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Technology Stocks : Creative Labs (CREAF) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dennis G. who wrote (13429)	1/29/1999 4:26:00 PM
From: Marc Phelan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13925

Sales for the second quarter of fiscal 1999 were US$428.7 million, up from US$395.0 million for the same quarter last year. Sales for the first six months of fiscal 1999 were US$707.7 million, up from US$682.8 million for the same period last year. Results for the second quarter were: * Net income for the quarter of US$60.6 million, compared to US$14.7 million reported for the same quarter last year. (Net income reported for the same quarter of last year reflected a one time write off of US$60.3 million.) * Earnings per share for the quarter of US$0.64 per share, compared to US$0.15 per share (including the same one time write off noted above) for the same quarter last year. Results for the first six months of fiscal 1999 were: * Net income for the period of US$82.1 million, compared to US$84.7 million reported for the same period last year. (Included in the net income reported for the same period of last year are the write off noted above and a one time gain of US$18.5 million.) * Earnings per share for the period of US$0.86, compared to US$0.89 (including the same one time write off and gain noted above) reported for the same period last year. During the latter part of the quarter, following final approval by the government of Singapore, Creative commenced its stock buy-back program, repurchasing approximately 3.5 million shares at a cost of US$57.5 million. These repurchased shares represented approximately four percent of the total number of shares then outstanding. Because the buy-back occurred late in the quarter, the shares repurchased did not have a significant impact on the number of shares used in earnings per share calculations. Also during the quarter, Creative announced that its shareholders approved dividends totaling US$0.50 -- comprising an Ordinary Dividend of US$0.25 and a Special Dividend of US$0.25, both of which are tax-exempt in Singapore -- for each ordinary share of the company for the current fiscal year ending June 30, 1999 (no dividends were paid in any previous fiscal year). The record date for the dividend was January 18, 1999. The payment date is set to be February 2, 1999. "We are pleased to report earnings in line with expectations for the quarter and to have delivered solid overall results," said Sim Wong Hoo, chairman and chief executive officer of Creative Technology Ltd. "During the quarter, our European business grew to unprecedented levels, offsetting ongoing weakness in Asia and the deteriorating Latin American market. Although relatively small in absolute dollars, our e-commerce channel partners showed substantial and very exciting percentage increases in sales of our products via the Web. The growth in sales through this new e-commerce channel is particularly exciting because it is in addition to dramatic year-over-year sales gains at our top five US retailers."