Taipei, Nov. 3, 2008 (CENS)--Impervious to the recent global financial fallout, Taiwan-based Acer Inc., a globally leading vendor of notebook PCs, scored EPS (earnings per share) of NT$3.64 for the first 9 months of this year, and improved its operating margin to 2.9% in the third quarter of this year, according to company sources.

At its investor meeting, Acer reported combined revenue of NT$159.2 billion for the third quarter of this year, up 27% from the second quarter, and scored a better-than-expected operating margin of 2.9%, growing from 2.2% posted a quarter earlier. The firm has raked in combined revenue of NT$411.3 billion for the first 9 months of the year, up 31% from a year earlier, and combined operating income of NT$10.1 billion.

Noteworthy is that Acer`s great operating efficiency has significantly helped the firm cushion the impact of global financial turmoil. This has reinforced the confidence of company chairman Wang Jeng-tang to challenge HP`s leading position in the global market for notebook PCs, as the gap between HP and Acer`s global market shares already narrowed to less than 1 percentage point in the third quarter, according to Wang. The firm is actively planning to further boost its operating margin to 4% in 2011.

Although the recent global financial crisis will probably force governments and large-sized enterprises to slump their spending on notebook PCs next year, Wang indicated, Acer optimistically projects global market demand for the products to increase by 15-20% in 2009, when its annual shipment is expected to rise by 25-30%.

The firm has recently focused promotion on low-price Netbook, and, after debuting its Aspire One in July, saw its September notebook PC shipment sharply increase to 1.2 million units.

(by Steve Chuang)