Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. has reported a more than 11 percent year-over-year decline in sales for February amid a wider weakening of global demand for electronics.
In a statement Sunday, the world’s largest contract electronics maker said it posted NT$402.0 billion (US$13.16 billion) in consolidated sales in February, a year-over-year decline of 11.65 percent and also down 39.12 percent on January.
However, Hon Hai, known as Foxconn internationally, said that the results were its second-highest on record for February behind 2022’s NT$455.0 billion.
According to Hon Hai, February sales for its electronics component and “other product” division were little changed compared with the same month last year, with its cloud and networking devices, computing products and smart consumer electronics products divisions all reporting an annual decrease in revenue.
On a month-over-month basis, Hon Hai said that only its electronics component and “other product” divisions posted little changed sales figures, while its other three major business units reported a decline due to a relatively high comparison base over the same period of a month earlier.
iPhone production in China
As for the smart consumer electronics product division, Hon Hai said that the high comparison base came after production of its compound in Zhengzhou of China’s Henan province, rolling out iPhones for Apple, returned to normal in January after a full resumption of production at its COVID-hit iPhone plant in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, Henan Province.
In the first two months of this year, Hon Hai’s consolidated sales stood at NT$1.06 trillion, up 17.94 percent, smashing the previous new high of NT$902.1 billion seen in the first two months of 2021, according to the company.
Analysts said the sales growth during the January-February period was also boosted by the full resumption of production of the Zhengzhou plant as Hon Hai served as the sole assembler of the latest iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, which received a warm reception in the global market.
Based on the accumulated revenue for the first two months of this year, Hon Hai said it expects its first-quarter sales to match market analysts’ estimates.
The market has forecast Hon Hai’s first quarter sales will beat its performance over the same period of last year, when its consolidated sales hit NT$1.41 trillion, up 4 percent from a year earlier with a gross margin — the difference between revenue and the cost of goods sold — rose to 6.02 percent from 5.80 percent a year earlier.
Hon Hai has scheduled an investor conference for March 15 to report its fourth-quarter results and give guidance for the rest of the year.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel