Acer Quarter PC Sales Disappoint

(Reuters) – Taiwan’s Acer Inc’s
personal computer sales in the first quarter to date were 10
percent lower than the previous quarter due to weak demand in
Western Europe and the U.S., in a worrying sign for technology
demand.

Acer also said in a statement on Friday that it expected PC
revenues in the first quarter to fall short of expectations. It
also saw shipments of personal computers not growing in the
second quarter from the first.

The disappointing outlook from the world’s No.2 PC vendor
comes after government figures showed orders for Taiwan’s
exports in February grew at the slowest pace since October 2009,
a possible sign of a slowdown in the export-dependent economy.

Acer’s figures may also be a negative indicator for the
computer and contract manufacturing and design industry,
analysts said.

"The notebook market is not doing well in general and Acer’s
sales performance may indicate other ODMs are not doing well
either," said Angela Hsiang, an analyst of KGI Securities.

"Acer’s first-quarter target of 3 percent sales growth was
too aggressive, but a 10 percent drop is really bad since its
fourth-quarter sales were already not good."

Acer said new tablet models scheduled to launch in the
second quarter may improve sales, though Hsiang said the devices
are not price-competitive enough compared with Apple Inc’s
iPad 2.

She said possible disruption of raw material supplies after
the earthquake in Japan hurt companies there could also be a big
downside for Acer’s sales in the next quarter.

Acer posted unconsolidated sales of T$61.42 billion ($2.08
billion) in the first two months of this year, 35.6 percent
lower than the same period last year.

Its rivals also reported harder times. Compal , the
world’s No.2 contract laptop PC maker reported a 21 percent fall
in combined January and February sales over the same two months
a year earlier, while those of the world’s top contract laptop
PC maker, Quanta , declined 10 percent.
($1 = 29.520 Taiwan Dollars)
(Reporting by Clare Jim; Editing by Jonathan Standing)