Ju Teng sees 2010 global laptop sales up 15%

Ju Teng International Holdings, the world's top maker of casings for notebook PCs, said the global notebook PC market is recovering and should grow about 15 percent in 2010, although ordering remains cautious.

The global financial crisis has weeded out weak competitors and Ju Teng, a maker of casings for Sony's Vaio notebooks, Apple's iMac G5 and others, said it aimed to expand its market share to 40 percent in 3-5 years from 30 percent now.

"Only the top three notebook PC casing makers are profitable this year. The others are struggling and some of them have exited the market," Chief Financial Officer Raymond Tsui told Reuters in an interview.

Global notebook PC shipments are expected to rise slightly to 140 million to 150 million units this year after surging 32 percent to 137 million in 2008, according to market forecasts. Most industry watchers expect them to grow 15-20 percent next year.

"We expect single-digit growth in global shipments this year, rising to 15 percent next year as the global economy has been recovering and the penetration of notebook PCs is still very low," Tsui said.

He added that Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system, to be launched on Thursday, should provide a new driver for PC growth, echoing similar sentiments expressed by a top Dell executive also speaking in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

Ju Teng, which makes plastic casings and diversified into metal casings earlier this year, said it planned to boost capacity by 20 percent in the second half of next year from 60 million units a year in 2009.

Founded in 2000 by three Taiwanese, Ju Teng's production facilities are sited in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou. Hong Kong-listed shares in Ju Teng eased 0.31 percent on Wednesday, but have quadrupled this year, beating the 55 percent gain on the blue chip Hang Seng Index. About 90 percent of its free floated shares are held by institutional investors who like its niche-market growth prospects.

The stock has also been fuelled by its Taiwan depository receipts (TDRs) listed in May and now trading at a premium of about 50 percent to its Hong Kong stock. Ju Teng is a well known name in Taiwan as its top five clients are based on the island, including Asustek and Wistron.

Taiwanese companies with more than 40 percent of their net assets in China were barred from floating shares in their home market until the ban was lifted last year.

Ju Teng is the second Taiwanese company with its primary assets in China to list in Taiwan after Want Want China.

The company repackaged existing shares into TDRs twice this year and now about 14.5 percent of its shares are in TDRs.

"The Taiwan listing provides us with another platform to raise funding if necessary," Tsui said.

By Alison Leung

HONG KONG, Oct 21 (Reuters) -