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News

TEMPE, AZ -- Manufacturing failed to grow for the third consecutive month in April as the PMI registered 48.6%, flat with March.

The good news: Backlogs grew, breaking six consecutive months of decline, and new export orders showed continued strength. Customers inventories dropped. The Computer and Electronic Products sector reported growth in April.

HELSINKI, FINLAND – Industry reports indicate Elcoteq is in final talks to acquire Taiwan's Arima Communications, which manufactures mobile handsets for Sony and LG Electronics, among others.

Industry sources claim an announcement can be expected once terms are finalized. However, Arima has denied a possible acquisition.

Stephen Hung, spokesman for Arima, said no talks were going on between the two companies, and Elcoteq spokeswoman Minna Aila reportedly declined comment, citing company policy not to comment on market rumors.

EMS provider Elcoteq, which builds for Nokia, among others, is reportedly interested in increasing its ODM capabilities. Arima has an R&D staff in its Taiwan and China locations.

SALT LAKE CITY – CirTran Corp. has issued a promissory note for $315,000, the EMS company's second in the past month.

Under the terms of the April 7 note, the company received proceeds of $300,000 from Albert Hagar, to whom it will repay an aggregate of $315,000 within 30 days after demand is made for payment. CirTran president Iehab Hawatmeh gave a personal guarantee for the note.

It is the second time in a month the company has issued a $315,000 note. On March 31, CirTran issued five promissory notes for an aggregate indebtedness of $315,000 to five individuals.

For its 2007 fiscal year, CirTran reported a net loss of $7.2 million on revenues of $12.4 million.

TAIPEI – Foxconn Electronics reported first-quarter net profits rose 2.9% year-over-year to NT$16.07 billion (US$528.6 million), despite sales growth of more than 20%.

MONTREAL – Aim Solder named Michael Burgess strategic account manager, responsible for the company’s line of solder assembly materials. He will manage and coordinate all promotional, sales and customer support activities.

Burgess holds a degree in engineering and brings more than 17 years of industry experience, including stints at Cookson and PhotoStencil. He is based in Monument, CO.

Montreal-based Aim is a global manufacturer of assembly materials.

SAN JOSE, CA – Worldwide sales of semiconductors of $63.4 billion for the first quarter of 2008 were 3.8% higher than the same period last year, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported today.

SANTA ANA, CA – PCB manufacturer TTM Technologies Inc. reported first-quarter 2008 net sales of $174.1 million, up 3.9% year-over-year.

Net income was $14.4 million, up 21.5% compared to the same period last year, according to TTM.

Strong operating cash flow of $26.8 million enabled further pay down of debt associated with the Printed Circuit Group acquisition, the firm said. TTM paid down $10 million in debt during the first quarter, reducing the debt balance to $75 million.

“We delivered another quarter of solid financial performance, with the aerospace/defense end market showing improved strength, coupled with continued strong demand for our high-tech manufacturing services. Our results were above expectations, and we realized sequential improvement in net sales, gross margin and net income,” said Kent Alder, president and CEO of TTM.

TTM posted operating income of $24.4 million for the quarter, up 39.2% sequentially.

For the PCB manufacturing segment, first quarter net sales were $148.7 million, up a slight 0.8% sequentially.

TTM estimates second-quarter revenues in a range of $170 million to $177 million.

ST. LOUIS – Electronics provider LaBarge Inc. reported fiscal 2008 third-quarter net sales of $75.4 million, up 27% year-over-year. Net earnings rose 52% year-over-year to $4.3 million, the company said.

Net sales for the nine months ended March 30 grew 18% to $201.7 million compared to the same period in 2007. Net earnings for the period grew 21% to $10.3 million.

Bookings remained strong during the third quarter, with the largest contributions coming from the defense, industrial and natural resources market sectors, said LaBarge.

After a record level of shipments in the third quarter, backlog at March 30 was $238.06 million, down 3% sequentially, and up 16% from a year earlier.

Shipments on a variety of defense programs comprised the largest portion of revenues, accounting for 37% of net sales, compared with 39% in the previous year’s third quarter.

Shipments to industrial customers were 19% of revenues, compared to 14% in the same quarter last year. Shipments to commercial aerospace customers were 8% of revenues, compared with 5% last year. Shipments to medical customers represented 7%, versus 3% in the year-ago third quarter.

LaBarge anticipates sales and earnings in the fourth quarter to be comparable to third-quarter results.

PEMBROKE, BERMUDA – Tyco International Ltd. reported second-quarter 2008 revenue of $4.86 billion, up 8.4% year-over-year, topping company estimates.

SAN JOSE – Tessera Technologies reported total revenue for the first quarter 2008 of $59.4 million, up 21.2% year-over-year.

GAAP net income was $2.2 million, down 80.2% year-over-year, including non-cash charges of $4.5 million for stock-based compensation, $2.5 million for acquired in-process research and development, and $2.3 million for amortization of acquired intangibles.

Non-GAAP net income was $16.1 million.

“Our first quarter total revenue was driven by robust DRAM and wireless unit growth and included a favorable adjustment by one of our licensees,” said Bruce McWilliams, chairman, president and CEO for Tessera. “Demand for increased memory and functionality in both computing and consumer devices is driving broader usage of chip scale packaging in a wide range of applications. From a strategic perspective, as the features of digital still cameras and cellphones converge, we believe our platform of consumer imaging technologies is well positioned to help drive next-generation wireless devices. We believe this will generate longer-term company growth.”

Tessera guided for second-quarter revenue of $54 million to $56 million, which includes projected royalty and license fees of between $47 million and $49 million, $1 million above the company's Jan. 31 guidance.

MANKATO, MN – EMS firm Winland Electronics reported net sales for the first quarter were $7 million, down 24.4% year-over-year. The company incurred a loss from operations of $569,000 compared to a loss of $342,000 in 2007. First-quarter net loss was $380,000, compared to a net loss of $267,000 last year.

Gross profit was $611,000, or 8.7% of sales, down from last year’s $872,000, or 9.4% of sales. Decreased gross profit was primarily a result of underutilization of fixed manufacturing costs because of lower sales volume for the quarter, said the firm.

Operating expenses were $1.2 million, which was consistent overall with the same period of 2007, according to Winland. The company's sales and marketing expense increased with the hiring of two salespeople during the past year, and in the first quarter, the company decreased new product development spending.

"Winland's results during the first quarter this year reflect the negative impact of a sharp decline in customer demand from two of our three largest customers, as well as the phase out of sales from two customers," said newly named CEO Thomas de Petra.

"Early in the first quarter, we responded to this sales trend with discretionary expense reductions and adjustments to fixed overhead that were paired to a restructuring of our manufacturing and operations departments and other initiatives announced earlier this year," de Petra added.

ROME, NY – The ESD Association will hold an online course on controlling ESD in automated equipment next month.

The course takes place June 25 at 2 p.m. EST.

Instructor Donn Bellmore of Universal Instruments will focus on the grounding and material requirements of ESD Controls in AHE for prevention of CDM and MM type damage to ESD sensitive devices. Design methods and material selections that provide effective ground paths through the assembly will be introduced. Test methods used to qualify the design will be discussed. Students will also become familiar with different types of plating and practices to provide effective designs.

For more information, visit www.esda.org/education.html.

For a complete 2008 schedule, visit
www.esda.org/documents/2008EducationSchedule.pdf.