HARTLEPOOL, UK -- Stadium Group reported preliminary 2013 revenues of £42.22 million, up 3% from 2012 on acquisitions. The pretax profit slipped 76% to £430,000 for the period ended Dec. 31.

TAIPEI -- Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai) reported February consolidated revenues rose nearly 11% year-over-year to NT$260.6 billion ($8.6 billion). Sales were down 17.1% sequentially due to a shorter work period tied to the Chinese New Year.

LOUISVILLE, KY -- Sypris Solutions today reported fourth-quarter revenue rose 10% over a year ago even while its EMS unit saw sales dip on lower defense demand. The Electronics Group's revenue fell 20% from 2012, but increased 3% sequentially to $10 million.

BANNOCKBURN, IL – IPC has launched its Quality Benchmark Survey for the EMS Industry. Participation is open to all EMS companies worldwide.

ANSEONG, SOUTH KOREA -- A massive fire has laid waste to a printed circuit board factory here that was building multilayer boards for Samsung's next-generation smartphone. The fire also caused millions of dollars in damage to equipment and took hundreds of firefighters some six hours to contain, according to media reports.

TAIPEI -- Hon Hai (Foxconn) will hire up to 15,000 new workers this year, primarily in Taiwan, according to published reports.  The new hires won't be for the company's traditional manufacturing positions, however, a company spokesman told Reuters today.

BANNOCKBURN, IL – North American printed circuit board shipments decreased 7.5% year-over-year in January. Orders came in at 3.7% below the same month last year, says IPC.

SAN MATEO, CA – The total tablet market, inclusive of both tablets and 2-in-1 devices, is forecast to grow 19.4% in 2014, down from a growth rate of 51.6% in 2013, says IDC.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Nortech Systems today reported net sales of $29.3 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, up 17% over 2012. Net income slipped 12.7% to $241,000.

LAGUNA, PHILIPPINES — Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. today announced that fourth-quarter revenues rose 19.1% to $198 million. Net income for the period was $745,000, up from $400,000 a year ago.

CANTON, MA – Two Boston area component assembly and their parent company filed for bankruptcy this week. MassMicroElectronics, a printed circuit board design and assembler, and AD-MicroAssembly, a design and component assembler, could be liquidated as a result, according to published reports.

EGHAM, UK — Worldwide sales of tablets to end-users reached 195.4 million units in 2013, up 68% year-over-year. Growth was fueled by the low-end smaller screen tablet market, and first time buyers; this led Android to become the No. 1 tablet operating system (OS), with 62% of the market, Gartner said.