Major Apple supplier Hon Hai of Taiwan saw Dec sales slump 20 pct (updated)

Catcher Technology Co

08/01/2016 11:42

(Adds company, analyst comments) 
    By J.R. Wu 
    TAIPEI, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision 
Industry Co  2317.TW , which assembles the bulk of Apple Inc's 
 AAPL.O  latest smartphones, saw its December revenues slump by 
a fifth and full-year sales miss expectations. 
    The results, published on Friday, came amid growing concerns 
about slowing shipments of Apple's latest iPhone 6S models, 
which Hon Hai assembles.  
    Analysts said Hon Hai's results could be an indicator of 
demand for Apple's products in the first quarter of this year, 
but added that period was not normally a peak selling season and 
past iPhone cycles had followed a similar pattern, where an 
interim update on a model edition tends to see slower sales.  
    "The first quarter is an off season, a high base from last 
year and the global situation is not stable," said Leon Chu, 
investment manager at Franklin Templeton SinoAm Securities 
Investment Management in Taipei. "With all these factors, I'm 
going to be conservative." 
    Hon Hai, which goes by the trade name of Foxconn, reported 
December revenue of T$409.65 billion ($12.3 billion), down just 
over 20 percent compared with both a year ago and November.  
    For 2015 as a whole, Hon Hai's revenue totalled T$4.48 
trillion, up 6.42 percent, but below analysts' expectations for 
an annual gain of 7 percent, according to the average of 
forecasts of Thomson Reuters Starmine. 
    Hon Hai's revenue in 2014 rose 6.53 percent. 
    Hon Hai said in a statement that December sales were as 
expected. 
    Samsung Electronics Co Ltd  005930.KS  said on Friday its 
fourth-quarter operating profit likely rose 15 percent from a 
year earlier, missing expectations and fuelling concerns the 
tech industry may be in for a year of slack gadget sales. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N14R5VP 
    Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co  2330.TW , the world's 
largest contract chipmaker, said on Friday its December sales 
fell both on the month and on the year. The annual growth in 
sales for 2015 more than halved from a rapid pace of 2014, when 
the new iPhone 6 models were first launched.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nT8N13X020 
    A person familiar with the matter told Reuters this week 
that Hon Hai planned to observe a normal Chinese New Year break 
for its factories on the mainland, in contrast to recent years 
when overtime prevailed to keep production lines cranking out 
goods through China's biggest holiday.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N14P4KW  
    The mood for Taiwan's trade-reliant island economy is grim.  
 Its exports plunged by more than expected in December for the 
11th month in a row in data issued Friday, putting the full year 
2015 decline at its worst annual rate since the global financial 
crisis.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N14Q3S9 
    ($1 = 33.2970 Taiwan dollars) 
 
 (Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Mark Potter) 
 ((jr.wu@thomsonreuters.com; +886 2 2500 4881; Reuters 
Messaging: jr.wu.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: TAIWAN HON HAI/