Taiwan's Acer swings to loss in April-June quarter

Taiwan's leading personal computer maker Acer on Wednesday reported a net loss of $11.39 million in the April-June quarter mainly due to increasing expenses on investments and declining gross margins. Acer's consolidated revenue was $2.97 billion, down 2.8 percent from the previous quarter and down 19.2 percent year-on-year, it said in a statement. Acer said it suffered the net loss and an operating loss of $20.35 million in the quarter largely due to increasing expenses from investments on its industrial design capability and declining gross margins due to rising memory chip prices. This compared with a net profit of $17.2 million in the three months to March thanks to a number of non-operating incomes including foreign exchange and stock disposal gains. Acer, which has been struggling to branch into the tablet computer sector, has been forced to cut hundreds of jobs in recent years after suffering heavy losses due to weakening demand in Europe and the United States.