Hon Hai warns on revenues in wake of coronavirus

Hon Hai Precision Industry responded to media speculation about its revenue outlook on Friday, amid the ongoing outbreak of the Covid-19 coronavirus in China and east Asia.

Taiwanese financial news outlet, the Commercial Times, said on Thursday that Hon Hai's first quarter revenue could decline 45%, or below TWD 1trn (£24.43bn).

“The company's facilities in mainland China will resume at full capacity in March,” the report in the English-language newspaper said.

On Friday Hon Hai, which trades as Foxconn and manufactures electronics for a number of global technology firms including Apple, said that as a matter of company policy, it did not comment on market speculation regarding any aspect of its business operations.

“However, we can confirm that we have not made any announcements related to our future earnings results,” it said in its statement.

The firm said it had previously stated that, with the current public health challenges linked to coronavirus, it was continuing to place a “high priority” on the welfare of all of its employees.

It said it was applying all recommended health and hygiene practices, in accordance with local laws and regulations, as part of its effort to ensure the health and safety of its staff.

“Consistent with this, we are taking a cautious approach in the implementation of our post-holiday production schedules in each of our facilities in China.

“We can confirm that the virus-related production schedules will have a negative impact on our annual revenues.”

Hon Hai said that, while its facilities in China had been delayed in their return to normal operations following the extended Lunar New Year holiday, its facilities in a number of other markets, including Vietnam, India and Mexico, were running at full capacity, with expansion plans for some of its global facilities being rolled out.

“We will provide updates on these and other relevant developments as information becomes available.”