WPG expects second quarter sales to increase by 8-13 percent

Taiwan-based IC distributor WPG Holdings announced that it expects its revenue for the second quarter of 2015 to see an 8.3-12.9% growth rate, while revenues at sister firm WT Microelectronics are forecast to see a 3.3% increase over the previous quarter, according to a report by Digitimes.

First-quarter revenues for both WPG and WT Micro were at the low end of their projections. However, both firms believe that semiconductor inventory levels are improving and the demand is gradually rising.

WPG has reported consolidated revenues of NT$108.01 billion (US$3.53 billion) for the first quarter of 2015, which marks a 7.7% decrease on quarter but up 5.5% on year.

Net profits for the quarter saw a 3.9% increase and 0.1% from the exact same period one year ago to about NT$1.4 billion (US$45.7 million.

WPG said that its inventory turnover days rose to 45 days in the first quarter, compared with 39 days in the previous quarter and 36 days during the same period in 2014.

Additionally, WPG projects that its consolidated revenues for the second quarter of 2015 will fall somewhere between NT$117 billion (US$3.82 billion) and NT$122 billion (US$3.99 billion).

The firm said it is aiming to decrease its inventory turnover days to less than 40 days in the second quarter.

The company’s new product lines, which include NFC chips for mobile phones and fingerprint sensors, will help drive its sales performance in the second half of 2015, said WPG VP Scott Lin.

WT Micro reported a consolidated revenues of NT$28.54 billion (US$931.8 million) in the first quarter of 2015, which was a decline of 5.9% from the previous quarter but an increase of 24% from a year earlier.

Additionally, net profits for the quarter were NT$479 million (US$15.63 million), which saw a decrease of 1.6% on quarter but a 41.4% increase compared to the previous year.

WT Micro is cautious but not necessarily pessimistic about the second quarter, said chairman Wen-tsung Cheng.

WT Micro expects to see revenues of NT$28-29.5 billion (US$914 million-US$963 million) in the second quarter of 2015, with gross margin improving to 5.5-5.7, with similar number of inventory turnover days for the second quarter as the first quarter.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  financial report  |  fingerprint sensors  |  NFC  |  revenue