Disco seen with record profit as new iPhone sparks demand
TOKYO — Chipmaking equipment manufacturer Disco will likely report a net profit of around 20 billion yen ($164 million) for the year ended March 31, a 70% surge to a second straight all-time high.
The figure would also beat an earlier projection by some 1.8 billion yen.
Sales apparently rose 20% or so to around 125 billion yen, also a record.
As consumers in emerging economies and elsewhere flocked to Apple’s iPhone 6, chipmakers in Taiwan and China stepped up capital investment, leading to stronger-than-expected demand for Disco’s products. Sales of dicing saws, which are used to cut semiconductor wafers, jumped an estimated 40%.
As client factories got busier, Disco enjoyed stronger-than-expected sales of blades and other replacement parts, which boast higher margins than chipmaking devices. The yen’s further decline in the January-March quarter also helped improve the profitability of the Japanese company’s export business.
As a result, operating profit grew about 50% to 26 billion yen or so, beating an earlier forecast by about 800 million yen. The operating margin likely increased to a tad above 20% from 16.5% in fiscal 2013.
Based on Disco’s pledge to pay out a quarter of its net profit to shareholders, its annual dividend is expected to top 140 yen a share, better than the 132 yen projected earlier. For fiscal 2013, the company paid 90 yen a share.
(Nikkei)
