Hsinchu, Taiwan – Accton Technology Corporation (Accton hereinafter), a leading outsource partner of advanced communication products, today announced its 2002 financial forecast and first quarter earnings.
Sales revenue of first quarter of 2002 totaled NT$4,260 million. Accton’s first quarter gross margin and operating expenses ratio were 22.8% and 10%, respectively. As the results of expense control and cost reduction, a substantially growth compared to last year. Accton’s profit before tax for the first quarter totaled NT$ 445 million, a 58% improvement compared with last year’s NT$ 281 million. Earnings per share (EPS) before tax for first quarter of 2002 is NT$1.04.
Accton’s 2002 first quarter sales revenue breakdown shown that 43% of revenue were contributed by Ethernet switches, 6% for Ethernet Hubs, 13% for PCMCIA card, 18% for wireless products, 9% for gateway products, 3% for broadband products. As to the worldwide distribution, 46% for North America ; 36% for Asia Pacific; 18% for Europe market.
Accton also announced its 2002 financial forecast: the targeted sales revenue is NT$20,080 million, operating income is NT$2,250 million. Compared with year 2001, Accton foresees a 15% increase. Profit before tax is estimated at NT$2,050 million, a 29% growth compared with last year’s NT$1,950 million. Mr. Frank Kuo, Accton’s spokesperson and Executive Vice President says: “observing global networking and communications sector we found that second quarter demand will have a slightly increased compared with first quarter. Note that the Asia Pacific region has shown over 30% of Accton’s sales revenue, with wireless LAN products increasing over three times in total volume. Accton appreciates the potential growth within the China market for building telecom infrastructure, as well as opportunities for broadband/networking products in the Japanese market. In order to expand market share and build better product awareness, Accton will reinforce deployment and strategic alliance in both China and Japan through tender projects and collaboration with local ISPs.
Accton remains cautiously optimistic for business development in 2002, mainly due to the increase of wireless products, Accton has extended two wireless production lines for the increase wireless LAN products. As to new product strategies, Accton will introduce 802.11a+b dual-band Wireless Access Point in June. This product will effectively host 802.11a and 802.11b environments simultaneously. Meanwhile, Accton’s Wireless ADSL Router will begin volume shipment during the third quarter, hence enabling Accton to become the total solution provider within the Wireless LAN sector.
Moreover, Accton’s latest VDSL Modem + Switch Solution was designated for Multi-Tenant Units (MTU/MDU), while providing VDSL, POTS/ISDN and Ethernet simultaneously. Accton’s VDSL solution provides 5 to 15 Mbps symmetric transmission speeds, compared with traditional ADSL. This solution is currently shipping and is likely to be an important solution for providing broadband services to this market segment. In light of future directions in the networking and communications sector, Accton emphasis that they will enhance layer 3/4 switching functionality and performance, and consistently integrate new technology to its broadband products to meet the ever-changing market demand.
