Electrophoretic display (EPD) maker E Ink Holdings (EIH) has reported net profits of NT$1.67 billion (US$57.71 million) on revenues of NT$10.09 billion for the first quarter of 2011. The earnings translated into an EPS of NT$1.56 for the quarter, which were more than double the NT$0.70 a year earlier but down from NT$1.80 recorded in the previous quarter.

Shipments of EPD products will stay flat in the second quarter due to conservative buying from the LCD segment, and therefore second-quarter revenues will be down slightly from the levels recorded in the first, according to company chairman Scott Lin.

Sales of EPD products contributed 60-70% to EIH's total revenues in the first quarter and LCD products made up the remaining 30%, the company noted.

With demand for e-book readers expected to continue growing, the global market for EPD products is likely to expand 2-3 fold on year in 2011, EIH estimated.

Amazon's recent move to cut the price of Kindle e-book readers from US$139 to US$114 in the US market will help drive up EIH's shipments of e-paper, EIH asserted.

Global sales of EPD products increased 300% in 2010 after the launch of iPad, and so the launch of iPad 2 will have a limited impact on the e-paper industry, EIH commented.