Shares of Proview, the world's seventh- largest LCD monitor maker, surged 16.7 percent after it said it had settled a patent infringement lawsuit filed against it by Hitachi.
Prudence Ho
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Shares of Proview, the world's seventh- largest LCD monitor maker, surged 16.7 percent after it said it had settled a patent infringement lawsuit filed against it by Hitachi.
"The settlement of the lawsuit will clear market concerns and uncertainties, and we believe the impact is much lower than our and market expectations," said an analyst who declined to be named.
Hitachi sued Proview last June, claiming the Hong Kong company infringed its patents in the production of monitors for personal computers.
Under the settlement agreement, Hitachi's infringement claims against Proview have been dropped, according to the company's statement. Under the deal, Proview will license Hitachi technology for use in its display products.
Proview shares climbed as high as 86 HK cents before closing at 84 HK cents, up 16.7 percent. About 24 million shares changed hands for a turnover of HK$20 million.
The stock had already rebounded 81 percent since November 23 on investor speculation that the firm would win a large order from Chi Mei Corp (CMO), a major Taiwanese LCD panel maker.
Proview said it is in talks with CMO to supply both monitors and LCD TVs for sale under the CMO brand name.
Proview ranked No. 7 in the LCD monitor industry, with 6.1 percent of the market, in the first half of 2005 - well behind its Hong Kong-listed rival TPV, with 16.2 percent.
"If Proview is able to form a partnership with CMO, we believe that it not only [would] boost earnings due to higher sales volume, it may also significantly improve the [company's] operating efficiency," said brokerage Kingsway in a report.
Since CMO is a major LCD panel maker, a deal with the Taiwanese firm would allow Proview to reduce its inventory of panels, the most significant component of a monitor
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