Acer Aims for 15% Revenue Growth in 2011

Taipei, Nov. 2, 2010 (CENS)--Optimistic about PC market prospects, the Taiwan-based Acer Inc., now the world's second largest PC vendor now, aims to achieve a 15% sales revenue growth in 2011, with notebook PC shipment to exceed 50 million units, according to the firm's chairman J.T. Wang. This has showed Wang's ambition to unseat HP in the market.

Scoring combined revenue of NT$167.5 billion in the third quarter of this year, the firm has pushed up its aggregate combined revenue to NT$479.9 billion for the past nine months of the year, up 18% from the same period of 2009. The firm's 9-month net profits amounted to NT$11.219 billion, including NT$4.299 billion earned in the third quarter.

In the meantime, the firm saw its net operating incomes and operating profit margin for the quarter respectively hit a single-quarter high of NT$5.29 billion and 3.16%, effectively amazing institutional investors.

Wang also shows his optimism about PC market outlooks in 2011, indicating that prices of notebook PCs in the global market will remain steady throughout the year. The market situation will also help to stabilize the ASP (average selling price) of its products in the year.

Not worried about Apple's iPad tablets gradually replacing netbook PCs in sales, Wang also commented on the rise of Apple's iPad tablets, saying that the phenomenon has brought about positive momentum in the global PC market, and that scale of the segment will continue growing in 2011. Worth mentioning is that Acer will accelerate its foray into the segment, planning to release its newest tablet PC running Microsoft's operating system this month. The firm's Android-based tablet is slated for debut next year.

To adapt his firm to an ever-changing market, Wang stated that each of Acer's devices will be installed with the software “Acer Clear.fi” starting in the first quarter of next year, which will satisfy its customers with better hardware integration so as to help enhance value of its products.

Acer's CEO Gianfranco Lanci added that the firm will step up exploring emerging markets as Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, etc. Hopefully, the firm will take over HP's leading position in the global market for notebook PCs next year.

Acer's Business Performance This Year
	Q3	Year-on-year Growth	For Past 9 Months	Year-on-year Growth
Combined Revenue	NT$167.5 bn.	--	NT$479.9 bn.	18%
Operating Margin	3.2%	0.4 percentage point	2.9%	0.3 percentage point
Gross Profit Rate	10%	--	9.9%
Net Profits	NT$4.299 bn.	24%	NT$11.219 bn.	43%
EPS	NT$1.62	--	NT$4.24

Source: Acer