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ST. LOUIS -- EMS provider LaBarge reported December quarter net sales rose 2% year-over-year to $68.2 million. Net earnings declined to $249,000, from $3.4 million last year, on a writedown of inventory and debts from a large customer.

ZALAEGERSZEG, HUNGARY – Flextronics will sack 400 workers from its plant here by the end of March, according to published reports. The cuts will bring the total number of recent layoffs to 1,400, including contract workers, Zalai HÃrlap reports.

The news daily quoted Flextronics spokesman MÃ¡rk HetÃ©nyi as citing a sharp decline in orders.

The cuts include 130 staff in operations and 270 administrative workers.

The site employs 3,700 workers, not including 1,500 to 1,800 contract laborers, the news daily reported.

TAIPEI -- Worldwide shipments of netbooks are expected snare a 17.2% share of the overall notebook PC market in 2009, according to a new research report.

Netbook OEMs shipped 14.6 million units in 2008, a number that's expected to climb to 26.3 million units this year, research firm Displaybank asserts.

Asustek Computer and Acer own the lion's share of the market, with more than 70% of shipments in 2008, the firm said. The top five makers of netbooks are Acer (37.2%), Asus (33.2%), HP (7.5%), MSI (4.8%) and Intel (2.2%).

NEW YORK – Cisco’s lower guidance suggests lower sales for its top EMS suppliers, including Jabil, Celestica, Flextronics and Sanmina-SCI, an industry analyst said yesterday.

MILPITAS, CA – JDS Uniphase has signed a definitive agreement to sell certain manufacturing and other assets in Shenzhen to Sanmina-SCI. No financial terms were disclosed.

Under the terms of the agreement, Sanmina-SCI will acquire the plants, inventories and employees.

The transaction is expected to close before April 6, pending customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval.

Sanmina-SCI will provide services back to JDSU for an unspecified period.

“Further OEM outsourcing is typical after a downturn,” said analyst Sherri Scribner of Deutsche Bank Equity Research, pointing to the tech recession in 2001. “While asset purchases are not uncommon in the EMS industry, we view them as non-optimal, as they are often a way for OEMs to offload underperforming facilities. The end result is often lower utilization and ROIC for EMS companies.

“We expect additional outsourcing opportunities to emerge as the current downturn winds down,” she added. “That said, further OEM pull-ins of manufacturing to internal factories are still more likely over the next six to nine months, as evidenced by Nokia's decision to reduce its reliance on EMS suppliers.”