ST. LOUIS -- Viasystems Group today reported third-quarter contract electronics assembly net sales were $50.4 million, up 15.4% sequentially and 40% from a year ago.

Operating income was $2.2 million, a 127.8% hike, as the company saw strength in industrial and instrumentation and telecom.

Printed circuit board revenue hit $208.9 million, up 6.7% sequentially.

Overall net income for the three months ended Sept. 30 was $10.9 million. Operating income rose 29% sequentially to $23.6 million on automotive, industrial and instrumentation demand.

Overall net sales were $259.3 million, up 8.3% sequentially and 114.2% year-over-year. The company, which acquired PCB fabricator Merix in February, said organic growth was 45% year-over-year. Operating income was $25.8 million, up 38.8% sequentially.

The book-to-bill ratio in the quarter was 1.02. Inventory turns were 8.4, up 0.7 turns from last year.

"Each of our end-markets and factories reported stable-to-strong sequential and year-over-year sales performance in the quarter," said David Sindelar, chief executive. "The pace of incoming orders in most of our markets did begin to slow late in the third quarter, and we are seeing that same pattern continue in the early part of the final quarter of 2010." He said sustained strength in automotive spurred capacity expansion.

"While we maintain close contact with our customers, predictability of demand from most of our end markets remains limited. We also anticipate some government-mandated limitations on production in Southern China during November and December in connection with the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Games events," said Sindelar. "I would expect to see our final quarter end with a slight sequential decline in sales, mixed with increased price sensitivity, all while being up substantially year over year in the quarter."