Acer Australia reports AU$3.2m profit for 2016

Acer Computer Australia has reported after-tax profit of AU$3.2 million for the full year ended December 31, 2016, turning around the AU$3.6 million loss reported in the previous year.

The Taiwanese electronics company did not break down figures according to business, but reported that revenue rose 10.4 percent from AU$275.9 million in 2015 to AU$304.6 million in 2016.

Cash and cash equivalents increased 84 percent to AU$33.1 million in 2016, compared to the AU$18 million reported in the previous year.

By the close of 2016, Acer had spent AU$21.8 million on salaries and employee benefits, a slight drop from the AU$23 million reported in the previous year. As of December 31, 2016, Acer and its entities employed 95 staff.

The electronics company also paid AU$1.7 million in income tax in 2016, lower than the AU$2.4 million paid in 2015.

For the first quarter of 2017, Acer Group reported global after-tax profit of NT$62,605, a 35 percent increase from the $46,123 reported in the previous year, but a 98.9 percent decline from the NT$5.7 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Global revenue reached NT$56.1 million in Q1 2017, a 0.5 percent drop from the NT$56.3 million reported in the previous year, and 9.1 percent lower than the NT$61.7 million reported in Q4 2016.

Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) remained Acer’s top markets, accounting for 43 percent of its NT$52.8 million hardware revenue, while Asia Pacific accounted for 32 percent and America accounted for 25 percent.

Notebook PCs including detachable 2-in-1s remained the Taiwanese company’s most popular product in Q1 2017, accounting for 65 percent of its total hardware revenue, while Android tablets, smartphones, and accessories accounted for 7 percent. Desktop PCs dropped three percentage points in a year to 15 percent in Q1 2017.

Acer last month unveiled the Windows 10 Switch 5 2-in-1, featuring its fanless cooling system, a stylus, fingerprint reader, and Intel’s latest Core processors. The Switch 5, starting at $799 in the US and €1,099 in Europe, is the Taiwanese electronics maker’s successor to last year’s Switch Alpha 12, which introduced Acer’s fanless cooling system.