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MILPITAS, CA -- Solectron Corp. Thursday night reported fiscal first-quarter net earnings of $20.2 million on sales of $2.46 billion. Last year, the EMS firm showed a profit of $58.2 million, while sales dropped about 9% from $2.69 billion a year ago.

SINGAPORE -- Seagate Technology today said it would buy Maxtor Corp. in an all-stock deal worth $1.9 billion. An antitrust review will hold up the transaction until the latter half of 2006, Seagate CFO Charles Pope said on a conference call announcing the deal.

ST. PETERSBURG, FL-- Jabil Circuit's fiscal first quarter profit climbed 38% on strong demand for consumer electronics and telecom gear. For November quarter, Jabil earned $76.9 million, up from $55.9 million a year ago.

Revenue rose 31% percent to $2.4 billion from $1.83 billion last year.

TIMISOARA, Romania – Solectron has opened a Design and Engineering Services Center in Timisoara, its largest European facility. The added capabilities will enable electrical and mechanical design, advanced process technology, leading edge test development and failure analysis.

Solectron is the largest private employer in the Timisoara region. The site serves major OEMs in computer, telecommunications, digital consumer and industrial markets.

LOUISVILLE -- Sypris Solutions Inc., a provider of EMS services, lowered its forecast for the fourth quarter, blaming customer inventories, and delayed shipments and higher-than-expected labor costs.

Sypris today updated its fourth-quarter guidance to breakeven to a loss of 5 cents per share, down from 12 to 15 cents per share. The company forecast sales of $133 million to $135 million, down from previous guidance of $135 million to $140 million for the quarter.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Citing 2005 as "a year of great progress" CirTran Corp. founder and president Iehab J. Hawatmeh said today that the EMS provider was on track for record sales.

"It was a record sales year for CirTran, with more than $80 million in business won, giving us a strong backlog going into 2006," he said.

For the first time as a public company, CirTran reported back-to-back profitable quarters. The thirds quarter was the company's sixth straight quarter of sales growth. In the third quarter, CirTran reported a profit of $575,042, up 204% over the same period in fiscal 2004.

For the nine months ended Sept. 30, CirTran reported a net profit of $839,543, up 278%. The company has pushed into the homeland security and gaming markets, Hawatmeh said.

Total assets reached $10.7 million, up 12% sequentially and 148% year-on-year.

Hawatmeh said CirTran, which is traded over the counter, is aiming to move to the American Stock Exchange in 2006. "That is a stated goal," he said. "We are working to move closer to meeting the minimum listing requirements and have the Amex in our sights."