DANDERYD, SWEDEN -- Electronics manufacturing services provider NOTE has signed an agreement to divest its 50% holding in a subsidiary in Krakow, Poland.

The NOTEFideltronik Electronics plant will be sold to former partner and 50% owner Zibigniew Fidelus, also principal owner of Polish EMS producer Fideltronik. This divestment is expected to generate a small-scale capital gain in the fourth quarter of the year, and reduce consolidated net debt by some 10%.

The two parties also signed an undisclosed deal to continue cooperation. The forecast net result is a minor reduction in NOTE's annual sales.

The move is the latest in a series of attempts by the EMS firm to reduce costs and increasing capacity utilization. Over the past year, NOTE divested or closed operations in Skellefteå, and Skänninge, Sweden, and Tauragé, Lithuania, and plans to shut its site in Gdansk, Poland, at year-end.

Following the divestiture of the Krakow site, NOTE’s volume production primarily will be in in Pärnu, Estonia, and Tangxia, China, while low volume manufacturing is in Sweden, Norway, Finland and the UK.

“The deal we are doing now is consistent with the structure we want for our future. The resolute measures we have taken in the year have cut our costs and tailored our production capacity to a good level. Our sales growth remains healthy, and we are looking forward to 2011 with confidence,” commented Peter Laveson, President and CEO of NOTE.