottleneck was continually broken through starting from June. Meanwhile, gross margin was improved thanks to its raised utility rate, optimized product mix, as well as material cost down from a novel way of product design.
Lextar sales in 2Q14 from backlighting were fueled by the latest wave of replacement for new commercial PC, as well as the soaring TV market which contributed to strong sales from direct-lit TVs that accounted for more than half revenues of Lextar’s LEDs for TV segment. Looking forward, apart from the moderate shipments of LEDs for direct-lit TVs, new products adopting new Wide Color Gamut (WCG) technology will start to ship to Japanese brands for high-end TV models in 3Q. New customers from smart phone devices will also enrich our customer account portfolios.
As for lighting applications, production lines were busy in 2Q for glass tubes and panel lights, furthermore, sales are expected to continue through Q3 under such momentum. Mass production of new lighting components such as High Density COB and White Chip that adopt Flip Chips are scheduled to realize in 3Q. In all, Lextar will continue its focuses on Flip Chips, COBs, direct-lit LED light bars and new LEDs for mobile devices in the second half of 2014.