Hon Hai posts 19pc drop in revenue
Hon Hai Precision Industry, the world's largest contract manufacturer of electronics, posted its biggest revenue decline in at least 13 years, pointing to slower sales of iPhones, iPads and computers.
First-quarter revenue fell 19.2 per cent from a year earlier to NT$809 billion (HK$209 billion), the company said in a statement yesterday, less than the NT$895 billion average of analysts' estimates.
Sales missed expectations by 9.6 per cent, the most in more than four years and indicate a slowdown in orders from Apple, Hon Hai's largest customer.
Falling computer shipments to Hewlett-Packard and weaker sales of games machines for Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo also may have contributed to the shortfall at Hon Hai, the flagship of Foxconn Technology.
"These numbers are an indication that iPhone and iPad sales are not doing as well as expected," said Vincent Chen, an analyst at Yuanta Financial. "HP's desktop shipments are falling and games consoles are weakening, accounting for further declines at Hon Hai."
Simon Hsing, a spokesman for Hon Hai, declined to comment on reasons for the decline.
Carolyn Wu, a Beijing-based spokeswoman for Apple, did not answer calls to her mobile phone.
Pegatron, the Taipei-based maker of iPad Mini, posted 29 per cent revenue growth for the quarter, it said yesterday.
That data indicated sales of iPad Mini might still be strong, Chen said.
Apple, which lost its title as the world's largest smartphone maker to Samsung Electronics last year, probably posted revenue growth of 9 per cent in the quarter to March, the slowest since the September quarter of 2009, according to analysts' estimates.
