Taiwanese LED manufacturers Jan. 2014 performances showed stellar results spurred by rising lighting and backlight demands. Taiwanese LED package manufacturer Everlight product growth momentum was evenly distributed in 1Q14, and there has been good backlight and lighting demands, said the company Chairman Robert Yeh. The company expects increased 1Q14 revenue growth compared to 4Q13.

Revolution Lighting Technologies (“Revolution Lighting”), a leader in advanced LED lighting technology, provided a business update prior to announcing financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2013 on March 13, 2014.

Epileds consolidated revenue in dropped by an incremental 1.82 percent in Jan. 2014 to NT$ 108 million (US$ 3.56 million) compared to the previous month. However, the company revenue increased incrementally on a YoY basis to 2.87 percent.

Taiwanese LED package manufacturer Edison Opto consolidated revenue for last month increased 9.51 percent to NT$ 229 million (US$7.56 million) or YoY of 52.22 percent. 

Taiwanese LED package manufacturer Unity Opto announced consolidated revenue for Jan. 2014 increased 23 percent to NT$ 560 million (US$ 18.49 million), compared to Dec. 2013 or 9 percent YoY. According to the company, as impact from 4Q13 low season is lifted, 1Q14 will reinitiate positive revenue growth cycle.

Vertically integrated LED manufacturer Lextar announced revenue for Jan. 2014 was up 11 percent to NT$ 1.22 billion (US$ 40 million) compared to the previous month, or 28 percent YoY.

“The fourth quarter of 2013 was another good quarter for Philips, despite the challenging economic environment and ongoing currency headwinds. In the quarter, Lighting and Consumer Lifestyle both delivered strong comparable sales growth of 8%. At Healthcare, comparable sales increased by 4%, while order intake declined 1% as a result of weak markets in US and Europe. The operational profitability of all sectors improved substantially, driven by good sales growth, gross margin expansion of 2 percentage points and the productivity gains, all coming from the Accelerate! program.

Cree’s has won over investor’s support as its recently published 2Q14 financial report reflected good financial performance. Cree’s stock prices were up 7.7 percent to US$ 67.33, and accumulated growth from the last 12 months was 65 percent. Due to the company’s soaring growth in the LED lighting field, the company’s income and profits have been maintained at higher levels, which in turn alleviated investors concerns of profit pressure.

GT Advanced Technologies Inc., announced a chief financial officer transition. CFO Richard Gaynor resigned, effective March 6, 2014, to accept a new position with a portfolio company of New Mountain Capital LLC, a private equity firm. The company also announced the appointment of Raja Bal as vice president, corporate controller and chief accounting officer. Bal will succeed Gaynor as CFO of GT on March 7.

Cree, a market leader in LED lighting, announced revenue of US$ 415.1 million for its second quarter of fiscal 2014, ended December 29, 2013. This represents a 20 percent increase compared to revenue of US$ 346.3 million reported for the second quarter of fiscal 2013, and a 6 percent increase compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2014. 

Chinese LED manufacturer Elec-Tech released a report on January 19th announcing the company’s various businesses’ preliminary estimated data for 2014. The company anticipates sales revenue in 2014 to increase by 50 percent compared to 2013, including sales revenue for their LED business which is estimated to increase 100 percent from 2013.

Refond Optoelectronics released their performance report for 2013 on January 14th. The company estimates that market listed company shareholder net profit will reach between RMB 56 million and RMB 63 million (US $9.3 million and US $ 10.4 million), growth of 20-34 percent YoY. Net profit in 2012 was RMB 46.86 million.

Kingsun released their 2013 revised earnings forecast on January 14th. In the company’s earlier 3Q13 report, they originally estimated net profit for market listed company shareholders in 2013 to reach RMB 105-136 million (US $17.4-22.5 million).

Leading chip manufacturers including San’an Optoelectronics (San’an Opto) and HC SemiTek Corp. (HC SemiTek) have been turning from 2 inch to 4 inch epitaxial wafers, which industry insiders anticipated to be the upcoming trend in 2014.

Changfang Lighting announced on Thursday, stockholder Lin Changchun, who has a 5 percent stake in the company, has sold out 2.85 million stocks during Jan. 7-8, 2013 in the ShenZhen Stock Exchange (SZSE). The stocks sold account for around 1.05 percent of the company’s share capital.

Taiwanese LED package manufacturer Edison Opto consolidated revenue for Dec. 2013 reached NT$ 209 million (US$ 6.95 million), a decrease of 2.09 percent compared to last month. However, the company’s Dec. 2013 revenue has soared 50.1 percent compared to the same period last year. Affected by the traditionally low season in 4Q13, consolidated revenue reached NT$ 641 million, despite a quarterly decrease of 22.54%, consolidated revenue increased 38.54 percent. The company’s consolidated revenue in 2013 reached NT$ 2.74 billion, a YoY increase of 20.91%.

Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer Epistar delivered a stellar performance during the traditional LED low season. The company announced its Dec. 2013 revenue reached NT$ 2.04 billion (US$ 70 million) marking a historical high for the last 10 quarters since 3Q11. Although, December revenues dropped 1.36 percent compared to the previous month, revenues soared 61.46 percent from Dec. 2013. In addition, consolidated revenue for 4Q13 increased 6.09 percent QoQ to NT$ 6.10 billion, or an annual increase of 37.28 percent. 

Taiwanese package manufacturer Unity Opto consolidated revenue for December was NT $455 million (US $15.1 million), a drop of 14.13 percent from November. Total revenue for 2013 reached NT $69.2 billion, a dip of 8.39 percent from 2012. Slack season and client stocktaking at the end of the year impacted December shipments. LED bulb order volumes doubled at the end of the year, due to new clients preordering mobile applications starting in 4Q13 and favoritism from European and U.S. markets.

Taiwanese LED package manufacturer Ledtech consolidated revenue forDecember  reached NT $170 million (US $5.6 million), a monthly increase of 39.72 percent and YoY growth of 25.74 percent. Growth was from client orders for low temperature lighting being deferred to December as well as from client Lunar New Year preorders. The company’s total revenue for last year was NT$ 1.67 billion, a yearly growth of 4.81 percent. 

Forepi’s LED business hit rock bottom in 2013, said Jian Fengren, Chairman of Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer Forepi. However, the company will benefit from the gradual development of flip chip, HV LED, and package free products in 2014. The addition of injections from rebounding industrial demands will help the company reach its goal of turning the year’s loss into profit. With 10 consecutive quarters of loss, gross profit margin for the first three quarters is still -14.32 percent and legal persons believe improvements of gross profit margin in 2014  will be the key to turning loss into profit.

LED lighting market gross margin index for LED manufacturer Honglitronic is more stable, but will experience slight decline year-on-year, as reported in the company’s Shenzhen Stock Market investor relations activities record.

Taiwanese package manufacturer Harvatek operational performance strengthened during the second half of 2013. The company hopes profit gain in 3Q13 will carry on into 4Q13, said Billy Wang, Chairman of Harvatek. The company hopes to maintain its profitable performance in 4Q13 , and aims to turnover previous losses to make 2013 a profitable year.

Amtech Systems, Inc. a global supplier of production and automation systems and related supplies for the manufacture of solar cells, semiconductors, and sapphire and silicon wafers, reported results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ending September 30, 2013.

Fairchild Semiconductor announced that its Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $100 million of the company's common stock. Fairchild will repurchase shares from time to time in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions.

Sapphire substrate concept stocks have soared lately on China’s A-Shares market, but major international sapphire substrate suppliers stock prices have plunged, according to a China Securities Journal article. Out of the major sapphire substrate manufacturers, U.S. company GT Advanced Technology (GTAT) stock prices were down 10 percent over the last three days, another U.S. company Rubicon also fell 7 percent during the same period, while Korean Sapphire Technology Company has dropped 8 percent over the last five days.

Taiwanese LED packager Edison Opto’s  3Q13 financial results showed the company’s consolidated revenue reached NT$ 826 million (US$ 27.99 million) and underwent a Year-on-Year (YoY) growth rate of 44.89 percent and Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ) of 1.6 percent. Under market cutthroat price competition in 2Q, consolidated profit margin was up 7.7 percent compared to 2Q13 to 19.97 percent.

Osram has fully achieved and partially even exceeded its targets for the fiscal year that ended in September 2013. Revenue rose two percent year over year on a comparable basis – meaning excluding portfolio and currency effects – to almost €5.3 billion (US$ 7.93 billion), with a rising dynamic in the final quarter. The revenue share of LED-based products and solutions increased from around 25 percent in fiscal 2012 to 29 percent in the past year. 

Leading Taiwanese LED company Lextar will be unable to avoid impact from 4Q13 low season, according to Credit Suisse reports. However, the company is expected to benefit from the rebounding LED industry in 2014. Lextar lighting revenue is expected to soar 40 percent as new clients join in and investments from old clients. With rising number of Chinese clients, the backlight market performance is expected to be better than average market performance.

Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer Epistar saw earnings turn to losses in 3Q13, due to loss on valuation of financial liability. Although, the company’s gross profit rebound rate was much lower than expected in 2013, higher gross profits from Embedded LED chip (ELC) and AlInGap products will help gross profits return to 17.8 percent levels, CLSA forecasted.

The lighting market trend will continue its gradaul growth. LED lighting penetration rates are expected to further increase as LED prices overall falling and consumer recognition is on the rise. Backlight market orders have slid as uncertainties still surround China’s new home appliance subsidiary policy. Some LED manufacturers revenues have decreased and there has been a rebound in the backlight market compared to last month. With the Chinese Lunar New Year approaching, manufacturers’ conventional holiday stockup demands will provide a certain degree of support for LED manufacturers’ sales performance. Overall, the LED market will continue its upward climb in November.