Taiwanese personal computer maker Acer Inc, says it will be impossible to repeat the financial performance it put in last year, and has warned first half results will be well down on the same period last year. The Wall Street Journal says the company’s performance has declined owing to losses at its US subsidiary and chip-affiliate Texas Instruments-Acer Inc that resulted in a drop in chip prices. The company reported a 76% increase in profits to $203m, while sales almost doubled to $2.29bn (CI No 2,883). The company said this was down to a new line of personal computers and strong sales in the memory chip arena. The trend continued into the first quarter of last year, with Acer reporting profits of $39.3m, up 49.4%, while revenue rose 44.8% to $597.5m (CI No 2,903). However, the company reported 1996 year end results that saw a 44.7% drop in profits to $111.0m, while revenue dipped 8.0% at $2.087bn. First half profits for 1997 are also thought to have suffered from the $40m loss sustained at Acer America Corp in the first half of last year when the company hit difficulties selling a certain line of machines through retail channels. Results are expected to be posted on August 29, and the company is not optimistic about a recovery in the second half.
