News
LONDON, Jan. 18 -- Cookson Group today forecast higher fourth-quarter sales sequentially and year-on-year and affirmed previous guidance for annual profits before tax and one-time items. The firm acknowledged major reductions in capacity at its underperforming laminates division.
The company said it expects a net profit of £31 million in 2004. It forecast a net gain of £25 million in 2005. Cash from operations was strongly positive in the fourth quarter, the company said in a statement.
For the Electronics Group, fourth-quarter sales were similar to the third quarter and up vs. Q4 2003. Sales for each sector were also similar to the preceding quarter, Cookson said, with assembly materials and laminates up year-over-year and chemistry marginally lower.
In its third quarter, Electronics posted £169 million in sales, with assembly materials accounting for £73 million, chemistry for £62 million and laminates for £33 million.
Cookson's chemistries division continues to be the company jewel. Chemistries, which includes Enthone, recorded revenues of about £250 million in 2004, and the return on sales and operating profits before charges were nearly 12%. PCB sales made up 31% of total chemistries sales. In all, the chemistry group contributed 55% of Cookson Electronics' operating profit. The top 10 customers were AT&S, Elec and Eltek, Intel, Sanmina-SCI, Schlotter, TMSC, Viasystems, UMC, Wurth and Wus.
Laminates sales (Polyclad)totaled about £130 million, up from about £110 million in 2003. The operating profit before charges was about 2%, reversing three years of losses. Polyclad's top 10 customers were Elec and Eltek, EPC, Hitachi, Invotec, Photocircuits, Ruwel, Sanmina-SCI, Teradyne, Viasystems and Wurth. Those companies made up 55% of Polyclad's 2004 sales.
During the quarter, laminates capacity at the company's Germany facilities was cut 75%. Overhead in the U.S. -- much of it at the executive level -- and laminates production in New Hampshire was also reduced. Cookson will take a charge of £8 million in 2004, £5 million in cash. It brought the year's total to £23 million in charges.
Cookson's preliminary results for 2004 will be announced March 15.
SAN JOSE, Jan. 12 - Cadence Design Systems has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Verisity, a Mountain View, CA-based provider of verification process automation solutions in an all-cash deal.
Subject to customary shareholder and government approvals, Verisity stockholders will receive $12 in cash in exchange for each outstanding share.
Verisity CEO Moshe Gavrielov will join Cadence and Yoav Hollander, founder and CTO, will play an integral role in setting Cadence's verification technology direction.
"The global electronics industry is under unprecedented pressure to develop and bring to market innovative products as quickly as possible," said Mike Fister, president and CEO, Cadence Design Systems. "Our acquisition of this highly innovative team and successful business is consistent with Cadence's focus on enabling the world's leading electronics companies to address the demand for increasingly complex systems."
NEWBURG, OR, Jan. 10 - Wise Software Solutions reported 2004 revenues were up 15% in North America and 6% internationally over 2003. The CAM software and services provider said the growth was the result of increased direct selling efforts within North America, refinements to their distributor network throughout the rest of the world, and the success of GerbTool v. 13.
"Despite
improvements in the world's economy, the EDA industry doesn't
appear to be out of the woods yet," said Jeff Miller, vice president of
sales and marketing. "I'm pleased that we achieved a third straight
year of growth; however the market continues to be cautious. Our plan
is to forge ahead in our efforts toward providing high-level analysis,
verification, and tooling functionality at a price that users can
afford."
KENOSHA, WI, Jan. 13 — Visitors to Pro-Mation's web site can now see
the company's newest systems, designs and technologies first-hand.
In a press release CEO Gary
Goldberg said, "We added this feature to allow customers a way to keep
updated on our continuous release of new products and technologies. By
posting a clear photograph of each within a designated area on our
site, visitors can conveniently contact us with any questions about the
designs. We feel this user-friendly feature will provide the speed and
flexibility our customers need to remain at the top of this
ever-changing industry."
Pro-Mation makes equipment for PCB handling and conveying, selective laser soldering, AOI and other lines.
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BOSTON, Jan. 7 -- Teradyne Inc. will lay off 320 employees and vacate a plant in California as part of an effort to cut expenses. The company will take an $11 million charge.
In an SEC filing today, Teradyne said it would terminate approximately 320 employees from its Connection Systems and Assembly Test divisions and vacate a facility leased by the company's Assembly Test division in Poway, CA.
The restructuring is expected to be completed during this quarter.
LAGUNA, Philippines, Jan. 11 -- Electronics manufacturing services provider Integrated Microelectronics Inc. will exhibit at Internepcon World Japan in Tokyo later this month.
The show takes place Jan. 19 to 21, at the Tokyo Big Sight convention center.
IMI president and chief executive Arthur R. Tan called the show "a good venue to showcase our complete and high value electronics manufacturing solutions."
IMI performs PCB assembly, subassembly and integration, plus design and product development, and order fulfillment. Japanese customers account for 70% of IMI's annual revenues.
Investment bank Deutsche Bank today forecast EMS sales to slow through at least the first half of 2005. In a research note, analyst Chris Whitmore predicted 7% year-over-year growth for the industry in 2005.
