WILLAS-ARRAY ELECTRONICS (HOLDINGS) LIMITED
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CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT
Dear Shareholders,
The electronics industry is very much impacted by world economic growth and the uncertainty in the past
few years has left its mark on our business.
The financial year ended March 31, 2016 (“FY2016”) was another challenging one for our Group because
of intense competition, downward price pressures and declining demand across several of our business
segments.
In spite of this, we have reason to believe that ours continue to be a viable and sustainable business and
there remains opportunity for growth. We are not alone in this analysis, Global Industry Analysts, Inc.
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projects that the global market for electronic components will reach US$233.1 billion by 2020 driven
by the growing penetration of smart electronics in key industrial sectors such as industrial, automotive,
healthcare and transportation. Asia-Pacific represents the largest and fastest growing market with a
projected compound annual growth rate of about 7.4% led by rapid industrialisation, development of
industrial and auto electronics, economic development, increasing disposable income and the rise in
electronic consumerism.
According to the “Electronics Component & Industry Forecast for 2016” by Radio-Electronics.com
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, the
automotive industry is seeing a huge level of growth in the amount of electronic input to vehicles and this
has had a positive impact on our industry.
The same report also highlighted another major factor that will impact on the predictions for the electronic
component supply and the electronics industry is the growing area of the Internet of Things, which has
led to the burgeoning demand for connected devices and created major opportunities for the electronics
industry as a whole.
These reports serve to affirm that the Group has placed its efforts in the right segments.
YEAR IN REVIEW
Despite the challenging economic environment, the Group achieved a 7.4% year-on-year (“yoy”) rise
in revenue to HK$3,642.2 million in FY2016, as compared to revenue of HK$3,392.0 million for the
preceding financial year (“FY2015”).
The topline performance reflected the ongoing success of the Group’s strategy to focus its engineering
resources on the high-growth Telecommunications and Automotive segments. It also showed that years
of establishing close partnerships with reputable principal suppliers and strong brand manufacturers in
China continued to pay off in the strength of their support.
With China’s smartphone brands gaining dominance both locally and abroad as well as the continued
expansion of 4G networks in China, the Group’s Telecommunications segment surged 47.5% yoy in
FY2016 contributing 26.3% to total sales, making it the biggest revenue generator for Willas-Array.
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“The Global Electronics Components Market – Trends, Drivers & Projections, April 2015” by Global Industry Analysts, Inc.:
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“Electronics Component & Industry Forecast for 2016, Ian Poole”, Radio-Electronics.com:
