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Technology Stocks : 3DFX -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Obewon who wrote (13586)	6/30/1999 6:27:00 PM
From: Patrick Grinsell	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 16960

A rare looks at Matrox financials... The company is privately held, so we usually don't hear much. _____________________________________________________________ ***Matrox marks its 23rd consecutive year of profitability with US$550 million in sales for 1998/99 (June 28) The privately held Matrox group of companies, which includes Matrox Electronic Systems and Matrox Graphics announced their 23rd consecutive year of profitability with joint sales totaling US$550 million for the 1998/99 fiscal year, ended March 31, 1999. Of that total, Matrox Graphics accounts for US$473 million and Matrox Electronic Systems for US$77 million. Matrox Graphics, designer and manufacturer of graphics chips and boards, saw sales of chips increase to five million units and sales of graphics boards increase from six to 10 million-an overall increase of 40 per cent. Despite the falling average selling prices (ASPs) that characterized the PC industry in 1998, profit targets were achieved. Driving the unit volume increase were the MGA-G100 and MGA-G200 graphics chips, and the Matrox Millennium G200 board. Under Matrox Electronic Systems, the Matrox Video Products Group doubled sales revenues over the previous year. As a designer and manufacturer of PC-based, broadcast quality digital video hardware, the Matrox Video Products Group attributes this growth primarily to the Matrox DigiSuite brand a realtime nonlinear editing platform on Microsoft Windows NT. Matrox Electronic Systems' imaging group, Matrox Imaging, saw fiscal year 1998/99 revenues increase over the previous year's financial results. A designer and manufacturer of PC-based hardware and software for machine vision, image analysis and medical imaging, Matrox Imaging experienced sales growth despite declining capital spending by semiconductor and electronics manufacturers-industries that account for 50 per cent of the division's business. Fiscal year 1998/99 saw Matrox Imaging enter into strategic OEM agreements with robotics and semiconductor suppliers. Manufacturers cited a comprehensive product line, commitment to research and development, and high-caliber technical assistance as the reasons for making Matrox Imaging the vision component supplier of choice for their next generation systems. As the latest division of Matrox Electronic Systems, the Matrox Networking Group dedicated 1998 to positioning itself to meet the growing networking needs of small businesses. To this end, the Matrox Networking Group launched an Internet access solution, the Matrox iSwitch, which permits small-to-medium size businesses to access the Web over high-speed XDSL and cable modems. Matrox Graphics expects to maintain its position in the high- performance business market while continuing in the consumer segment. As well, Matrox Graphics is currently developing strategic partnerships with motherboard designers in Asia to ensure integration in basic PC configurations and consequently penetrate the broader international market. In an effort to reduce costs and maximize competitiveness, Matrox Graphics transferred the majority of manufacturing to Asia and Europe, with the bulk of manufacturing operations concentrated in China. This was complemented by a shift from 0.35 to 0.25 micron graphics chip technology, which reduced costs while increasing performance. The Matrox Video Products Group again expects revenue growth based on the addition of the Matrox DigiSuite DTV to its product line. DigiSuite DTV is expected to meet the realtime editing needs of broadcasters and post-production facilities as they re- tool for the digital television era.

To: Obewon who wrote (13586)	6/30/1999 6:34:00 PM
From: Patrick Grinsell	Respond to of 16960

Thanks Obewon... I wanted to do a phone interview so that I could get some real answers. I had the opportunity to get some answers that, if Scott had had the time to think about them, probably would have been more conservative. The Creative lawsuit is a good example. It also gave me the opportunity to jump into other areas that I didn't have pre-prepared questions for (like STB motherboards) and be more tenatious for other questions. Overall, I'm really happy with the results. I can say that given the response about the Register that they were probably in talks with S3 at one time or another. As a matter of fact, at a different point in the interview he admits to talking to almost everyone in the valley. I still believe that the Register's source is from an S3 person. 3dfx buying S3 because their next generation product was better? Don't make me laugh. Pat