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

To: ownstock who wrote (23237)	1/7/2003 9:20:40 AM
From: Glenn McDougall	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 24042

JDS expects breakeven sooner, job cuts not over By Ottawa Business Journal Staff Tue, Jan 7, 2003 8:00 AM EST Fibre optic component maker JDS Uniphase Corp. announced plans to break even sooner than expected on Monday and warned there are still more job cuts to come. Chief financial officer Anthony Muller told a technology conference in Scottsdale, Ariz. that the company will beat its target of breaking even on a cash flow basis on quarterly revenue of $200 million by the end of this calendar year (all figures in U.S. dollars). "I can tell you that the programs that we now have under way in the company are focused on getting to a lower break-even number sooner, and we hope to be able share some more specific information, some of the specific details on this program, when we announce results," he said. JDS releases its second-quarter results on Jan. 23. Muller also warned that the job cuts are not yet over. "Our employment has been reduced very sharply from 29,000 at the peak, to between 7,000 and 8,000, and that number will decline before all of the restructurings are completed," he said, adding that the company still plans to have less than 10 manufacturing sites. The continued job cuts have weighed heavily on Ottawa. In October the Ottawa Business Journal reported that the company's local workforce would dwindle from its one-time high of more than 10,000 to just a few hundred by the spring of 2003. That projection came from sources familiar with JDS's restructuring plan. When the company reported its first quarter results later in October, CEO Jozef Straus said the local workforce stood at about 1,500, but added that the workforce would remain "way above the 500 number that has been reported in some quarters." Despite the layoffs, Muller said JDS Uniphase will continue to expand in some arrears through "carefully selected" acquisitions. Over the past year the company has made three small acquisitions, mostly in the optical transceiver market. "You should not expect to see us making very large acquisitions, the kind of consolidation acquisitions we made in the past. There really aren't a lot of businesses to consolidate with any more," he said. Any acquisitions will be made with cash rather than stock as was the practice during the height of the tech boom. Muller said bandwith-intensive applications such as medical imaging and online gaming, music and film should drive demand in coming years, offsetting slack demand from the telecom sector. In October, JDS reported its seventh consecutive quarter weaker sales with revenues of $193 million. It warned of lower revenues in the second quarter.