Asustek Unseats Acer as No.2 NB PC Brand in Europe in Q3

Taipei, Nov. 2, 2011 (CENS)--Citing the latest market survey authorized by IDC (International Data Corp.), Asustek Computer Inc.'s CEO Jerry Shen stated that his company scored a 16.6% share of the European market for notebook PC in the third quarter of this year, outpacing its Taiwanese counterpart Acer Inc. as the second-largest brand there.

So far this year, Acer has suffered its worst business depressions since the global financial tsunami so far this year, but Asustek has kept growing at a solid pace despite the current sagging PC market.

Asustek's latest financial report shows that its combined revenue for the third quarter hit a record high of NT$102 billion since spinning off its PC manufacturing business, with operating incomes surging over 50% year-on-year or 24% quarter-on-quarter to NT$5.26 billion. Although its operating margin edged down to 5.2% from 5.9% posted a quarter ago, the company's net profits still amounted to NT$4.68 billion, or NT$6.22 per share, in the quarter. In the meantime, the company's EPS (earnings per share) has also aggregated at NT$15.51 over the past nine months of the year.

However, Shen admitted that his company's business growth is likely to slow in the fourth quarter, mainly because price hikes of hard drives will erode its operating margin. Therefore, institutional investors have projected the company's combined revenue to drop 5-10% from the third quarter to between NT$91 billion and NT$97 billion in the fourth quarter.

Asustek has also prospered with tablet PC business. Buoyed by its hot-selling Eee Pad Transformer, the company expects to ship 600,000 tablet PCs in the fourth quarter, and finish the whole year with 1.8 million units. To sustain tablet PC sales, Shen confirmed that his company will launch two new models of Transformer next February and a Windows 8-powered model in the third quarter of 2012.

The company will also step up tapping emerging markets for PCs, aiming to challenge a 10% share of the Indian market, a 5-10% share of the Brazilian market and 15-20% share of the Chinese market in 2012, said Shen. He added that new workgroups and R&D teams will be set up to explore commercial segments in these markets.