Hon Hai Profit Shows IPhone Delay Offset by One-Time Sharp Gain

Hardware manufacturer gained NT$66b from sale of Sharp shares
Full-year net income dropped for first time since 2008

Bloomberg Gadfly Columnist Tim Culpan talks about Apple CEO Tim Cook’s stance on the manufacturing of the iPhone.(Source: Bloomberg)

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By Debby Wu

March 30, 2018 at 12:18 PM UTC

Updated on

March 31, 2018 at 3:59 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. felt the squeeze from last year’s delayed launch of Apple Inc.’s iPhone X, the latest results from the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer show. Were it not for a one-time gain of $2.2-billion from the sale of Sharp shares, analysts say, it would have been the company’s worst holiday quarter since at least 2010.

Hon Hai reported net income of NT$71.7 billion ($2.5 billion) in the three months ended December, based on calculations using previously reported earnings. That exceeded the NT$58 billion average estimate of analysts. Fourth-quarter revenue reached an all-time high of NT$1.73 trillion. Earnings per share were NT$4.14.