Asus reported revenues for the first quarter of TWD 90.1 billion, down 8 percent from a year earlier. After a 9 percent fall in operating costs, operating profit rose 7 percent year-on-year to TWD 4.1 billion. Net profit was still down 35 percent to TWD 2.4 billion, after Asus took a provision of EUR 65 million for the EU's competition investigation in the consumer electronics market.
The European Commission started an investigation in February 2017 into whether Asus, Denon & Marantz, Philips and Pioneer breached EU competition rules by restricting the ability of online retailers to set their own prices for widely used consumer electronics products, such as household appliances, notebooks and hi-fi products. The provision suggests Asus has agreed to settle the case for a fine.
For the second quarter, Asus said it expects sequential growth in mobile shipments of around 30 percent, following the recent launch of its new flagship Zenfone 5 smartphone. The PC segment should fall around 10 percent compared to Q1.
