Foxconn sticks to strong end-of-year sales outlook

TAIPEI, Nov 05 (Reuters): Taiwan's Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics maker and a major Apple supplier, on Sunday stuck to its previous outlook of strong year-end holiday sales, and said customers were buying well in China and the United States.

The fourth quarter is traditionally the hot season for Taiwan's tech companies as they race to supply smartphones, tablets and other electronics to major vendors such as Apple for the year-end holiday period in Western markets.

Foxconn said in a statement that with the second half of the year a "traditional peak season" for consumer tech products, operations "will ramp up sequentially", sticking to its outlook given last month.

"Significant growth outlook in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter remains unchanged," it added, without elaborating.

Foxconn, formally called Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, said revenue last month reached T$741.2 billion ($23.09 billion), the second highest ever for October, down 4.56 per cent year-on-year, coming off a high base, and up 12.2 per cent from September.