ASM Pacific eyes market recovery after profit decline

ASM Pacific Technology, the world's largest assembly and packaging equipment supplier for the semiconductor and light-emitting diode (LED) industries, is hoping for better days after posting double-digit declines in net profit and revenue last year.

In a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange yesterday, ASM Pacific chief executive Lee Wai-kwong said: "There are signs that the market slowdown stabilised towards the end of last year, indicating that we have probably come off the bottom of the current industry cycle."

ASM Pacific, which is majority-owned by Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASM International, reported a 76.5 per cent fall in net profit to HK$689 million from HK$2.93 billion a year earlier.

The drop was attributed to the sharp contraction in the global semiconductor material and equipment markets during the second half of last year.

It said that slump also disrupted the momentum of a recovery in the LED equipment market.

Revenue slid 19 per cent to HK$10.46 billion from HK$12.92 billion. Sales on the mainland, which remains the largest market for ASM Pacific, declined to HK$4.45 billion last year from HK$5.78 billion in 2011.