Third-quarter revenue 74.14億元, first-three-quarter EPS 3.40 yuan
Chicony Power (6412) announced its third-quarter consolidated financial report, with single-quarter revenue of 74.14億元, down from the previous quarter, after-tax net profit of 1.44億元 and earnings per share of 0.36 yuan. Cumulative revenue for the first three quarters was 236.41億元, after-tax net profit was 13.63億元 and earnings per share was 3.40 yuan. The company said third-quarter revenue declined due to slowing NB market demand and severe memory shortages at clients, while gross margin was under pressure due to changes in product mix and cost structure.
Memory shortage weighs on NB power, conservative e-sports momentum
Looking back at third-quarter operating performance, NB power was affected by severe memory shortages at clients, and brand customers pulled goods with less momentum than expected. In e-sports laptops in particular, rising prices of key components such as memory and GPUs pushed up overall system costs, limiting brands' room for promotions, terminal market buying turned conservative, and shipment momentum for e-sports laptop power was consequently suppressed.
Costs and currency losses weigh on profit, non-operating income declines
On profitability, the company explained that third-quarter gross margin missed expectations mainly due to changes in product mix, sharp increases in raw material prices and RMB appreciation. In addition, the smart building business also saw operating costs pushed up by inflation, further weighing on gross margin performance. On the non-operating side, affected by RMB appreciation, the company incurred foreign exchange losses, offsetting part of the gains from financial asset valuations, causing non-operating income to decline from the previous quarter and the same period last year.
Peak season turns slack early, Q4 bets on AI and communications power
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, the NB industry memory shortage will be difficult to improve in the short term, with the market showing a weak peak season and turning slack early. The end of the third quarter to the beginning of the fourth quarter is usually the peak stocking season for brand customers, but this year, affected by tight semiconductor supply and supply-chain resource allocation, brand customers entered the off-season early starting in October and carried out inventory adjustments, with short-term order and pull-in momentum relatively conservative. As the NB market slows, AI server and communications power will become important growth drivers. Among them, AI server power projects continue to advance, and revenue contribution is expected to increase as new products gradually ramp up; communications power order demand has far exceeded original capacity plans, with demand for commercial, vehicle-mounted and airborne high-performance mobile antenna power continuing to expand, and new-generation home receiver power already in mass production in September, with fourth-quarter shipments expected to increase further. The company has accelerated material preparation and increased production capacity to fully meet customer order demand, striving for fourth-quarter communications power revenue to grow by multiples from the previous quarter and the same period last year, to make up for the decline in NB power and optimize the overall product mix and profit structure.