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MACAO – Deswell Industries reported fiscal third-quarter sales fell 42.4% from last year to $21.4 million.

The company reported a net loss of $400,000, down from net income of $1 million last year. Operating income dropped 67% to $300,000 for the period ended Dec. 31.

The company’s EMS-related sales plunged 49.7% to $8.2 million. Gross profit in the electronic and metallic segment increased to 8.5% of net sales for the third quarter ended Dec. 31, compared to 7.3% of net sales for the year-ago quarter. The improved gross margin in the electronic and metallic segment was mainly attributed to lower materials cost offsetting higher factory overheads.

Chief executive Mr. Franki Tse said, "We continued to see the impact of the difficult global economy and our sequential sales performance was essentially flat. There has been some strengthening in order volume recently and we believe that we are well positioned to benefit from a recovering global economy. That being said, we remain cautious and continue to evaluate ways to reduce expenses."

NORTH BILLERICA, MA -- Reflow soldering equipment OEM BTU International reported fourth-quarter net sales fell 17.7% from a year ago to $12.1 million.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama’s proposal to make the R&D tax credit permanent would be a landmark accomplishment, SEMI said this week.

SMYRNA, GA – More than 2,500 PCB designers, fabricators and assemblers registered for Virtual PCB (virtual-pcb.com), the industry's only virtual trade show and conference, which is taking place this week.

TAIPEI – Last week’s earthquake in Chile, the largest producer of copper, could push electronics component prices higher as a result of a sustained surge in metal prices.

TEMPE, AZ – Manufacturing continued to grow in February, but the rate of growth decelerated, as the PMI registered 56.5%, a decrease of 1.9 percentage points sequentially, says the Institute for Supply Management.

A reading above 50% indicates the manufacturing economy is generally expanding.

New Orders registered 59.5%, down 6.4 percentage points. Production was 58.4%, down 7.8 points. Inventories contracted at a slower rate in February, as the index registered 47.3%, up 0.8 points. Customer Inventories grew 5 points to 37%, and Backlogs hit 61%, also up 5 points.

“The manufacturing sector grew for the seventh consecutive month during February. While New Orders and Production were not as strong as in January, they still show significant month-over-month growth,” said ISM spokesperson Norbert J. Ore in a press release.

The Employment Index was up 2.8 percentage points for the month to 56.1%, the third consecutive month of growth.

The overall economy grew for the 10th consecutive month, says ISM.