SANTA ANA, CA -- TTM Technologies Inc. today reported fourth-quarter revenues rose 9% to $59.2 million. Net income was $6.8 million, up fro $8 million sequentially and $4.7 million last year.

Cash from operations exceeded $9 million for the quarter. TTM ended the year with cash and short-term investments of $58.5 million and no outstanding debt.

Sequentially, net sales fell 5% ($3 million), the result of lower orders due to capacity constraints at the circuit board maker's Chippewa Falls facility.

For the quarter, quickturn business made up 26% of net sales, down 1 point from last year. Gross margin decreased to 24.6%, compared to 26.1% last year and 28.4% sequentially. Gross margin was affected by a raw materials price increase, pricing pressure, lower operating efficiency and mix changes, the company said.

For the year, net revenues rose 33% to $240.6 million and net income was up nearly 400%, to $28.3 million. The 2004 results included a restructuring charge of $855,000 and a $1.2 million reversal of a tax valuation allowance.

For its first quarter 2005, TTM guided for revenues of $59 million to $62 million.

In a statement, Kent Alder, president and CEO, said, "While we expect business conditions to remain relatively stable, the benefits of our capacity expansion at Chippewa Falls should offset the seasonal slowdown in quickturn typically experienced in the first quarter of the year."

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ANAHEIM, CA -- Beset by cash flow problems, DDi Corp. today killed one of its fleas, announcing it would close its circuit board shops in the U.K. DDi does not anticipate any net write-off or material cash restructuring charges.

In a statement, chief executive Bruce McMaster said, "We believe that the discontinuation of our UK-based business is a positive development for our shareholders. It provides a resolution to the liquidity challenges that have beset that business, enables us to cease reporting that business as an ongoing operation, and permits us to concentrate our efforts on the North American market. "

McMaster said DDi will focus on growing a value-added reseller services business recently begun in the U.S.

The U.K. operations carried heavy debt even before their acquisition by DDi in 2000, McMaster said. The company, which is operating on slim cash reserves, "could not justify" the large amounts of cash needed to restructure.

DDi Europe will be placed into administration, a move that permits DDi Corp. to remove $38 million of the UK-based indebtedness from its books.

In recent quarters, DDi Europe has contributed approximately one-third of DDi Corp.'s consolidated net sales, which totaled about $285 million for the 12 months ended last September.

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SAN FRANCISCO -- Cisco Systems, a bellwether for communications equipment demand, yesterday reported revenues of $6.06 billion for the January quarter, disappointing Wall Street and signaling a potential slowdown for its suppliers.

In a research note, Deutsche Bank said Cisco's performance and outlook are behind its "cautious view" of the EMS sector. The maker of networking gear is one of the largest customers of the EMS industry.

Cisco's sales were up 1.5% sequentially, but below Street expectations of $6.13 billion. Year-on-year revenue forecasts are decelerating, from 12% in January
to 8 to 10% for the current quarter.

The combination of slowing end demand, contracting component lead times and relatively high inventory levels across the communications infrastructure market continues

Cisco said its internal book-to-bill ratio for communications infrastructure gear is below 1.0, the benchmark for growth. "We continue to believe the recent softness across the supply chain reflects slowing end-demand and customers' inventory reduction efforts," DB wrote.

"Look for Cisco to work inventory levels lower in future quarters in response
to softer end market demand and improved component availability. This will likely translate into soft near-term demand for EMS suppliers," DB wrote.

The EMS makers which stand to be most affected include Celestica (more than 10% of revenue comes from Cisco), Solectron (14%) and Jabil (15%).

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