Mustek offsets losses at home with strong overseas growth

Taipei, April 11, 2003 (CENS)--Taiwan-based Mustek Systems Inc. posted NT$870 million (US$25 million at US$1:NT$34.8) in revenue from its worldwide operations in March, up 39% from the same month of last year, despite falling revenue at home.

Mustek had revenue of NT$2.47 billion (US$70.57 million) in the first quarter of this year, up 39.51% from the same period of last year. The company produces scanners, digital still cameras, joysticks, video conferencing products, and digital versatile disk (DVD) devices.

Strong revenue growth overseas helped offset falling revenue in Taiwan, which slid 15.87% year-on-year in March to NT$323 million (US$9.28 million). First quarter sales in Taiwan declined by 25.42% to NT$733 million (US$21.06 million) compared with the same period last year.

Mustek said it has made considerable progress in diversifying business scope. In addition to its core scanner business, the company has increased output of digital still cameras, DVD player parts and modules, and home entertainment theater products.

Mustek is capable of shipping over 100,000 digital cameras per month. DVD player parts and modules and home entertainment theater products account for over 60% of the company's total output.

Starting from May, Mustek will begin shipping wireless local area network cards to Asia, Europe and mainland China in small quantities.

Mustek said it has won a patent infringement lawsuit against Umax Data Systems, Inc., a producer of personal computers and scanners. Umax was ordered by the court to publish apologies to Mustek in domestic financial and economic newspapers, such as the Economic Daily News.