TCL's net profit falls 32.5pc to HK$210m

Television maker TCL Multimedia Technology said its net profit fell 32.5 per cent to HK$210 million in the first quarter of the year.

The company expects to sell 18 million LCD televisions this year, an increase of 15.9 per cent from last year.

Excluding one-off income from a merger last year, net profit grew 25.7 per cent in the period, chief financial officer Edmond Cheng Fong-ting said.

Gross profit margin dropped to 16.2 per cent from 18 per cent in the same period last year. Cheng said profit margin for last year's first quarter was at a relatively high level because new products had been launched.

The margin currently was at a normal level, he said, with a 0.1 percentage point improvement from the fourth quarter of last year.

The sale of television sets outside the mainland fell 9 per cent in the first quarter while those on the mainland jumped 18.6 per cent. Cheng expects sales outside the mainland to grow this year.