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ST. PETERSBURG, FL, Dec. 20 -- Electronics manufacturing services provider Jabil Circuit Inc. today reported record first-quarter net revenue rose 21% to $1.83 billion year-over-year.

For the quarter ended Nov. 30, GAAP net income increased to $55.9 million, from $42.5 million last year.

In a press statement, president and chief executive Tim Main said, "While the end-markets and the economy are just beginning to show signs of improvement, Jabil clearly has the strong trend for electronics companies to outsource in its favor."

Jabil guided for second quarter net revenue of $1.65 million to $1.75 billion and core earnings per share of 26 to 28 cents per diluted share. Estimated GAAP earnings per share are 22 to 24 cents per diluted share. The February quarter is typically hurt by lower consumer spending.

First quarter core earnings -- core earnings as GAAP net income before one-time charges and amortization of intangibles -- increased 26% to $65 million.

Gross profit for the first quarter of fiscal 2005 increased 16% to $154.9 million or 8.4% of net revenue.

On a GAAP basis, operating income rose 32% to $70.3 million.

The company expects to end the February quarter with significantly less inventory, officials said on a conference call with analysts.

Cash flow from operations was lower, at $35 million. Inventory turns were nine. Capital expenditures were $55 million, up nearly 100% over the second quarter. The company said it would stabilize R&D spending at that levels.

Return on invested capital rose to 17% during the quarter. Officials said they aim for ROIC of 15 to 20% longterm.

Three customers made up more than 10% each of Jabil's Q1 sales. Main said the firm plans to reduce its dependence on its top 10 customers.

The company is not ruling out future acquisitions. "We could do deals; we've got the bandwidth and the money to do it," Main said. "There are opportunities in the pipeline."

Jabil maintained previous fiscal 2005 guidance of net revenue of $7.2 billion to $7.4 billion and core earnings per share to be in a range of $1.20 to $1.24 per diluted share. "We're looking for end-markets to grow in the 4 to 5% range," the firm said. It said it expects gains from vertically integrated industrial OEMs who are considering outsourcing manufacturing.

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 17 -- EMS provider Nortech Systems today provided improved guidance for its fourth-quarter and fiscal 2004 revenue, saying that it expects sales of $19 million to $20 million. However, the company lowered its year-end earnings outlook, citing diminished margins and expenses for labor and raw materials.

Last year, Nortech reported fourth-quarter revenue of $15.6 million.

The firm guided for earnings of $0.05 to $0.07 per diluted share for the quarter ending Dec. 31, compared to a loss of $0.06 per diluted share last year.

Year-end revenue is expected to increase by 21 to 24% over 2003, to $70 million to $72 million, slightly above previous guidance. Nortech guided for fiscal year earnings to be in the range of $0.20 to $0.22. It previously guided for $0.26 to $0.29 expected earlier. Last year Nortech Systems earned $0.25 per diluted share.

"While we're pleased with our sustained revenue growth, we continue to face margin pressures impacting our profitability," says Mike Degen, President and CEO. "The fourth quarter earnings are being negatively impacted by a mix of lower-margin product, material cost increases and higher than anticipated labor costs and expenses related to some of our domestic and international operations."

SAN JOSE, Dec. 17 -- The 90-day-moving average orders for North American-based semiconductor gear manufacturers was $1.35 billion in November, 2% below the revised October levels, but 46% above last year.

"Total orders for semiconductor equipment have declined about 16% from the peak observed in June, though they remain well above levels reported one year ago," said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. "The North American equipment book-to-bill ratio increased in November as billings declined at a steeper pace than bookings based on a three-month average."

The orders average matched the 90-day average for shipments, good for a book-to-bill ratio of 1.0, said the trade group SEMI.

The three-month average of worldwide billings in November was $1.34 billion, down 6% from the revised October level and up 53% from November 2003.

The SEMI book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving averages of worldwide bookings and billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers. Billings and bookings figures are in millions of U.S. dollars.

JASPER, IN, Dec. 16 -- Kimball Electronics Group today named Steve Korn subsidiary vice president, business development, responsible for new customers.

Korn has spent the last 17 years with Sanmina-SCI, where he has held positions as engineering manager, marketing manager, production manager and vice president and plant manager.

Korn has a bachelor's in mechanical engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

Kimball is a contract electronics manufacturing services company with manufacturing operations located in Indiana, Mexico, Poland and Thailand.

MELVILLE, NY, Dec. 15 -- Components distributor Nu Horizons Electronics Corp. today said it has expanded its agreement with Clare Inc. to cover sales of solid-state relays and high voltage ICs in Asia.

The new deal covers Malaysia, China, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

The companies have an existing pact covering North America distribution.

"Nu Horizons has built a successful demand creation model and stable Asian distribution program, which were the two key factors in expanding our partnership," said Mark Heisig, vice president and general manager of Clare. "We look forward to collaborating to improve our product design capabilities, while broadening our global distribution network."

LAFOX, IL, Dec. 17 -- Richardson Electronics has acquired assets from Evergreen Trading Co. Ltd., a distributor of power components in China.

"Evergreen has been able to realize exponential growth in the Chinese power conversion market through their longstanding relationships with customers in the UPS and industrial markets," said Murray Kennedy, executive vice president and general manager of Richardson's Industrial Power Group, in a statement.

Richardson provides power components.

Evergreen supplies power components and devices to small- to medium-sized companies in China.

SAN JOSE, Dec. 17 -- Sanmina-SCI Corp. said it will delay filing its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Oct. 2, and may revise its results to include a charge of up to 3 cents a share.

In a press release today, the EMS company said the delay stemmed from the need to review accounts at one of its plants.

The company said it had substantiated the questionable accounts but that its independent auditor had yet to sign off.

