Dow Jones info on book to bill:
Company News: CTL, Semiconductor equip book-to-bill
Century Telephone Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) announced Thursday
that its wholly owned subsidiary, Pacific Telecom, Inc. (PTI), has entered
into definitive agreements to sell its interests in Pacific Telecom Cable,
Inc. (PTC) and Pacific Telecom Transmission Services, Inc. (PTTS) to Neptune
Communications Corporation.
In exchange, Century will receive cash estimated at approximately $57
million, subject to certain purchase price adjustments to be made in
conjunction with the closing of the transactions.
"While these two businesses were performing well, the operations are not
consistent with our core businesses and do not contribute to the achievement of
our long-term goals in the local exchange and wireless businesses," Glen F.
Post, III, Century's president and chief executive officer, said. "The
proceeds from this transaction will allow Century to further reduce its debt
associated with the PTI acquisition."
Century anticipates that the transactions will be completed in the first or
second quarter of 1998.
(1505)
The North American semiconductor equipment industry posted a
book-to-bill ratio of 0.99 for November 1997, down from 1.02 in October, it
was reported by Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International. A
book-to-bill of 0.99 means $99 in orders were received for each $100 worth of
products shipped.
Three-month average shipments increased in November 1997 to $1.9 billion.
The figure is nine percent above the October 1997 level and 80 percent above
the November 1996. Three-month average bookings increased in November 1997 to
$1.9 billion. The bookings figure increased five percent above the October
1997 level and is 98 percent above the November 1996 level.
"This is the ninth straight month shipments and bookings have increased,"
said Dick Greene, principal analyst for SEMI. "In November, the orders were
the highest they have been for 1997. The reason the ratio is lower is because
the shipments grew at a faster rate than did the orders. This is why it is
important to analyze the 'numbers behind the numbers.' Even with the current
environment of DRAM pricing pressures and the financial concerns in the Pacific
Rim, the industry continues to grow at a healthy level."
The SEMI book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving average bookings to
three-month moving average shipments. Shipments and bookings figures are in
millions of U.S. dollars.
Month Shipments Bookings Book-to-Bill
June 97 1,374.6 1,474.3 1.07
July 97 1,475.8 1,658.7 1.12
August 97 1,535.7 1,688.1 1.10
September 97 (final) 1,672.1 1,773.8 1.06
October 97 (revised) 1,757.6 1,797.4 1.02
November 97 (prelim.) 1,913.7 1,886.5 0.99 |
