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A glut of large-sized LCD panels used in the television and IT sectors arose at the end of the first half this year as production consistently outpaced shipments.
A total of 47.7 million square meters (msqm) of LCD panels for use in televisions and public information displays were produced globally during the first six months of the year, according to a new LCD Fab and Inventory Management tracker from IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS), a leading global source of critical information and insight. In comparison, shipments amounted to only 46.8 msqm. This meant that production for TV panels exceeded shipments by 2.0 percent.

Meanwhile, 18.4 msqm of LCD panels were produced during the same period for monitors, notebook computers and tablets comprising the IT sector. Shipments also came out lower at 18.0 msqm—similar to what occurred in the TV sector—so that IT panel production exceeded shipments by 2.6 percent.

“The large-sized LCD panel market in the first half of 2013 suffered from slow demand, primarily driven by an underperformance of sales in China, the world’s biggest LCD TV market,” said Ricky Park, senior manager for large-area displays at IHS. “In all, TV set makers proved unable to generate growth during the first half despite a slew of holidays—including the Lunar New Year and Labor Day—plus last-minute promos put up just before the end of the Chinese government’s subsidy program in May to encourage new consumer purchases.”

The same lackluster demand was in evidence for panels in the IT sector, where consumers and businesses alike showed little enthusiasm for buying new monitors or laptop PCs. Instead, devices like smartphones and tablets were the preferred items of purchase, selected for their appeal and ease of use, Park noted.

Given the slow demand, panel makers reduced utilization rates for their fabs to 79 percent during the first half—5 percent lower than the average recorded during the second half of 2012. Still, the deliberate curtailment in fab utilization was not enough to prevent an increase in accrued panel inventory. Accumulated stockpiles for TV panels amounted to 8.7 msqm, up 12 percent from the second half last year. For IT panels, the figure was 2.9 million msqm, an increase of 19 percent.

The slow demand and high inventory of the first half resulted in a price drop for panels during that time frame. The open-cell price of 32-inch high-definition, 60-hertz TV panels fell by 7.5 percent, while that for IT panels was down approximately 4 percent.

“The current excessive inventory levels portend badly for the rest of the year,” said Alex Kang, senior analyst for large-area displays at IHS. “Production is projected to exceed shipments again in the third quarter, and the second half overall is forecast to be negatively affected by the inventory overhang from the first half of the year.”

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32360

Aspocomp’s second quarter net sales remained on par with the previous quarter at EUR 4.8 million, which for the company is a rather disappointing result.
As a result of the sluggish market, the company has once again adjusted the full-year net sales forecast.
© Aspocomp

Aspocomp CEO, Sami Holopainen, gives his review of the quarter:

“Demand has remained slack in 2013. Every time the situation improved, a weaker period followed, and the market softened as summer approached. The telecommunications sector remained down. Our net sales remained on a par with the previous quarter at EUR 4.8 million and therefore the net sales of the first half of 2013 amounted to a disappointing EUR 9.8 million. The operating result was EUR -0.4 million, which was improved by a one-time item.

Cash flow from operations during the period was EUR 0.0 million. Aspocomp’s gearing ratio is negative and the financial ratio is still good, which has enabled us – and will enable us in the future – to step up our development of business with new customers and customer segments. In addition to the intensified sales efforts we have focused on stringent cost control and made arrangements to optimize our capacity utilization.

We still expect demand to pick up during the second half of 2013. However, due to the slow recovery, we have again adjusted our forecasts for full-year net sales and operating profit slightly downward.”

Outlook for the future

Net sales in 2013 are expected to amount to EUR 20-23 million and operating result to EUR -1.0-0.0 million.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32185

Rebound Electronics is strengthening its global business development with the appointment of Mike Fitzpatrick to Group Business Development Director.
Mike joined the company in 2008 as regional sales manager, progressing to sales director in 2011. This new remit has been created to ensure that Rebound customers are aware of, and benefit from, the full range of services available that fit their business needs.