"We remain concerned about the EMS industry's ability to meaningfully expand margins in the current business environment. We believe continued excess capacity, increasing competition from Asia-based producers and slowing near-term demand trends will likely result in continued margin pressure," Whitemore wrote.
Whitemore said that margin pressures and competition should be "somewhat offset" by restructuring and other cost-reduction activities.
The bank said fourth-quarter 2004 results should be in line with tepid expectations. "We believe most EMS vendors will report in line with our EPS forecasts, despite continued weak end-market demand in the December quarter." The bank's outlook for Sanmina-SCI was cited as "most cautious." "We expect Sanmina-SCI to post December quarter results at the low end of guidance," Whitmore wrote.
GREENVILLE, SC, Jan. 11 -- Kemet Corp. said today that December revenue was down 10% sequentially due to paring of inventories at its distributors. The parts maker said March revenue should improve compared to December.
Speaking at the Needham Growth Conference, chief executive Dr. Jeffrey Graves said, "During our last earnings conference call, we reported that Kemet distributors had built inventory of parts in the June quarter in anticipation of strong growth in their sales in the second half. When their sales growth was more moderate than they expected, in the September quarter they reduced inventory levels, resulting in reduced Kemet revenue in the September quarter. This inventory correction continued into the December quarter."
LOUISVILLE, Jan. 11 -- Sypris Solutions Inc. today bottomed its outlook for the fourth quarter, citing cost overruns and higher training costs.
The company expects to report a fourth-quarter loss of $0.07 to $0.10 per diluted share, compared to prior guidance for earnings of $0.17 to $0.20.
Expected revenue is $121 million to $123 million, which is consistent with prior guidance of $120 to $124 million.
"In many respects, we paid the price for this year's rapid growth during the fourth quarter," said Jeffrey T. Gill, president and chief executive, in a statement. "We experienced inefficiencies associated with rapidly changing demand and continued steel shortages, cost overruns for the installation of new manufacturing cells, increased costs for training people for new programs and additional charges to reflect the growing nature and complexity of the business, among others."
Gill said that while the company has resolved the "vast majority" of its issues, some further short-term expenses are expedted.
A series of programs coming online during the first half are forecast to increase revenues by $50 million to $60 million annually.
The company left its revenue outlook unchanged, with 2005 sales forecast to be up 20% to $500 million to $520 million. It cut earnings to $0.75 to $0.95 per diluted share, versus prior guidance of $1.00 to $1.10.
Sypris is a contract manufacturer of aerospace and defense electronics.
ANAHEIM, CA, Jan. 11 -- Next year's Measurement Science Conference will take place Feb. 27 to March 3, organizers said today.
The Measurement Science Conference consists of seminars, workshops and tutorials. The conference will be held at the Disneyland Hotel and Conference Center.
Also, the latest in measurement related equipment, systems and software will be exhibited. For details: msc-conf.com.
WILSONVILLE, OR, Jan. 11 -- Mentor Graphics said preliminary fourth-quarter bookings and revenues suggest records in both categories, with revenues expected to exceed First Call consensus estimates of $204 million.
Bookings were up about 40% year-over-year. Backlogs rose 35% from a year ago, the company said.
However, special charges are expected to result in GAAP basis earnings below guidance. Pro-forma earnings are expected to modestly exceed consensus estimates.
Bookings was broad-based across all regions and product lines. North Americawas up 15%, Europe 50%, and Japan and the Pacific Rim both up over 100% vs. last year.
Mentor will release fourth quarter and full year results after market close on Jan. 27.
ARLINGTON, VA, Jan. 10 -- Manufacturer-to-dealer sales of consumer electronics will reach a record-high of $125.7 billion in 2005, according to the Consumer Electronics Association, an 11% climb year-on-year.
CEA estimated 2004 would exceed initial expectations, reaching $113.5 billion, up 11% over 2003.
"These numbers reflect that consumer electronics is a hot industry," said CEA president and CEO Gary Shapiro. "Sales continue to surpass our expectations and break existing records year after year, because this is an everchanging industry that delivers innovative products that enhance consumers' lives."
Digital television continued to be a frontrunner, with sales rising 78% to $10.7 billion. Unit sales were up 63% to 7.3 million. Sales of LCD TVs topped $2 billion in 2004 and will surpass $3 billion in 2005. Plasma TVs will experience similar growth as unit sales reached 853,000 in 2004 and then grow to over 1.4 million units in 2005.
MP3 player unit sales more than doubled, to over 6.9 million units and revenues tripled to $1.2 billion. CEA forecasts revenues will hit $1.7 billion on 10 million units sold and in 2005. Satellite radio and video navigation are also helping to drive the aftermarket category. Mobile navigation devices sales topped $782 million in 2004, up 35%. Navigation device sales will hit $935 million in 2005, CEA said.
Flash media card sales rose 200% to more than $3 billion in 2004, CEA estimates. Demand for storage will push the market to nearly $6 billion this year.
Portable PC product revenues were up 10% to a record $17.2 billion. 2005 revenues are forecast to surpass $18 billion.
Phones with built-in digital cameras have helped add to the projected growth of 15% in revenues in 2004. Unit sales topped 79.6 million units and will grow to 89.2 million units in 2005. Wireless will reach a new high of $11.3 billion in 2005, CEA forecasts.
