HSINCHU, April 7, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- AU Optronics Corp. ("AUO" or the "Company") (TAIEX: 2409; NYSE: AUO) today announced its preliminary consolidated March 2011 revenue of NT$35,947 million, up by 32.7% month-over-month and down by 11.6% year-over-year. Owing to the lower-than-expected TV panel prices, AUO's unaudited consolidated revenues for the first quarter of 2011 totaled NT$93,230 million, down by 9.1% quarter-over-quarter and 16.4% year-over-year.
For March 2011, Large-sized panel (a) shipments, with applications on desktop monitor, notebook PC, LCD TV and other applications, surpassed 10.71 million units, an increase of 30.1% from the previous month. As for small-and-medium-sized panels, the shipments were around 16.77 million units, up by 37.2% month-over-month.
In the first quarter of 2011, large-sized panel shipments exceeded 28.40 million units, an increase of 1.3% from last quarter and an increase of 4.3% over last year. On the other hand, shipments of small-and-medium-sized panels for the same quarter totaled 43.49 million units, down by 17.8% quarter-over-quarter and 23.7% year-over-year.
As the Company reported a return to full-year profit in 2010, AUO's Board of Directors Meeting on March 11, 2011 resolved to propose to the Annual General Meeting of the Shareholders a dividend of NT$0.40 per share. The Company has aggressively focused on high value-added products, and hopes that through this strategy, The Company's operating performance will improve continuously and maintain a leading position in the industry.
| (a) Large size refers to panels that are 10 inches and above in diagonal measurement while small and medium size refers to those below 10 inches. |
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| Sales Report: (Unit: NT$ million) |
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| Net Sales(1) (2) |
Consolidated(3) |
Unconsolidated |
|
| March 2011 |
35,947 |
34,236 |
|
| February 2011 |
27,095 |
25,712 |
|
| M-o-M Growth |
32.7% |
33.2% |
|
| March 2010 |
40,673 |
38,801 |
|
| Y-o-Y Growth |
(11.6%) |
(11.8%) |
|
| Jan to March 2011 |
93,230 |
88,290 |
|
| Jan to March 2010 |
111,564 |
106,242 |
|
| Y-o-Y Growth |
(16.4%) |
(16.9%) |
|
|
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AU Optronics Corp. (AUO) is a global leader of thin film transistor liquid crystal display panels (TFT-LCD). AUO is able to provide customers with a full range of panel sizes and comprehensive applications, offering TFT-LCD panels in sizes ranging from 1.2 inches to greater than 71 inches. AUO generated NT$467.2 billion in sales revenue in 2010 (US$16 billion) with global operations in Taiwan, Mainland China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the U.S., and Europe. Additionally, AUO is the first pure TFT-LCD manufacturer to be successfully listed at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). AUO extended its market to the green energy industry in late 2008. The Display and Solar businesses were established respectively as the Company's two core businesses in October, 2010. For more information, please visit AUO.com.
* 2010 year end revenue converted at an exchange rate of NTD29.14:USD1.
Safe Harbour Notice
AU Optronics Corp. ("AUO" or the "Company") (TAIEX: 2409; NYSE: AUO), a global leader of TFT-LCD panels, today announced the above news. Except for statements in respect of historical matters, the statements contained in this Release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements were based on our management's expectations, projections and beliefs at the time regarding matters including, among other things, future revenues and costs, financial performance, technology changes, capacity, utilization rates, yields, process and geographical diversification, future expansion plans and business strategy. Such forward looking statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including risks related to the flat panel display industry, the TFT-LCD market, acceptance of and demand for our products, technological and development risks, competitive factors, and other risks described in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in our Form 20-F filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on May 11th, 2010.
