Simplo revenues to peak in 2Q20

Notebook battery specialist Simplo Technology expects its second-quarter 2020 revenues to hit the peak for the year, judging from its order visibility, according to company chairman Raymond Sung.

The company expects its revenues to grow sequentially and annually in the second quarter as demand for battery products has been robust thanks to pandemic-induced demand for notebooks and tablets to meet increasing remote work and study needs, Sung said.

It posted revenues of NT$14.484 billion (US$482.8 million) for first-quarter 2020, up 0.5% sequentially but down 35% on year.

Although the order visibility for the third quarter remains sound, Sung estimated that third-quarter revenues are likely to come out below the amount projected for the second quarter.

Sung also said that prospects for the fourth quarter remain unclear as it is still difficult to assess the scale of the pandemic impact.

While notebook batteries still account for 90% of Simplo's total sales, the company has also been making headways in other sectors, including battery modules for electric bicycles and backup battery units (BBU) for datacenter applications.

In particular, Simplo is pushing sales of its BBUs to the cloud datacenter segment to cash in on the growing global datacenter market, expecting non-notebook revenues to expand to 20-30% in the next five years, up from 10% currently, the company estimated.

And in line with the current robust sales of notebooks and tablets, the company saw its revenues shoot up 8.06% on month and 20.95% on year to a record high of NT$6.353 billion in April.