BUSINESS NEWS
03 Feb 09. Rockwell Collins Inc. said Tuesday its fiscal first-quarter net income slid 2 percent as last fall’s strike at customer Boeing Co. hurt the aerospace and defense company’s sales. The company also lowered its 2009 profit forecast citing a significant deterioration in the business aviation market, and said is cutting 600 jobs and freezing salaries at last year’s level for all executives and managers. The cuts include 500 salaried employees and 100 contract workers. For the three months ended in December, Rockwell’s net income declined to $151m, or 95 cents per share, compared with $154 million, or 93 cents per share, in the year-earlier period. The Cedar Rapids, Iowa company calculated earnings per share in the recently completed quarter using 3.7 percent fewer shares than at the same time last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected, on average, 94 cents per share. Sales decreased to $1.06bn from $1.11bn. Analysts expected $1.12bn. “The decline in revenues was due to the impact on the company’s Commercial Systems business from the labor strike and production issues at Boeing as well as lower air transport aftermarket sales,” Rockwell said in a statement.
02 Feb 09. Global semiconductor sales tumbled 22% in December from a year earlier, putting 2008’s decline at 2.8%, as the recession continues to batter the industry and prompt cutbacks from both chip producers and buyers. Semiconductor Industry Association President George Scalise said, “The industry is currently facing an unprecedented period of uncertainty. A resumption of sales growth will depend in part on the effectiveness of various measures now under consideration by the federal government” to stimulate the economy.
Consumers drive more than 50% of all semiconductor demand, leaving the sector increasingly linked to the economy, consumer confidence and disposable income,
Mr. Scalise noted. While sales of electronic products held up “reasonably well” during the first three quarters, the recession “severely dampened” fourth-quarter sales. The steepest revenue declines continued to be in the memory sector, where falling prices more than offset growth in shipments. Global chip sales were $17.41bn in December, down 17% from November and marking the third straight monthly decline. (Source: WSJ)
03 Feb 09. Motorola Chiefs Under Pressure To Stem Losses. Motorola Inc. posted a $3.58bn fourth-quarter loss amid deepening troubles at its cellphone business, forcing the company’s leaders to defend their decision to try to save the unit. Motorola, which Tuesday also suspended its dividend and said it was replacing its chief financial officer, is struggling to stem losses in the cellphone division after shelving plans to spin off the unit. Motorola’s cellphone sales fell 51% in the quarter and the division posted an operating loss of $595m, or $31 for each phone shipped. The company’s other divisions were profitable. (Source: WSJ)
03 Feb 09. ARM Holdings, the chip designer, is seeing the first fruits from its controversial $913m acquisition of Artisan more than four years ago. “We’re getting there,” said Warren East, chief executive. “We always said it would take four to seven years to get customers into the habit of ordering physical intellectual property from us. We’re now seeing a handful of tier one chipmakers ordering it,” he said. “We’re very pleased.” The deal has proved troublesome as shareholders accused ARM of overpaying for the US business, which licenses technology to semiconductor companies for packing more information into smaller chips. The troubles were compounded in 2007 when ARM injected more resources, altered its structure and moved an experienced board member to run the business, since renamed its Physical IP Division. Licensing revenues for the division fell 9 per cent in dollar terms in the final quarter and were below analysts’ expectations. However, ARM said this was due to the timing of revenue recognition