HSINCHU, Jan. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- AU Optronics Corp. ("AUO" or the "Company") (TAIEX: 2409; NYSE: AUO) today announced its preliminary consolidated December 2010 revenue of NT$30,620 million, down by 17% from the previous month and 16.9% from the same period last year. The decrease in the December revenue was associated with the lower-than-expected TV panel prices, customer inventory control by year-end, and the currency influence of NT dollar appreciation. However, as sell-through picked up during the holiday period and the customer inventory adjustments have gradually come to an end, we expect panel demand will progressively recover. For the year ended December 31, 2010, unaudited consolidated revenue totaled NT$467,173 million, resulting in an impressive 30% year-over-year growth.
For December 2010, large-sized panel(a) shipments, with applications on desktop monitor, notebook PC, LCD TV and other applications, decreased by 5.8% month-over-month to nearly 9.16 million units. As for small-and-medium-sized panels, the shipments were around 17.06 million units, down by 5.4% month-over-month.
During the fourth quarter of 2010, the shipments of large-sized panels decreased 2.3% quarter-over-quarter to around 28.03 million units, but represent a year-over-year increase of 2.4%. Shipments for small- and medium-sized panels exceeded 52.88 million units, down by 4.9% quarter-over-quarter and 12% year-over-year.
In terms of the 2010 full-year unit shipments, large-sized panels reached 113.55 million units, up 26.7% from 2009. Meanwhile, small and medium-sized panels totaled around 220.89 million units, down by 3.4% from last year.
(a) Large size refers to panels that are 10 inches and above in diagonal measurement while small and medium size refers to those below 10 inches.
| Sales Report :(Unit: NT$ million) | |||
| Net Sales(1)(2) | Consolidated(3) | Unconsolidated | |
| December 2010 | 30,620 | 28,156 | |
| November 2010 | 36,870 | 34,314 | |
| M-o-M Growth | (17%) | (17.9%) | |
| December 2009 | 36,836 | 35,204 | |
| Y-o-Y Growth | (16.9%) | (20%) | |
| Jan. to Dec. 2010 | 467,173 | 442,996 | |
| Jan. to Dec. 2009 | 359,331 | 350,179 | |
| Y-o-Y Growth | 30% | 26.5% | |
| (1) All figures are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in Taiwan. (2) Monthly figures are unaudited, prepared by AU Optronics Corp. (3) Consolidated numbers include AU Optronics Corp., AU Optronics (L) Corp. and its affiliates, Darwin Precision Corp. and its affiliates, BriView Electronics Corp., Toppan CFI (Taiwan) Co, Ltd., and AUO Crystal Corp. and its affiliates. |
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ABOUT AU OPTRONICS
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 65 inches. AUO generated NT$467.2 billion in sales revenue in 2010 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.
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.
