FWIW- a brief history of SEEQ
1 -97 Revenues for the first quarter of fiscal 1997 increased 38% compared to the first quarter of fiscal 1996. Although we are pleased with this increase, these numbers still fell short of our expectations. During the quarter several of our major customers chose to reduce inventory levels, thereby adversely impacting SEEQ's orders and shipments. At the present time we cannot determine the extent to which overall demand may improve in the second quarter of fiscal 1997. However, during this past quarter we achieved near record turns, defined as product orders booked and shipped in the same quarter, and obtained important new orders from Cabletron, Compaq, 3Com and U.S. Robotics. We intend to continue expanding our large customer base in order to achieve more predictable and sustainable revenue growth in the future."
"On the new product front, I am particularly excited over our progress on two new developments, our Gigabit Ethernet Media Access Controller (called the 8100), and our 100BaseTx physical layer product (called the 80220). We plan to introduce both of these new products in the coming quarter. Although the Gigabit Ethernet market is just emerging, our new 8100 product has generated a high level of customerinterest and anticipation. Thus far thirteen companies have agreed to participate in the Alpha Site program we are planning to conduct this spring. These companies will evaluate the 8100controller in numerous Ethernet systems including switches, routers, servers and high-performance adapter cards. Furthermore, with the introduction of the 80220, we believe SEEQ will be the only supplier providing physical layer solutions for both 100BaseTx and 100BaseT4 cabling standards."
2 -97 We are pleased with the increase in both revenues and gross margins in the second quarter of fiscal 1997. Revenues increased 9% over the corresponding prior-year quarter while gross margins improved from 34% to 37%. We continue to see growing demand for our Fast Ethernet products, which comprised 48% percent of our revenues for the quarter."
"Recently we began sampling our new 100Base-Tx Physical Layer product called the 80220, the latest addition to our HurricaneTM family. This integrated circuit provides a complete cost-effective interface for Fast Ethernet LANs using category 5 twisted-pair wiring. We expect to move this device into volume production in the fourth quarter of fiscal 1997. With the introduction of this product, SEEQ provides the most complete set of Fast Ethernet solutions in the industry, covering both the MAC and Physical Layer requirements for both Tx and T4 standards. In addition, we sampled our Gigabit Ethernet Media Access Controller, called the 8100, to over twenty alpha-site customers. The timing of these samples supports the development of our customers' products slated for introduction at the May Interop Conference."
3 -97 "We are pleased to see continued improvement in our gross margins, which grew to almost 40% in the current quarter from 32% in the third quarter of the prior fiscal year. This margin improvement reflects the ongoing change in our product mix toward Fast Ethernet, which comprised 66% of our revenues, combined with strong performance from our foundry partners. As a result, we achieved increased earnings per share over the prior year's quarter, even though revenues fell short of our goals."
"During the third quarter, we continued sampling our 100Base-Tx Physical Layer product and our Gigabit Ethernet Controller, both of which are generating very positive responses from our customers," Dr. Salsbury added. "We are currently conducting qualification tests on these products and have recorded our first design wins. Both devices are scheduled to go into volume production in the current quarter."
4 -97 We are encouraged that we ended the year on a positive note. On a sequential basis, we achieved 20% growth in revenues as well as an 87% increase in operating income. We also continued to improve our gross margins, which stood at 42% at quarter end, up from 40% in the quarter ended June 1997. Further, our book-to-bill ratio was well above unity.
"We continued to achieve design wins on our 100Base-Tx Physical Layer product and our Gigabit Ethernet Controller, both of which are now in volume production," Dr. Salsbury continued. "In the Gigabit Ethernet arena, we recently formed a strategic alliance with Essential Communications to develop a single-chip product for the Gigabit network interface card market. Also during the quarter, we made two important appointments. Charles Giancarlo, vice president of business development and global alliances at Cisco Systems, joined our board of directors. Bill Weir, former vice president of Integrated Circuit Systems, Inc., joined our management team as director of marketing and sales. Both of these gentlemen bring substantial industry expertise to our Company, and we look forward to the contributions they will make as we drive our business forward. In conclusion, SEEQ enters fiscal 1998 with a better backlog, a more diverse customer base, and a stronger product line-up than a year ago."
We are pleased that both our revenues and net income improved over the same period last year. Looking at our results sequentially, however, inventory corrections at certain major customers led to lower revenues this quarter. At the same time, we achieved higher gross margins, our best since 1988, while our book-to-bill ratio stayed well above unity. We continue to build momentum with design wins on our 100Base-Tx Physical Layer product and our Gigabit Ethernet Controller."
1-98 We are pleased that both our revenues and net income improved over the same period last year. Looking at our results sequentially, however, inventory corrections at certain major customers led to lower revenues this quarter. At the same time, we achieved higher gross margins, our best since 1988, while our book-to-bill ratio stayed well above unity. We continue to build momentum with design wins on our 100Base-Tx Physical Layer product and our Gigabit Ethernet Controller." |
