SAN JOSE -- Sanmina's contract electronics assembly unit recorded $1.36 billion in sales in the quarter ended Sept. 27, up 13% from a year ago.

The unit's sales rose 6.8% from the previous quarter, and gross margin rose 20 basis points sequentially. 

EMS makes up the bulk of Sanmina's revenues, at about 80% of overall sales in the just-ended quarter.

Most of the company's end-markets grew in the quarter: Communication networks was up 3.6%; Industrial, Medical and Defense was up 7.3% overall, with strong gains in industrial making up for a slight drop in defense; Computing and Storage grew 8.9%; and Multimedia was flat. For the December quarter, Sanmina sees flat growth ahead for communications and defense, good demand for industrial, stable demand for medical, a slight rebound for computing and storage, and a slight drop for multimedia.

 The company, which has made a pair of acquisitions totaling about $94 million over the past 12 months, says it will continue to add businesses that fit with its current strategy. 

"We really are looking for assets that make sense for our strategy," said chief financial officer Bob Eulau. "We are not that interested in a consolidation as we are frankly not convinced it makes a lot of sense. It’s really a matter of executing our strategy and finding opportunities with that.