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ST. PETERSBURG, FL -- Jabil Circuit sustained its first chink in the armor as the EMS firm announced plant closings and headcount reductions ahead.

On a quarterly conference call with analysts, Jabil said May quarter net income was $64.2 million, up 8.1% from compared to $59.4 million a year ago, on a 37% gain in revenue to $2.6 billion.
Jabil said it would shutter plants in higher labor cost regions and take $200 million to $250 million in charges. It did not expressly state which plants were earmarked for closing.

The decision came on the heels of the company's lowered guidance, announced last week.

During the quarter, inventory turns fell 0.8 times sequentially and 1.8 times year-on-year to 7.8 times. About 0.4 times of the year-on-year decline is from one-time issues, analysts said.

Jabil guided for August quarter revenue of $2.75 billion to $2.95 billion.

Some analysts expressed concerned over the company's direction. Deutsche Bank analyst Carter Shoop said in a research note last night that "Jabil's disappointing results and guidance may have more to do with the Philips contract expiring and structural flaws in Jabil's [consumer electronics] offering. We do not view the recent margin degradation as 'one-time' in nature, and believe that Jabil's recently announced restructuring charge will be the driver for margin expansion in fiscal 2007."

Jabil also said it has be subpoenaed by the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York related to stock option grants.


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