Asustek reports highest quarterly profits in 2 years

Taiwan's Asustek Computer reported better-than-expected net income in the first quarter of 2012 on Monday, its best in the past nine quarters. The first-quarter net income of NT$5 billion (US$171.5 million) was up 3% from the fourth quarter and up 46% from a year earlier, the company said during an investor conference. Its January-March consolidated revenue was NT$90.91 billion (US$3.1 billion) and operating income was NT$4.74 billion (US$162 million), representing annualized growth of 23% and 37%, respectively. Asustek CFO David Chang attributed the increasing sales to the company's improved operating margin, which rose to 5.2% from the 4.7% recorded in the same period of 2011. Chang expressed hope that the operating margin will maintain a level of 5% for the whole of 2012. In the first three months of this year, Asustek shipped 5.5 million motherboards, 4.1 million notebook computers, 900,000 Eee PC netbook computers and 600,000 Eee Pad tablet computers. The world's fifth-largest PC brand expects to ship 5.5 million motherboards in the second quarter, along with 4.4 million notebooks and 1.2 million tablets.