PHOENIX Semiconductor Philippines Corp. (PSPC) is changing its name to reflect the corporate identity of its South Korea-based parent SFA Semicon Co., Ltd.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday, the listed manufacturer of semiconductors announced its board of directors resolved to change its name to SFA Semicon Philippines Corp.
The board approved the name change “in keeping with the intention of the parent company SFA Semicon and its major shareholder SFA Engineering Corp., to align the latter’s corporate identity with its affiliated businesses.”
PSPC was incorporated as wholly owned subsidiary of South Korea-based STS Semiconductor and Telecommunications Co., Ltd. in January 2010.
In April 2016, the parent changed its corporate name to SFA Semicon after yielding its 45.5% majority stake to SFA Engineering Corp. to achieve operational efficiencies and take advantage of opportunities in the global semiconductor industry.
The SFA Group is grooming PSPC to become its manufacturing hub in Asia, providing semiconductor assembly services to Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. of South Korea and other electronic companies in the world.
PSPC started its commercial operations in February 2011. Its major product lines are dynamic random access memory and memory chips for computers as well as Samsung-branded memory secured digital cards.
The company raised P468 million from an initial public offering (IPO) in December 2014 to expand the first phase of its production plant within the Clark Freeport in Pampanga. The proceeds mostly funded the installation of a memory card packaging production line in 2015.
The remainder of the IPO proceeds plus the company’s retained earnings will finance the initial stage of the Phase 2 Expansion Project in Pampanga.
PSPC has commenced construction for the manufacturing building with an initial production footprint of 18,000 square meters (sq.m.), a warehouse spanning 1,000 sq.m. along with an expansion power utility building.
The company expects to complete the first stage of the expansion by end-August. Thereafter, it will start bringing in more production equipment, ancillary utilities and support facilities in anticipation of incoming production orders. The second part will push through in 2021.
The expanded facility will accommodate the semiconductor assembly and packaging contracts of SFA Semicon and customers other than Samsung.
PSPC had intended to proceed with the expansion as early as the second half of 2015. It would, however, defer the project because of a slowdown in the global semiconductor industry driven by the downturn in China’s economy.
Aside from the name change, the board approved on Monday the election of Mr. Hyunggoo Oh as director. Mr. Oh will serve the unexpired term of Mr. Intae Hwang, who resigned effective Feb. 17 in accordance with SFA Semicon’s policy of rotating Korean expatriates in subsidiaries.
In the first nine months of 2016, the company booked a 50% year-on-year decrease in net income to $6.02 million from $12.08 million. The decline largely reflects the 31% plunge in revenues because of weaker demand.
Shares in PSPC closed 24 centavos or 12.97% higher at P2.09 apiece on Monday, outperforming most peers in the local bourse after posting the second biggest gain for the session. — Keith Richard D. Mariano
Source:http://www.bworldonline.com/
