NELSON, BC – EMS firm Pacific Insight reported fiscal first-quarter sales fell 23% year-over-year to $5.65 million.
 
Sequentially, sales rose 15% for the period ended Sept. 30.
 
The loss was $132,000, down from net income of $155,000 in the prior year. The company ended the quarter debt-free.
 
Although the marketplace is showing signs of recovery, PI's first quarter sales and overall performance continue to be impacted by the economic downturn, the company said. 
 

CHICAGO – The markets for electronics end-products and outsourcing will return to annualized growth of 5% over the next 12 to 24 months, following an estimated 9% contraction in 2009.

Those are the findings of InForum chief economist Matt Chanoff, who said the total available electronics manufacturing market will grow from $1.2 trillion this year to $1.4 trillion by 2013. 

He estimates the EMS industry will close this year down 19% to $103 billion, then will grow to $127 billion by 2013. 

The ODM market fell 7.8% this year to $107 billion, and is forecasted to grow to $135 billion by 2013, he said.   

A major influence on this year’s forecast was the manner in which InForum treated the revenues for Foxconn, which for the first time were not all included in the EMS sector, but broken out between the EMS and ODM industries.  

Automotive, medical and aerospace and defense are the segments with the greatest outsourcing growth potential, he said.

The research firm also said the regional footprint for electronics manufacturing continues to shift to Asia, although somewhat less aggressively than in past years, driven by demand for low-cost labor, available capacity, and ODMs diversification into automotive and medical. However, there are some counterweights. “Mitigating the shift to Asia is the rising cost of labor in China, OEM insourcing, and greater consideration of total cost of ownership in outsourcing decisions,” InForum analyst Eric Miscoll said.
 

DUSSELDORF, GERMANY – Henkel reported third-quarter sales down 7.3% year-over-year to 3.5 billion euros.

SINGAPORE – Surface Mount Technology (Holdings) Ltd. reported second-quarter revenue of HK$432.1 million, down 43.1% year-over-year.

The firm took a loss of HK$12.6 million, compared to a loss of HK$6.8 million in the same period last year.

For the six months ended Sept. 30, revenue was HK$867.4 million, down 47% compared to the same period in 2008.

For the period, the firm lost HK$29 million, compared to a loss of HK$11.6 million last year.

The business outlook remains positive with longer order forecasts extending into 2010, SMT says.

HK$1 = US$0.129