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HONG KONG, Nov. 11 -- VTech Holdings Ltd. today announced higher revenues but lower profits for its fiscal 2005 first-half, ended Sept. 30. Revenue rose 13.1% to $457.1 million but profits fell 51.1% to $8.5 million, $3.3 million for a one-time settlement of indemnification claims.

VTech attributed the drop to underperformance in the North American telecommunication market.

VTech, which designs and builds consumer products and performs contract manufacturing, said business revenue from the North American market fell 10.7% to $251.4 million versus last year. Sales to businesses makes up 82.7% of VTech's telecom revenue. Overall telecom sales rose 1.7% to $304 million.

Sales of electronic learning products rebounded sharply, up 66.8% to $95.1 million. Sales in North America were up 129.4% to $31.2 million, while sales in Europe grew 40.3% to $56.1 million.

Revenues from EMS services were up 20.6% to $58 million. Profits were stable, despite pressure on margins from higher raw materials prices. Growth was especially strong in Europe and Japan, which accounted for 46.7% and 20%, respectively, of the firm's EMS services. North America's share declined slightly to 29.1%. Switching mode power supplies and professional audio equipment accounted for 32.2% and 26%, respectively, followed by home appliances at 18.3% and wireless products at 12.1%.

VTech guided for improved telecom sales in the second half, but lower year-on-year profits. "The second half of the financial year 2005 will remain challenging for VTech," said Allan Wong, chairman and group CEO.

VTech said sales growth is expected in Europe, where it has gained a major new ODM customer.

Contract manufacturing services are expected to see further revenue growth and stable profitability as the worldwide EMS market continues to rebound. VTech said it will seek reduced costs through more local sources of supply.

NEWARK, NY -- IEC Electronics Corp. reported net income of $62,000 on revenue of $7.7 million for its fourth quarter ended Sept. 30. Both figures were down from last year, when IEC reported net income of $575,000 ($260,000 in non-operating income) on revenue of $9.1 million.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM, Nov. 19 -- Sparton Electronics today opened an EMS operation in Albuquerque in a building formerly owned by Honeywell.

The 110,000 sq. ft. facility, in which Honeywell built control products, is now center of operations for Sparton in the southwestern U.S.

As part of the move, Sparton closed and sold a smaller, older facility located in Rio Rancho, NM.

Indianapolis, IN, Nov.19, 2004 -- Specialty Coating Systems (SCS), a business unit of Cookson Electronics, recently opened SCS Shanghai, a full-service Parylene conformal coating facility in China.

The expansion into China comes as SCS has purchased the assets of their former service partner Cycad Specialty Coatings Technology Co. Ltd. The Shanghai staff includes 20 experienced employees led by China Business Manager, Lu Bo.

China Assembly, part of the Cycad group, will continue in their partnership with SCS as the distributor of SCS Parylene deposition systems in China.

Parylene is applied via a vapor deposition polymerization process, for ultra-thin, pinhole-free conformal coating. Applications include circuit boards, ferrite cores, electronic components, medical devices, medical device components and rubber parts in the electronics, automotive, military and medical device industries.

The DIN EN ISO 9001:2000-certified Shanghai facility joins SCS Singapore, Parylene Japan K.K. and Parylene Korea in providing Parylene coating services to Asia.

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.

According to Indium's European Sales Manager, Tony Howard, "GPS is a good match to our company and we are very pleased to be working with such a strong team. We look forward to growing our business together."

BILLERICA, MA, Nov. 18 -- SMT and seminconductor equipment maker BTU International said third-quarter net sales rose 128.8% to $15.4 million and gross profit rose 157.8% to $3.5 million.

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.