Seagate (NYSE:SEG) sees more supply-demand imbalance
Reuters, Tuesday, January 20, 1998 at 21:29
SINGAPORE, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Computer disk-drive maker
Seagate Technology Inc expects an imbalance in supply and demand
in the industry to continue to affect its performance for the
rest of its 1998 fiscal year, chief financial officer Donald
Waite said on Wednesday.
Waite said the impact from the Asian financial crisis was
"offset by reduced operating expenses but we have been impacted
by that $12.8 million in the quarter."
Seagate's market share in the high-end product range had
been further eroded in its fiscal second quarter to 40-41
percent range, he said.
"We would like to believe we could see some slight
improvement, but whether it can get back to 50 percent is not
certain," Waite said.
"I think that the oversupply of drives will not be over in
the near term. I think as we go through the balance of our
fiscal year ending in June, we will be faced with a
supply-demand imbalance," Waite told Reuters in a telephone
interview.
He said the US$12.8 million charge the company took in the
second quarter ended January 2, 1998 for mark-to-market
adjustments on foreign currency forward exchange contracts were
due entirely to devaluations in Asian currencies.
Late on Tuesday, Seagate reported a net loss of $183 million
and net loss per share of $0.75 for its second quarter ended
January 2, 1998, including a restructuring charge of $205.5
million and other special charges.
Last week, the company said it was cutting an additioanl
8,600 jobs, bringing its total planned job cuts to about 10,000,
or about 10 percent of its global workforce. |
