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Acer: We ARE profitable – oh yes, we made £40k big ones in Q2
Windows 10 launch, currency crisis blamed for minimal black ink requirements
For the second quarter in a row, Acer's P&L accounts have remained in the black, though its operating margins must be a cause for concern – just 1.48 per cent, at the last count.
And part of the reason for the slim pickings is partly the fault of those pesky chaps at Microsoft, the company reckons.
The firm released turnover for calendar Q2 in July, revealing sales had slumped to a nine-year low, dropping 26 per cent year-on-year to NT$60.1bn (£1.24bn, $1.93bn).
But today, Acer went public on the bottom line – operating profit came in at NT$890 (£18.12m), and net profit for the quarter was NT$2m (£40k)
It is easy to see why so many analysts and rivals don’t think Acer will be in the game in the long term.
Operating margin in the previous quarter was 0.45 per cent, so Acer feels it is at least moving in the right direction, albeit rather slowly. The company sent us this PR blurb:
The rising operating and gross margins reflect Acer’s focus on value creation and optimised product mix strategy; while the effective expense control also positively impacted the overall profitability and stabilise (sic) operations.
It added that non-operating factors including forex “volatility” reduced the profit, a seemingly ubiquitous problem for vendors this year.
For the half-year, consolidated revenues fell 18.9 per cent to NT$128.1bn (£2.6bn), “which reflected the delayed PC purchases as customers waited for Windows 10.”
Operating income was NT$1.19bn (£24.2m) with an operating margin of 0.93 per cent, and net profit was NT$176m (£3.85m).
“In the course of the Acer’s transformation, the organisation structural changes, effective product mix strategy and expense control are expected to enhance profitability going forward,” Acer said.
One analyst that asked to remain anonymous told us: "The stage is set for further consolidation."
Both Sony and Samsung have recently bowed out of the PC market, while Toshiba has scaled down operations. ®