Your favorite screen tech company released their end of year financial statements today, and the news is mixed.E-ink continues to dominate the ereader market, reporting net profits of NT$6.53 billion (US$220.85 million) in 2011.

The company also noted that their gross margin dropped to 28.7% in Q4, largely due to an increase in shipments of screens from Hydis, an LCD sub. The FFS screen developed by Hydis and used on the NookColor, Galaxy Tab, and other high end tablets is quite popular but not as profitable as E-ink EPD screen. The drop in gross margin in Q4 is likely due to the launch of the Kindle Fire, and it means E-ink is a victim of their own  success.

E-ink predicted only modest growth for the coming quarter, and they also expect to launch their  next-gen color ePaper products in the last quarter of 2012.  E-ink chairman Scott Liu also denied the recent rumors concerning a Kindle with a color E-ink screen; E-ink does not yet have that screen in production, so there is no way for them to ship it to Amazon.

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