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The
results, published on Friday, came amid growing concerns about
slowing shipments of Apple's latest iPhone 6S models, which Hon
Hai assembles.
Analysts said Hon Hai's results could be an indicator of demand
for Apple's products in the first quarter of this year, but
added that period was not normally a peak selling season and
past iPhone cycles had followed a similar pattern, where an
interim update on a model edition tends to see slower sales.
"The first quarter is an off season, a high base from last year
and the global situation is not stable," said Leon Chu,
investment manager at Franklin Templeton SinoAm Securities
Investment Management in Taipei. "With all these factors, I'm
going to be conservative."
Hon Hai, which goes by the trade name of Foxconn, reported
December revenue of T$409.65 billion ($12.3 billion), down just
over 20 percent compared with both a year ago and November.
For 2015 as a whole, Hon Hai's revenue totaled T$4.48 trillion,
up 6.42 percent, but below analysts' expectations for an annual
gain of 7 percent, according to the average of forecasts of
Thomson Reuters Starmine.
Hon Hai's revenue in 2014 rose 6.53 percent.
Hon Hai said in a statement that December sales were as
expected.
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Friday its fourth-quarter
operating profit likely rose 15 percent from a year earlier,
missing expectations and fuelling concerns the tech industry may
be in for a year of slack gadget sales.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world's largest
contract chipmaker, said on Friday its December sales fell both
on the month and on the year. The annual growth in sales for
2015 more than halved from a rapid pace of 2014, when the new
iPhone 6 models were first launched.
A person familiar with the matter told Reuters this week that
Hon Hai planned to observe a normal Chinese New Year break for
its factories on the mainland, in contrast to recent years when
overtime prevailed to keep production lines cranking out goods
through China's biggest holiday.
The mood for Taiwan's trade-reliant island economy is grim. Its
exports plunged by more than expected in December for the 11th
month in a row in data issued Friday, putting the full year 2015
decline at its worst annual rate since the global financial
crisis.
($1 = 33.2970 Taiwan dollars)
(Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Mark Potter)
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