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To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (35131)	11/13/2001 10:07:17 PM
From: Johnny Canuck	Respond to of 67983

Intrawest Q1 losses up but resort firm upbeat about post-Sept. 11 prospects By STEVE MERTL Tuesday November 13 5:17 PM EST VANCOUVER (CP) - This seems like a bad time to be running a holiday resort company with the economy sliding into recession and terrorism making would-be travellers fearful of flying. But that's not how Joe Houssian tells it. The chairman of Vancouver-based Intrawest Corp., which builds and runs village-style resorts in North America, says the company is well positioned to exploit people's desire to stay close to home after the traumas of Sept. 11. "What safer place than to spend time in a resort situation," Houssian told shareholders at Intrawest's annual meeting on Tuesday. Intrawest's growth strategy for its resort operations and real-estate developments will allow the company to weather the unprecedented downturn hitting the leisure industry, Houssian said. "Although this is the worst time that I've personally been involved in in my business career, I've also never seen opportunities as good as this," he said. "We will do what we've always done. We will pursue new businesses aggressively and appraise it conservatively." Intrawest's first-quarter earnings for fiscal 2002 reflected the deepening economic slump. The company reported a net loss of $9.6 million US on total revenues of $93.7 million for the quarter ending Sept. 30, down 22 cents Cdn, compared with a $3.2-million US loss - seven cents Cdn - on $129.9 million in revenues for the same period last year. Earnings before interest, taxes, non-controlling interest, depreciation and amortization also shrank to $7.2 million from $15.5 million. The declines were blamed on a drop in real-estate revenue due to the timing of completed real-estate projects later this year. First-quarter real-estate profits were $4.9 million, compared with $12.1 million a year ago.

To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (35131)	11/13/2001 10:09:03 PM
From: Johnny Canuck	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 67983

Mattson plans substantial layoffs in Q4 after posting $186.9 million loss Semiconductor Business News (11/13/01 18:22 p.m. EST) FREMONT, Calif.--Warning of another substantial layoff by the end of this year, semiconductor equipment supplier Mattson Technology Inc. today reported a net loss of $186.9 million on net sales of $36.6 million. The loss included $127.7 in non-cash charges related to two major acquisitions at the start of the year and a non-cash charge of $21.3 million for excess inventories. "We now have to complete the difficult task of restructuring our operations to fit the level of business we anticipate in 2002," said David Dutton, acting chief executive officer of Mattson. "We will need to further reduce our fixed costs of production, which will necessitate another substantial reduction in our workforce in the fourth quarter. "Simultaneously, we are taking significant steps to increase customer satisfaction indicators. In the fourth quarter we anticipate a 10% to 20% increase in bookings, but a revenue decrease of approximately 25% from the third quarter of this year," said Dutton, who took over as acting CEO after company founder Brad Mattson resigned last month (see Oct. 9 story). Mattson Technology has been hit hard by the current downturn in semiconductor capital spending because the slump came just as the Fremont company was attempting to digest a three-way merger. At the start of 2001, Mattson acquired Steag Electronics Systems AG of Essen, Germany, and CFM Technologies Inc. of Exton, Pa., to expand its tool business into rapid-thermal processing and wet-wafer cleaning (see Jan. 3 story). But since the acquisitions, Mattson has struggling with losses. In late August, the company said it had initiated a second round of cuts, laying off 20% of its workforce and reducing operating expenses by 30% (see Aug. 24 story). Including the effects of SAB 101 accounting rules, Mattson Technology's third-quarter net sales sequentially declined 49% from $71.4 million in Q2. The sales were 24% lower than $48.3 million in the same period last year. Mattson's bookings in the third quarter were $25.0 million, a decrease of 47% from $45.8 million in Q2. The company's book-to-bill ratio was at 0.37 in the third quarter. The company's backlog stood at $113.5 million at the end of the