Largan Precision revenue down 19 percent last month on weak demand

• By Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporter

Largan Precision Co’s (大立光) consolidated revenue last month fell 18.74 percent month-on-month to NT$3.26 billion (US$109 million), the smartphone camera lens maker said yesterday.

Last month’s revenue fell for the second consecutive month and was the lowest since May last year, as the company posted NT$3.15 billion in revenue, Largan said in a regulatory filing.

Last month’s figure was 13.13 percent lower than the NT$3.76 billion it posted a year earlier, company data showed.

Photo: DAVID CHANG, EPA

The results reflect a weakening demand for the company’s products, as the optical components industry entered a low season in the first quarter of the year.

Major smartphone brands are reducing purchases of high-end lenses, as they are not optimistic about the premium smartphone market.

Global smartphone shipments declined 18.3 percent year-on-year to 300.3 million units in the fourth quarter of last year, which represented the largest decline in a single quarter and led the year to close with an 11.3 percent fall to 1.21 billion units in total shipments, statistics released by International Data Corp on Jan. 25 showed

Last year’s number marked the lowest annual shipments since 2013, as the market faced dampened consumer demand, high inflation and economic uncertainties, the company said.

Apple Inc last week also posted its first quarterly revenue drop in nearly four years for last quarter, after COVID-19 lockdowns impeded production in China and undercut iPhone sales during the holiday season.

Coupled with high inventory that caused vendors to cut back drastically on shipments, Largan told investors that sales for this month would continue to drop from last month as market momentum remains weak.

Taichung-based Largan is a global leader in the design, production and assembly of high-end mobile phone lenses. High-margin lenses for cameras of 20 megapixels or more accounted for less than 10 percent of its shipments last month, it said.

Last month, lenses for products of 10 megapixels or more comprised 50 percent to 60 percent of purchases, while lenses for 8 megapixel products made up less than 10 percent, and lenses for products with lower resolutions contributed 30 percent to 40 percent, it said.

As a leading maker of optical lens modules, Largan also produces voice coil motors, contact lenses and sleep monitoring systems.

The company’s net profit last year rose 21.14 percent annually to NT$22.62 billion, and revenue increased 1.52 percent to NT$47.68 billion, while gross margin dropped 5.24 percentage points to 54.7 percent, the data showed.