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Technology Stocks : JDS Uniphase (JDSU) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: uel_Dave who wrote (3711)	1/4/2000 7:48:00 AM
From: Glenn McDougall	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24042

Page URL: nationalpost.com Tuesday, January 04, 2000 JDS profits from third stock split Soros an investor Peter Kuitenbrouwer Financial Post JDS Uniphase Corp., the fibre-optics equipment giant based in San Jose, Calif., and Nepean, Ont., announced its third stock split in six months yesterday, as investors continued their love affair with a company billed as part of the "backbone" of the Internet. The news comes less than a week after the company's most recent stock split, on Dec. 29. Its soaring share price has pushed JDS Uniphase to the number 12 position in the Toronto Stock Exchange 300 index, which measures the performance of the largest TSE stocks. The climb in the shares has been incredible. Founded in 1981, JDS FITEL Inc. went public in 1996, and had a market capitalization by the end of that year of just $104-million. Last July, JDS merged with Uniphase. The combined companies, trading in both countries, have a capitalization of $63.7-billion (US). JDS Uniphase's weighting in the TSE 300 index surpasses the weighting of the national railway and any of Canada's oil or mining giants. "We're blessed by being in a market that is growing very, very quickly, explosively, in fact," Tony Muller, the chief financial officer, said in San Jose yesterday. Indeed, George Soros' flagship Quantum hedge fund is having its best year since 1995, boosted by a third-quarter move into technology stocks, including JDS, which rose 180% in the fourth quarter. JDS Uniphase said yesterday it will seek a special meeting of shareholders on Feb. 25 to approve the split, barely two months after shareholders approved the previous split, on Dec. 16. The company will also ask shareholders to approve an increase in authorized capital to three billion shares. Currently JDS Uniphase has 345 million shares issued and outstanding, Mr. Muller said. He noted that between July and December the company announced six acquisitions and two stock splits, and wants legroom for more activity in the coming years without needing continuous approval to issue more shares. "This is so the board has more shares available for corporate purposes," said Mr. Muller. "We will use it for mergers and acquisitions, for stock splits, for financings." Asked whether a financing was planned, Mr. Muller said, "We have a lot of money in the bank right now."

To: uel_Dave who wrote (3711)	1/4/2000 8:17:00 AM
From: Glenn McDougall	Respond to of 24042

JDS doubles land holdings in Nepean New wing of plant will allow company to expand by as many as 2,000 Ken Gray The Ottawa Citizen JDS Uniphase will double the size of its land holdings in south Nepean this month at the same time that it is beginning construction at its Nepean plant on a new wing designed to accommodate 2,000 employees. The thriving company, experiencing skyrocketing growth in the fibre-optic communications market, intends to exercise an option some time this month to purchase 53 acres of the South Merivale Business Park just south of the intersection of Merivale and Fallowfield roads. "We purchased the land for possible future expansion," said Lori Goulet, the company's corporate communications officer, adding that the company needs to expand to meet customer demands. Ms. Goulet did not know the value of the land, but a purchase of 54 acres in early 1998 cost the company about $5 million. Most of this month's land acquisition will be from the City of Nepean. A Nepean official estimated its value at about $4.6 million. Nepean senior planner Colin White estimates that JDS Uniphase, when it exercises its purchase offer, will occupy about 75 per cent of the South Merivale Business Park.And significantly, South Merivale is the last major piece of serviced land for industrial purposes in Nepean, Mr. White said. "It is a substantial development for south Nepean," Mr. White said. JDS Uniphase is growing rapidly. Its huge south Nepean complex today looks like a giant construction site in the middle of farmland. Now, as this earlier construction nears completion, building plans are under way for the new wing that will add space for as many as 2,000 employees. This new phase, announced last month and expected to be completed by April 2001, will be about 360,000 square feet and will be used for research and development, office space and manufacturing, Ms. Goulet said. She did not know the value of the expansion, but the previous 500,000 square feet at the south-Nepean site cost about $100 million to build. That's about half the cost of the Corel Centre, the biggest building project in Eastern Ontario over the last decade. The expansion brings JDS Uniphase's total square footage of office space to 1.2 million in 11 owned or leased buildings in Ottawa-Carleton. The company employs about 6,000 people and is now the area's second-largest company behind Nortel by market capitalization. Last summer, it was valued at $9.3 billion. Nepean city councillor Jan Harder said the new development will have "tremendous impact" on the area. The Barrhaven councillor has been told by area builders that about six of 10 new homes sold in south Nepean are to employees of JDS Uniphase. Ms. Harder expects the impact of the development will result in more shopping areas for residents in the commercially starved southwest part of the region. As well, the councillor hopes the expansion will give the area its first movie theatre within about two years. "We may be very close now" to getting that theatre, Ms. Harder said. JDS Uniphase will continue to contribute to the about eight-per-cent annual increase in population in south Nepean. JDS Uniphase was created by the recent merger of JDS Fitel Inc. of Nepean and Uniphase Corp. of San Jose, California. Ms. Harder said she expects JDS Uniphase will soon become the third largest employer in the region behind the federal government and Nortel. At present, its employee total lags behind Newbridge Networks Corp. of Kanata by about 1,000.

To: uel_Dave who wrote (3711)	1/4/2000 9:37:00 AM
From: t2	Respond to of 24042

Mr. Muller declined to discuss possible takeover targets but made it clear there will be more. Indeed, JDS has said it plans to increase output by 90 per cent this year through acquisitions and internal growth to keep ahead of demand from Nortel Networks, Lucent Technologies and other big fibre-optic systems makers. JDS's future acquisitions are likely to come from smaller competitors such as E-Tek Dynamics, SDL, Corning and a host of tiny start-ups in California, Massachusetts, Europe and Asia That was an excellent story on JDSU from the Ottawa Citizen. The management knows the strategy needed to dominate the market. Even though they have stated in the past that their acquisition phase has been completed for the most part, the high stock price is tempting them in a big way. If you can acquire using such a strong currency (stock price), you should take advantage of the situation. Like i stated earlier, the situation is shaping up like the internet consolodation about a year ago. Regular companies could not acquire internets due to the high PEs.