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WILTSHIRE, UK – Contract manufacturer Exception refinanced, securing new facilities and reducing the legacy balance sheet debt by £12.7 million. The deal with Lloyds Banking Group was final June 30.
The firm aims to increase its annual revenues to £70 million over the next two to three years, from last year’s low of £45 million.
“The deal puts Exception in a very strong position for future growth, as it provides new working capital facilities with excellent cash headroom. Most significantly, it improves our debt/equity ratio from 2.3 to just 0.2, having removed £12.7 million of debt from the business, leaving a £2 million term loan repayable over five years,” said CEO Craig Wright.
The company, which employs 350, also recently signed a number of new contracts worth over £5 million per year for its contract manufacturing and bare board operations.
Exception predicts strong growth for its outsourcing services from the green energy, oil and gas, measurement, process control and medical equipment markets.
During the first half of 2010, Asian-manufactured PCB orders grew 20%.
WILSONVILLE, OR — Mentor Graphics today called for entries of its 22nd annual Technology Leadership Awards competition, continuing its tradition of recognizing excellence in printed circuit board design.
SCHAUMBURG, IL -- Sparton Corp.'s purchase of the contract manufacturing business of Delphi Medical Systems is being hailed as a smart, low-risk move by some analysts.
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SAN JOSE – The International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative is sponsoring the Alternative Energy Workshop here Oct. 20-21.
The Cisco-hosted workshop will focus on the technology challenges and standardization gaps affecting deployment of alternative energies, and identify issues that can best be solved by the electronics industry working in cooperation with the energy sector.
Through this workshop, iNEMI plans to identify areas where the electronics industry can have the greatest impact on closing alternative energy technology gaps; within those areas, identify standardization issues and technology needs best solved by consortial activities, and form action groups to propose and execute the required collaborative programs.
Speakers represent diverse green energy technologies, including wind, solar (PV, CPV, CSP, etc.), smart grid, energy storage/power conditioning, and solid state lighting.
The early bird registration deadline is Sept. 20. For an agenda and to register, visit http://www.inemi.org/cms/calendar/Energy_WS_Oct2010.html.
ARLINGTON, VA — Electronic component orders soared in June to their highest point in two years, according to the monthly order index compiled by the Electronic Components Association.
PROSPECT, CT – Business in the US contract manufacturing industry is expected to increase in the next twelve months, according to a recent Design-2-Part show survey.
The results from just over 2,000 respondents indicate that nearly three times as many OEMs expect an increase in outsourcing/purchasing projects as those who expect a decrease, outnumbering them by a ratio of 2.8 to 1. The show producers did not break out electronics manufacturing respondents.
Just over 31.1% said they expect an increase, while only 11.1% anticipate a decrease, and 57.8% conveyed their outsourcing projects would remain the same.
The Santa Clara, CA, region showed the highest percentage of respondents expecting an increase, at 40%, versus 4.4% expecting less outsourcing.
The survey also revealed that offshoring may not be as popular as it once was. When asked where they currently outsource the majority of their projects, only 9.8% of respondents said “overseas.” Outsourcing locally was the leading choice at 32%, followed by regionally and nationally with 29.2% and 29%, respectively. The leading reason why they use local vendors was “hands-on access/vendor visits,” which outpolled “delivery time/cost” and “support the local economy.”
The survey polled recent D2P attendees on their needs for outsourcing custom parts and services during the next year.
BEIJING – Enics will invest several million euros to increase the capacity of its plant here, a move that could mean 50% more employees.
The EMS firm said customer orders have grown significantly for the past 12 months.
The manufacturing area expansion would permit the head count to rise to 900, if needed, from the current 600. SMT capacity will increase by 100%, the firm said.
“Our market situation has developed positively during the first half of the year and this has lead us to decide to increase the capacity at Beijing plant. The growth has been possible through strong customer focus and drive for continuous improvement by the whole Enics Beijing Team,” said Ari Räisänen, senior vice president, operations.
The capacity increase project will be made in several phases beginning in the September quarter and ending by December.
ELK GROVE VILLAGE, IL – EMS firm SigmaTron International Inc. today reported fourth-quarter revenues were $35 million, up 29% compared to the same quarter last year.
TAIPEI – Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai) reported non-consolidated revenues of $6.15 billion for June, up 20.9% sequentially and 54.2% year-over-year on strong consumer electronics and PC shipments.
The mark set a company monthly high.
The firm’s revenues in the first half of the year were nearly $29 billion, up 57% compared to the same period in 2009.
With consumer electronics demand expected to remain strong in the third quarter, some forecasts predict Foxconn’s revenues could hit $6.2 billion in July.
MILTON, NY – Sono-Tek Corp. reported first-quarter sales of $2.3 million, up 56% year-over-year.
The firm had net income of $94,752 for the quarter, compared to a net loss of $169,427 for the prior year period.
During the quarter, sales of most products increased, in particular fluxer units, widetrack units and solder recovery systems when compared to the prior year, the firm says. Sono-Tek also increased its spending for engineering and market development.
The second quarter is expected to be as strong or stronger than the first quarter.
Sono-Tek develops and manufactures liquid spray products based on ultrasonic nozzle technology.
NEW YORK -- Macroeconomic issues will temper revenue and earnings growth among contract electronics manufacturers over the next few quarters, a leading industry analyst said last night.
NEW YORK -- Pressures to reduce costs will be the primary drivers of decisions by aerospace and defense companies to use external engineering services during the next two to three years, according to Accenture research released today.
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