This report indicates some weakness in cellular business in general, and I wonder who the 2 large customers are?
IRVINE, Calif., July 23 (Reuters) - Datum Inc. said
Thursday it anticipates lower financial results for the rest of
1998 on declining profit margins and poor demand for its
wireless telecommunications products.
"We expect margins to decline in the wireless area in the
third and fourth quarters of this year," said Chief Financial
Officer David Young in a statement.
In the second half of 1998, Young said the combination of
lower prices on wireless products and the continuing
uncertainty over wireless volumes, may result in moderate
operating losses.
"While our revenue grew and we turned a small profit after
a poor first quarter, the quarter's momentum was mostly
generated in the early months as our largest customer reduced
its order flow in the last few weeks of June," Chief executive
Erik van der Kaay said.
Van der Kaay noted that another of Datum's large customer
continues to experience softness in its telecommunications
infrastructure business.
Datum today reported 1998 second-quarter earnings of
$43,000 or $0.01 per common share, off sharply from $1,966,000
or $0.36 per share for same period in of 1997. For the six
months of 1998, it posted a net loss of $769,000, or $0.14 per
share, compared with a profit of $3,160,000, or $0.62 per share
for the first half of 1997.
Separately, Datum announced Thursday that it signed a
three-year contract with Lucent Technologies (NYSE:LU), valued
over $85 million, to supply wireless telecommunications
synchronization equipment.
Datum designs, produces and markets a variety of
high-performance time and frequency products used to
synchronize the flow of information in telecommunications
networks. |