Commenting on his new role at Rebound, Mike said, “This role is going to bring new opportunities at a time when the Group is seeing both expansions in business and an increase in customers. I’m excited to be a part of this growth and looking forward to using my experience to help introduce our group services, which add real value, to more of our customers”.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32365

Uros has entered partnership with China Unicom, that lets international travellers enjoy high-speed mobile Internet in China at a fixed daily rate.
China is the first Asian country where the Goodspeed Internet service is available and with this new addition the service covers now a total of 26 countries, among them also Russia.

Tommi Uhari, CEO at Uros said: “With around 60 million international visitors yearly and ranked as the third most visited country in the world, China is a perfect fit to our existing coverage. The China Unicom partnership is yet another concrete step in bringing easy Internet access to frequent travellers all over the world. Our aim is to remove the fear of bill shock and let people be themselves and productive also when on the road.”

Mr Xinzhong Zhang, General Manager at China Unicom Jixi branch, commented the agreement: “China Unicom is the only operator in China running WCDMA, or also referred as UMTS, network and service. By the end of 2012, China Unicom has established WCDMA HSPA+ networks in over 330 cities in China, and downlink speed is now upgrading from 21 Mbps to 42Mbps. We are pleased to welcome international travellers to China and to provide them with our high quality 3G data service through Goodspeed.”

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32353

Israeli EMS-provider Nistec will acquire a majority stake of fellow Israeli PCB manufacturer Eltek.
The companies have entered into an investment agreement, where Nistec will acquire 3.5 million ordinary shares for USD 4.2 million. And on top of that, the company is also acquiring all the holdings of Eltek’s major shareholder – Mr. Yossi Maiman (24.1%) – which will make Nistec, upon completion of the transactions, the majority stakeholder with 50.5%.

Erez Meltzer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Eltek, commented “After 25 years of being the controlling shareholder of Eltek, Mr. Maiman decided to sell his holdings in the Company to a new owner with strategic ties to the Company’s business. Nistec’s investment in Eltek will enable Eltek to continue to grow and strengthen its leading position in the high-end PCB industry and expand into new niche markets within the industry. Eltek has presented nice profitability in the last nine quarters and I am confident that it will continue on this track in the future.”

Arieh Reichart, President and Chief Executive Officer of Eltek commented, “I would like to thank Mr. Maiman for his long relationship with the Company, supporting our 10 fold growth since he first acquired shares in Eltek, and helping in its positioning at the very front of the worldwide Flex-Rigid PCB industry.”

“We congratulate and welcome Nistec following its decision to significantly invest in Eltek. This investment is an important validation of our vision and achievements and will support our long-term growth plans,” Mr. Reichart concluded.

The investment agreement and certain ancillary agreements are subject to approval at a shareholder meeting scheduled to take place within 60 days.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32337

Danish contract manufacturer GPV Group come out of a satisfactory full fiscal year 2012/2013, with a 43 percent increase in profits.
GPV, an EMS-provider anchored in Europe and Thailand, shows an increase in operating profit (EBIT) of 30 percent on 2011/12. Profit for the year continues at a modest level, however showing an increase of 43% on last year.

As expected, total revenue for 2012/13 came to DKK 718m (96 million euro) against DKK 740m for 2011/12, a decrease of 3%. The limited decrease in activity level should be seen in relation to the general stagnation/downturn in the market combined with the addition of new products within GPV’s recurring business.

Also in 2012/13, GPV has focused on managing capacity costs and enhancing efficiency with the result that GPV ends 2012/13. Operating profit (EBIT) amounted to DKK 30.2m (4 million euro) against DKK 23.3m for 2011/12.

Profit for the year was DKK 3.9m (just above 0,5 million euro) against DKK 2.7m for 2011/12.

Outlook:

”In 2012/13, GPV continued the development of the basic business at the same time as a range of strategic initiatives have been commenced.
The work on these initiatives will continue in 2013/14, just as more strategic initiatives will be launched. The aim of the focused efforts is to increase the value creation for our customers, for GPV, and for our owners.

