UPDATE 1-BenQ posts 5th straight quarterly loss, misses f'cast
(Adds details, quotes, background)
By Sheena Lee
TAIPEI, March 20 (Reuters) - BenQ Corp. (2352.TW), Taiwan's top mobile phone vendor, posted its fifth straight quarterly loss as its handset business continued to drag after it declared its German unit insolvent late last year, and flagged weaker sales.
The company faces more challenges as it tries to strengthen its struggling core businesses, while its outlook is also clouded by the detention last week of its chief financial officer in a probe over suspected insider trading.
BenQ, also a supplier to Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ.N) and Dell Inc. (DELL.O), has said it will continue to sell phones in Asia, even though it failed to turn around the loss-making handset unit it bought from Germany's Siemens (SIEGn.DE) in late 2005.
It forecast first-quarter sales would fall from the fourth quarter, when it had T$34.6 billion ($1.05 billion).
The firm posted a net loss of T$7.89 billion for the October-December quarter, widening from a year-ago loss of T$6.02 billion.
The result compared with an average forecast for a T$843 million loss from five analysts surveyed by Reuters. It posted a loss of T$12.22 billion in the third quarter.
Taiwan prosecutors said last week the Financial Supervisory Commission, the island's top financial regulator, believed BenQ might have sold shares before it announced its losses last year and that CFO Eric Yu could be detained for up to four months.
BenQ's chairman denied his company had been engaged in insider trading.
BenQ's shares dropped 7 percent to a 10-year low a day after news about the investigation broke, but went limit-up in the following session amid speculation that the company could become a takeover target.
Analysts said the impact of the case had so far been limited, and that BenQ's 13 percent stake in flat-screen maker AU Optronics Corp. (2409.TW) was still a valuable asset.
BenQ shares declined 10 percent in the fourth quarter, underperforming a 14 percent gain in the benchmark index .TWII. It shares have fallen around 15 percent so far this year.
BenQ announced the results after the Taipei stock market closed. Its shares fell 6.19 percent to T$13.65 on Tuesday, underperforming the big board's 0.02 percent drop.
The firm, which competes with Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) and LG Electronics (066570.KS), makes computer components for overseas clients and produces flat-screen TVs, digital cameras and notebooks under its own name.
(US$1=T$33.1)
((Editing by Alex Richardson & Anne Marie Roantree; Reuters Messaging: sheena.lee.reuters.com@reuters.net; +886 2 2508-0815)) Keywords: BENQ RESULTS/
(C) Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution ofReuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expresslyprohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuterssphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group ofcompanies around the world.nTP105540
- Tweet this
- Link this
- Share this
- Digg this
- Reprints
Follow Reuters