Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Current Issue

News

TORONTO -- Celestica Inc.'s second-quarter net loss was $30.3 million on sales of $2.2 billion, the company said today. Earnings dropped from $12.6 million last year. Revenue, while at the high side of previous guidance, slipped 1%, on strong demand for telecom and server gear.

SAN JOSE -- Thieves have stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment from at least 18 Silicon Valley high-tech firms this year and show no signs of slowing down.

The thieves are targeting chips, flash memory cards and electronic devices, say persons familiar with the crimes.

Police have identified a silver minivan with a skull and crossbones in the back license plate area as a common vehicle in many of the robberies. In many instances, a woman distracts delivery workers by asking for directions.

On Wednesday, a delivery truck at Viva Computers in Fremont was robbed of CPUs and hard drives valued at $13,000. Other firms recently targeted have been Bell Microproducts in San Jose, which has been hit several times, and Advanced Micro Devices. Last Friday, Ampro Systems in Fremont was robbed of about $200,000 in flash memory cards.

The San Jose Mercury News quoted an employee at one of the South Bay companies that has been repeatedly robbed as saying, "Our trucks get hit at stoplights in broad daylight. These guys are so smart, armed with the latest communications technology, that this problem continues unabated.''

ROCHESTER, MN -- Pemstar Inc.'s June quarter revenue rose 1.3% to $212.5 million, and net income jumped to $4.8 million, compared to a net loss of $17.6 million a year ago.

The June quarter period includes a one-time gain of $2.5 million related to the reversal of previous restructuring provisions.

President and COO Roy Bauer said, "We are still doing a little bit more realigning of our portfolio. We are considering, as previously disclosed, strategic alternatives for our Tianjin, China, operations. We see optimism in our medical, computing and data storage and industrial businesses for the second half of the year."

For the quarter, industrial sales accounted for 38.4% of net sales, computing and data storage was 23.5%, communications was 36.2% and medical was 1.9%.

Accounts receivable at June 30 was $125.5 million with days sales outstanding of 53 compared with $121.1 million in accounts receivable with DSO of 56 at March 31.

Net inventories were up nearly $10 million, to $64.2 million, and inventory turns dropped 0.9 turns to 12.4 times. Cash cycle was 31 days, down from 40 days in the March quarter.

Jefferies Broadview was retained to explore possible partnerships or a sale of the Tianjin, China operations. Pemstar said it seeks to reduce its consumer business and focus on more profitable markets like medical, industrial, instrumentation, military/aerospace and process equipment.

For the September quarter, Pemstar expects net sales of $200 million to $220 million.