[wstl/ftel #'s]
hi dog,
figured you'd forgive me if i beat this one into the ground... (i can't stop :))
--
well here are some of the numbers (thanks skiawal)- from wstl's recent (6/14) 8k- item 5 other events (freeedgar):
"ITEM 5. OTHER EVENTS
On June 11, 1999, Westell Technologies, Inc. entered into agreements with Fujitsu Telecom Europe Limited ("FTEL") pursuant to which Westell sold certain assets in its Cambridge, England operations (Westell Europe Limited (WEL)) to FTEL, assigned its lease to FTEL, transferred the employees of WEL to FTEL, and FTEL agreed to fund Westell for continued certain xDSL research and development work on the SuperVision DSLAM to meet FTEL's current and evolving requirements. The agreements also provide for licensing to FTEL of nonexclusive manufacturing rights to Westell's HDSL and ADSL products. A Press Release was issued by Westell on June 14, 1999 in respect to these matters, a copy of which is attached as Exhibit 99.1 to this Form 8-K and incorporated herein by reference.
These agreements with FTEL are anticipated to result in reduction of operating expenses of Westell for its 2000 fiscal year of approximately $10,500,000, consisting of $6,500,000 in savings from discontinuation of its Cambridge operations and the balance from FTEL's payments for the continued xDSL research and development work."
---
so it looks like the operations that fujitsu took over (WEL) were costing wstl $6.5 million a year to run... and
wstl is expecting ftel to pay them $4 million for r&d in the upcoming year...a decent hunk of change: about 15% of last year's wstl r&d @ $26.6 million total (sheesh the wstl financials are really hard to read @ wstl site) ... and for context this is approx 1/3 to 1/4 orct's estimated r&d for 99
the way the 8k is worded it certainly seems payment for operations and any licensing is above and beyond this $4 million (these would not fall under operating expenses) and the r&d is for wstl's SuperVision DSLAM for ftel... which would seem to point to no planned orct involvement...
on the other hand, if this is a face saving head fake and the $4 million also includes the buyout and licensing... as well as some r&d say for some tune-ups of existing equipment ... it's a different story...
guess we'll just have to wait and see... still seems curious that wstl would just up and disappear from the uk at the 11th hour on the eve of the big rollout...
later
s |
