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Technology Stocks : American Power Conversion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BWAC who wrote (2462)	5/4/2001 8:36:39 AM
From: JakeStraw	Respond to of 2574

American Power Conversion Announces First Quarter 2001 Financial Results biz.yahoo.com KINGSTON, R.I., May 3 /PRNewswire/ -- American Power Conversion Corporation (Nasdaq: APCC - news; APC) today reported financial results for the first quarter 2001. Revenues for the first quarter 2001 were $359.7 million, an increase of 16 percent from $311.2 million for the first quarter 2000. Net income for the first quarter 2001 was $27.2 million ($.14 per share) versus $47.1 million ($.24 per share) in the first quarter 2000. The Company's large systems business, which consists of solutions for data centers, facilities and communications applications, continued to post strong growth. Revenues in this segment were up 132 percent to $63.7 million and represented 18 percent of first quarter sales. APC's two additional reportable operating segments, the small systems segment, consisting primarily of products for PC and networking applications, and the remaining business segment, consisting primarily of replacement batteries and web based services, grew five percent combined versus last year's first quarter. ``Considering the difficult macroeconomic and IT spending environment, we are very pleased with the top line revenue growth rate for the quarter,'' said Rodger B. Dowdell, Jr., APC's president and CEO. ``We are making solid progress in the large systems segment, actively establishing APC as a leading player in the data center and facilities market. In this space, we are gaining share on the competition with healthy revenue growth led by solid contributions from the Silcon® 3-phase uninterruptible power supply (UPS) business. We are also benefiting from the acquisitions of DC-power systems and NetworkAir(TM) precision cooling equipment.'' ``While our small systems business did grow year-over-year, it continues to reflect the softness in the PC and general IT markets,'' continued Dowdell. ``Despite the slowdown in this market, we are confident that our position here as the leading UPS manufacturer remains intact. We continue to out-innovate the competition, introducing new solutions during the quarter for both consumer and business customers, in an effort to constantly redefine the value-add that power protection and management provides our customers. ``Additionally, we are delivering on our pledge to better align operating expenses and production capacity with the current demand environment for our products,'' explained Dowdell. ``During the first quarter we reduced global headcount by approximately 4 percent and have taken actions to further decrease headcount by approximately 200 additional employees by the end of the second quarter. We have heightened our focus on core opportunities and implemented company-wide efforts to curtail spending related to discretionary items such as travel, consultants, and marketing programs. While difficult, we are confident that the decisions we are making better position APC to profitably capitalize on growth areas of our business.'' On a geographic basis, the Americas (North and Latin America) represented 62 percent of first quarter revenues and were up 27 percent year-over-year. Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) represented 21 percent of revenues and was down 9 percent from the first quarter 2000. Finally, Asia was 17 percent of first quarter revenues, growing 16 percent year-over-year. On a constant currency basis, EMEA was down 5 percent and Asia grew 23 percent versus the first quarter 2000. Business Outlook ``We face an interesting environment in our business,'' said Dowdell. ``The need for power availability solutions has never been greater. Power quality, reliability and capacity are at the forefront of people's minds as a result of California's struggles and 24x7 system availability is no longer optional for many end user applications. APC is capitalizing on this by actively gaining share in new incremental markets such as access provider networks, data centers and facilities. While these positive influences are at work, the realities of poor global macro-economic trends and an ongoing IT industry slowdown have dampened demand, particularly in our traditional markets of business networks and home and home office environments. ``Compounding this, the lack of visibility related to future demand trends in the IT and communications industry is unprecedented,'' said Dowdell. ``We believe we are taking prudent steps to balance investments in growth opportunities we are pursuing, while, at the same time, reducing spending and headcount in areas requiring productivity and efficiency improvement. Our product offering is strong and getting stronger and our market position is solid, but we are operating in an environment of uncertainty in the global economy and IT industry characterized by a lack of clarity related to forward- looking demand.'' The statements contained in the ``Business Outlook'' section are forward- looking statements based on current expectations that involve a number of risks and uncertainties including those described below under the heading ``Safe Harbor Provision.'' In conjunction with today's earnings announcement, APC management will host a conference call to discuss the Company's results as well as current expectations regarding future performance. This conference call will be held at 5:00 PM eastern time and will be available live and archived, in its entirety, to the public in a listen-only mode via the Company's Web site at apcc.com or live by dialing 719-457-2645. A replay will be accessible at approximately 8:00 PM on May 3 by dialing 719-457-0820 and entering the pass code 644073 and will continue through May 11.