MELVILLE, NY – Nu Horizons Electronics said net sales from continuing operations for the fourth quarter were $193.18 million, up 24.3% compared to last year. Sales in its core components distribution business increased 28.2%.
Net income for the quarter was $424,000, down almost 19% year-over-year.
For the fiscal year ended Feb. 29, revenues increased to $747.2 million, up 11.8% year-over-year. Distribution sales increased 20.1%. Net income was $2,519,000, down 67.4% from the same period last year.
Chairman and CEO Arthur Nadata said, “We are executing well on our sales growth strategy with 42% growth in Asia, 106% in Europe and 11.8% total sales growth year-over-year. We continue to invest in Germany and expect this to fuel future growth in Europe.”
Professional fees continue to adversely affect earnings, he said.
ALAMEDA, CA – A leading EMS research firm lowered its five-year forecast for electronics production and EMS growth, saying, “economic drivers behind the numbers are a clear signal that the U.S. is in a recession.”
NEWPORT, SOUTH WALES – TT Electronics said it would integrate its five manufacturing services businesses into a single division, creating the UK’s largest – and the world’s 25th largest – EMS company.
The combined business unit features some 460,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space and 1,500 staff with sites in Perry, OH; Rogerstone and Aylesbury, UK; Suzhou; and Kuantan, Malaysia.
In a statement, TT Electronics chief executive Neil Rodgers said, “Our integrated manufacturing services division offers high-volume services to customers manufacturing low to medium volumes. These include not only a choice of manufacturing location, to fit the profile of technical skills, quality accreditation and cost environment associated with each project, but also a service package that can extend right out to a fully outsourced logistics organization.”
JACKSON, MI – EMS provider Sparton Corp. reported sales for the fiscal third quarter of 2008 totaled $58.14 million, up 21.8% year-over-year.
The company reported net income of $634,000 for the third quarter, compared to a net loss of $2.29 million last year.
An operating loss of $424,000 was reported for the fiscal third quarter, compared to an operating loss of $3.69 million in the same quarter last year.
Medical/scientific instrumentation sales increased $4.28 million from last year, partially a result of new customer programs, the firm said. In addition, higher demand from three existing customers contributed $3.44 million of the increase.
Aerospace sales were up $2.8 million from prior year in part because of increased sales to an existing customer of $1.07 million.
Government sales continue to be significantly above 2007, with an increase of 80.9%, as a result of sonobuoy testing. However, industrial/other sales declined $2.4 million because of lower demand from one customer.
Sales for the nine months ended March 31 totaled $171.9 million, up 15.3% from the same period last year.
The company reported a net loss of $2.65 million for the fiscal year to date, versus a net loss of $6.14 million for the corresponding period last year.
Medical/scientific instrumentation sales increased $12.2 million. Aerospace sales were up slightly from prior year, primarily due to increased sales to one existing customer of $1.77 million.
Government sales for the period increased 92.9% year-over-year. Industrial/other sales declined $11.12 million.
MANASSAS, VA – Zestron has further expanded its sales and technical support organization in Asia/Pacific.
Tiow Ping Sim has recently joined the team as South Asia sales manager. Located in the company’s new office in Singapore, Sim will manage the local distributor network and support local customers.
Sim graduated in mechanical engineering from the Queensland University of Technology and has more than 15 years’ experience within the SMT and Semicon industries.
In addition, Steven Goh will support customer cleaning process selection, implementation and optimizations, as part of the application technology team.
SINGAPORE -- Flextronics became a little more vertical, completing its acquisition of the FRIWO Mobile Power business unit of CEAG AG. FMP makes power supplies and chargers for mobile phones, and has 18,000 employees and 700,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing capacity in China.
SCOTTSDALE, AZ – The PC microprocessor market is heading for an inflection point in late 2008 or early 2009, when, for the first time, the number of microprocessors shipping for notebook PCs will exceed those shipping for desktop PCs, reports In-Stat.
SAN JOSE – Worldwide silicon wafer area shipments remained essentially stable in the first quarter of 2008, marginally declining 1% sequentially, according to SEMI.
Total silicon wafer area shipments were 2.16 billion sq. inches for the quarter. Compared to the same quarter last year, total area shipments increased 3%.
"Consistent with the conservative industry sentiment, overall silicon shipments declined slightly during the most recent quarter,” said Kazuyo Heinink, chair of SEMI SMG and vice president at MEMC Electronic Materials. ”However, 300 mm wafer shipments continued to grow.”
NEWARK, NY – EMS provider IEC Electronics Corp. has signed a letter of intent to acquire Val-U-Tech Corp., a privately held supplier of wire harness assemblies in Victor, NY. No financial terms were disclosed and a fiscal third-quarter closing is expected.
Val-U-Tech has annual sales of about $11 million and supplies military, medical and industrial customers.
The combined companies will have 360 employees with revenues in 2009 of approximately $70 million. The combination will be accretive to IEC shareholders.
The transaction is subject to shareholder approval.
UTICA, NY – Indium Corp. named Sherwin Kobak regional sales manager, responsible for soldering product sales throughout Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Kobak is based in Portland, OR, and has 16 years’ experience selling PCB assembly products and specialty metals.
Separately, Indium promoted Karl Pfluke to senior account manager, Metals & Chemicals. He is responsible for sales in North America, with primary focus on the solar energy market. Pfluke is certified by MPIF as a powder metallurgy technologist and by SMTA as a process engineer. He joined Indium in 2001 as a technical support engineer.
Indium is a materials supplier to the global electronics assembly, semiconductor fabrication and packaging, solar photovoltaic, and thermal management markets.