The company said it filed for a 15-day extension for the 10-K. It expects to file by the end of the calendar year.

ROCHESTER, MN, Dec. 16 -- Pemstar Inc. today named Roy A. Bauer president and chief operating officer. The EMS firm also named Bauer to its board of directors.

He succeeds Al Berning, who remains chairman and chief executive officer.

Bauer was executive vice president and chief operating officer of Pemstar.

"We brought Roy on board in 2001 for his extensive industry and global operational experience. He's a tremendous asset and promoting him to president is recognition of his performance, abilities and potential," said Berning, in a press release.

Bauer was chief executive of Key Teknowledgy Corp., and spent 20 years at IBM in manufacturing, product development and quality management.

Bauer has a bachelor's degree in industrial science from the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

Pemstar is a provider of engineering, product design, manufacturing and fulfillment services.

OTTAWA and TOKYO, Dec. 15 -- Webplan Corp. today announced that Hewlett Packard Japan will resell the firm's software for rapid response manufacturing.

WebPlan's tool, called RapidResponse Response Management, is said to automate and expedite the decision-making process that occurs between planning and execution. It permits rapid viewing of changes in supply and demand, proposes action alternatives and ranks and scores "what-if" scenarios.

"Large manufacturers require a strategic response management solution as a part of their supply chain management strategy,' said Hiroshi Oowaki, director, manufacturing industry practice, consulting and integration of Hewlett Packard Japan. "RapidResponse addresses this critical business need and is an important part of HP Japan's portfolio of offerings to help manufacturers profitably attract and retain customers."

SAN JOSE, Dec. 16 -- The number of PCs in use worldwide will reach almost 1.3 billion by the end of the decade, up from about 575 million today. In a new study, Forrester Research claims markets in Europe, the U.S. and Asia have reached maturity and that the bulk of the growth will come from emerging regions like China, Russia and India.

According to Forrester, emerging markets will account for 566 million new PCs in use by the end of 2010. The mature regions' consumption: 150 million new PCs in use. (Contrary to other news reports, the study reflects new PCs in use, not sales of PCs overall -- which would be a much higher number.)

Moreover, Western PC vendors won't dominate in those markets in the long term, Forrester says. The firm forecasts PC makers like Lenovo Group in China, which just announced the purchase of IBM's PC division, and Aquarius in Russia will gain share because they are better positioned to tailor the PC form factor, price points and applications to their local markets.

For its report Forrester studied 16 emerging markets representing 62% of the world's population.

China will gain the most new PC users, 178 million, while India will gain 80 million and Indonesia 40 million, the study says. According to Forrester, India's PC adoption -- currently one of the lowest rates in the world -- will grow 37% annually through 2010. Indonesia's growth rate will be 40% per year.

Of the 16 emerging markets, Mexico will have the deepest PC penetration as a percentage of population: 46 PCs per every 100 people.

LONDON, Dec. 16 -- The U.K. government has made available a series of publications on the WEEE and RoHS Directives, including best practice case studies.

The guidance is available for free at www.envirowise.gov.uk/electronics.

Among the suggestions:

Talk to, or join, a recycling industry consortium.
Talk to a recycler about the requirements and costs of recycling your own product, with a view to re-design.
Find out what happens at the end-of-life for your product.
Establish a dialogue with distributors and retailers to establish if your own take-back scheme is possible, or what the best options are for your business.
Look at current contracts, both for equipment used and sold, to identify any possible transferral of responsibility.
Evaluate customer opinions about who is responsible for WEEE and see if it is possible to negotiate
Evaluate B2B takeback obligations if selling equipment to businesses that are likely to have old stock which will need to be collected and recycled.
Re-evaluate your business model.
Identify any market opportunities, such as recycling, logistics.
Consider a move from a selling to a renting business model.
Evaluate design and re-design opportunities.

For additional information:

U.K.'s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), RoHS guidelines: http://www.dti.gov.uk/sustainability/weee/
KPMG report on WEEE: www.dti.gov.uk/sustainability/weee/kpmgreport.pdf
DTI commissioned assessment on WEEE strategies in other countries: www.dti.gov.uk/sustainability/weee/aeatreport.pdf
DTI RoHS compliance reports: ROHS Compliance Executive Summary.pdf: www.dti.gov.uk/sustainability/weee/; ROHS Compliance Full Report.pdf: www.dti.gov.uk/sustainability/weee/
Centre for Sustainable Design: www.cfsd.org.uk
Sustainable Design Network: www.sustainabledesignnet.org.uk
EC's Integrated Product Policy: www.europa.eu.int/comm/environment/ipp/home.htm
United Nations UNIDO training kit on Cleaner Production: www.unido.org/doc/9753
Lifecycle analysis tools: www.pre.nl
Waste Resource and Action Programme: www.wrap.org.uk
Intellect: www.intellectuk.org/campaigns/environment/default.asp
Unep sustainable consumption: www.uneptie.org/pc/sustain
Environment Agency life cycle analysis tool: www.environment-agency.gov.uk
Sustainable Business: www.sustainablebusiness.com
Design Council: www.design-council.org.uk

HOUSTON, Dec. 15, 2004 — Microtek Inc. (microtek.co.jp/english/) has chosen BP Microsystems' (bpmicro.com) equipment for a new programming services facility in Isehara, Kanagawa, Japan.

The 130-employee company plans and designs parts that are then commissioned for manufacture in separate facilities. It prefers automated programming systems because of reduced bent leads during handling and better ESD isolation. Additionally, it offers visual inspection services and component marking services.

Microtek's new facility, the Atsugi Programming Center, uses programmers, vision inspection machines and marking machines. The company anticipates programming over six million devices this year.