Ayala-led Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. (IMI) continued to bleed in the third quarter as the electronics manufacturing service firm navigated a global shortage of chips and logistical disruptions caused by the prolonged pandemic.
IMI, one of the leading global technology and manufacturing solutions providers in the world, booked a net loss of $6.2 million in the third quarter, reversing the $9.1-million net profit delivered in the same period last year. The net loss also widened from the $1.28-million net loss in the second quarter of this year.
This brought nine-month net loss to $5.3 million, narrowing from the net loss of $11.89 million in the same period last year.
The end-September numbers, however, underperformed Bloomberg market consensus expectations that IMI could deliver a modest net profit of about $200,000 (P10 million) for the whole of 2021.
“Customer demand is still strong and we continue to win projects in strategic segments of the industry. However, the extended component shortage is forcing us to delay a significant amount of business,” IMI president Jerome Tan disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday. “Just as supply chain challenges were starting to show signs of easing, rising [Delta] cases in chip manufacturing regions has pushed back the recovery timeline.”
“The situation has been further complicated by global shipping bottlenecks and expensive logistics expenses in 2021. The industry is now forecasting a staggered recovery in 2022, which is when we expect to clear the order backlogs in our facilities,” Tan added.