FY 2013/14 appears to be characterized by a continuation of the economic instability that prevails especially in Europe, and against this backdrop GPV expects only modest growth in revenue and an operating profit (EBIT) as well as a positive cash flow from operations at level with 2012/13.”

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32318

Sparton Corporation was awarded a Phase 1 contract for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Upward Falling Payload (UFP) program.
Sparton, under the UFP program, will design a system intended to live on the sea floor and release payloads. This enablement would represent a game changing capability for mission commanders. Sparton will develop and deliver solutions for the Undersea Warfare (USW) and Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) domains to develop a Universal Payload Delivery System module for the UFP program.

“We are proud to be part of the DARPA team that is designing the next generation of disruptive USW solutions. This award recognizes our continued commitment to the current and future USW/ASW innovations.”

The Applied Physics Lab at the University of Washington will be a part of the Sparton team to provide additional deep ocean design expertise.

“We have enjoyed working and collaborating with Sparton several times over the past few years and we are pleased to be working with them again,” said Bob Miyamoto, Director for Defense and Industry Programs for the APL-UW.

“Sparton is energized by the opportunity and eager for the collaboration to execute on the delivery system module,” said Jim Lackemacher, Vice President and General Manager of Sparton Defense and Security Systems.

Mr. Lackemacher concluded, “We are proud to be part of the DARPA team that is designing the next generation of disruptive USW solutions. This award recognizes our continued commitment to the current and future USW/ASW innovations.”

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32286

Some of you might have read about the MSL/Celestica Valencia acquisition in Spain – well, Evertiq as a different set of facts regarding said “acquisition”.
Reports claim that the Spanish Council of Ministers has authorised the US company MSL SPV to acquire Celestica Valencia – with the intention that it may carry out activities directly related to national security.

We reached out to Celestica to ask about the acquisition – however, the information seemed to be a bit flawed.

“Celestica’s operation in Valencia, Spain is receiving approval from the Spanish Ministry of Defense to export defense products. The operation is not being acquired.

The operation is an Industrial, HealthTech and Aerospace & Defense Center of Excellence for Celestica’s Europe region and specializes in medium- and low-volume, high-mix, high complexity, printed circuit assembly (PCA) and systems assembly,” the company writes in an email.

So there you have it folks, Celestica Valencia is still a part of Celestica. And the company also let us in on some future plans for the Spanish operations.

“The site strategy is to grow in its target markets with high value-added services including design, high-complexity manufacturing and after-market services. The approval from the Spanish Ministry of Defense will improve the service level provided to the existing Defense customers, reducing the time needed to get export license approvals,” the company states.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32283

Norwegian EMS-provider Hadelandsprodukter AS (Hapro) will reduce the workforce by some 125 positions.
This includes 60 persons who have been on a temporary lay off. Almost all positions that are being cut is related to electronics manufacturing, CEO Erik Lundbekk told the local newspaper Hadeland.net.

The layoffs is a continuation of ongoing developments from last year, when Hapro lost Cisco as a customer. This led to a total of 115 positions lost 2012, out of a total 600.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32276

An industry that has seen its ups and downs – and most recently a streak of ‘downs’ – we’re talking about the solar industry of course. And now, the industry might see a new player entering the already crowded field.
The electronics giant that is Hon Hai Precision Industry is apparently eyeing the industry, and according to some analysts, the company might end up timing their entry just right, as the sector is starting to show some positive signs.

Foxconn, the trading name Hoi Hai has tested the marker through its Fox Energy solar unit for about two years now, but little is know about the subsidiary, other than that it has a solar panel facility in eastern China.

But in an interview with Reuters, Foxconn spokesman Simon Hsing stated that the company is to make a decision if to enter the market by years end.

“We believe renewable energy is a potentially good trend. It looks like a good project. This is an industry we probably need to know more about,” he added.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32255