ST Assembly Has Fourth-Quarter Loss of $47 Million (Update4)01/29 22:36
By Linus Chua
quote.bloomberg.com
Singapore, Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- ST Assembly Test Services Ltd., Asia's second-largest chip tester, reported a lower-than- expected fourth-quarter loss as sales rose after customers such as Intel Corp. sent more chips to be tested.
The loss was $47 million, or 48 cents for each American depositary share, compared with net income of $8 million, or 8 cents, a year earlier, the company said in a Business Wire news release. Sales plunged to $33.9 million from $92.8 million. They were up 21 percent from the previous three months, or higher than the 5 percent gain forecast by ST Assembly.
Harry Davoody, who was named the company's chief executive three weeks ago, said business appeared to have bottomed out and expects better times ahead this year. He's expected to extend the company's cost-cutting plan, which ranges from slashing salaries, reducing the use of business-class flights, to turning down the air-conditioning temperature by 2 degrees, analysts said.
``It's a recovery and the company has taken the right steps, but like everyone else, it's waiting for the industry demand to creep back up again,'' said Jatin Doktor, an analyst at G.K. Goh Research Pte. in Singapore, who rates the stock a ``hold.''
The results released today include one-time charges for the decline in equipment value and for money set aside for taxes. Without these, ST Assembly suffered a $29.8 million loss, better than the average estimate of a $32.1 million loss by four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.
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