Clinton, NY -- GPS has become the newest distributor for Indium Corp. of America in the European market, covering Germany, Croatia and Slovenia.

GPS has many years of experience in the electronic assembly industry and will be responsible for selling Indium's line of solder pastes and wave solder fluxes. 

The operating loss rose 45.2% to $2.2 million. The company took a $1.65 million restructuring charge in the quarter due to asset writeoffs and severance costs primarily related to the departure of the previous CEO.

For the quarter SG&A expenses increased 49.1% to $3.2 million year-on-year.

Year-to-date net sales are up 98.2% to $41 million. Gross profit is up 98.2% to $9.4 million. Operating losses are 25.1% lower, at $4 million.

The company attributed the rise to higher demand for SMT and semiconductor packaging products.

For the quarter, as a percent of total revenues, sales in the U.S. rose 8.9%, Europe was up 0.2% and Asia Pacific was down 9.6%. For the year, the percentage of net sales from the U.S. is down 6.1%, but up 1.5% in Europe and 5% in Asia Pacific.

As of Oct. 3, BTU had $800,000 in cash and cash equivalents. As a result of the firm's decrease in tangible net worth following the $1.6 million restructuring charge writeoff and higher borrowings during the third quarter, the company was out of compliance with its total liabilities to tangible net worth covenant. Terms of a waiver are under discussion.

Sales for the quarter climbed 35% to $48.6 million while net earnings jumped 33% to $5.2 million.

In a statement president and CEO Ronald M. Moquist said that the company's Engineered Films division was "the big driver" in the just-concluded quarter, shipping approximately $4 million in reinforced plastic sheeting to hurricane-damaged parts of the U.S.

The company's Electronic Systems Division's sales climbed 34% to $14 million while operating income was up 2% to $1.6 million. "We saw steady improvement in operating efficiencies and throughput during the third quarter but this division still has room to improve profitability," Moquist said. 

For the past nine months, ESD's sales were $34.8 million, up 8%, and operating income totaled $3.1 million, down 28% from the nine months a year earlier.

BOSTON, Nov. 17 -- When Ray Sharpe abruptly stepped down as chief executive of Cookson Electronics last May, it opened a huge cans of worms over who was next in line to run one of the world's largest suppliers of electronics assembly materials. Sharpe's departure (he is now chief executive of Isola) was just one of a string of top-level changes: Stephen Howard, chairman of Cookson Group, Cookson Electronics' parent company, had already announced plans to retire.

It took some months, but the pieces are being put back together. One question was addressed in July, when Nick Salmon was named the new chairman. And another was answered in October, as the company promoted Steve Corbett, head of its wildly successful specialty chemistries division, to the top spot.

Since 2002 Corbett has headed Enthone, the $450 million chemicals business Cookson acquired in 2000. In past 12 months, the division's operating profit improved 60%, and return on sales doubled to 13%, from 6% in 2002. Corbett is a Cookson veteran, having previously managed its semiconductor packaging materials and Alpha Metals divisions. (He was also general manager of Heraeus Cermalloy Inc. in the 1980s.) Still, he has his work cut out as he tries to rearrange Cookson Electronics, a $786 million division in 2003 that also includes Polyclad Technologies. In October he spoke with Circuits Assembly's Mike Buetow. Excerpts.

CA: Why do you think you were tapped for this job?

SC: [Laughs] You'll have to ask my boss [Cookson Group chairman] Nick Salmon. My slant is, the process that Cookson Group went through was fairly long. They looked at both internal and external candidates. The decision to bring in an insider was one part of the requirement to have someone who was familiar with the businesses, in order to shorten the learning curve. That, and there is always a desire to promote from within. As far as why me among the internal candidates probably has more to do with the performance of the Enthone business. It has improved significantly in very, very difficult market conditions. This year, the markets are picking up and it's doing even better.