Business briefs

16 Apr 2004

Including news from Cree, CEDIP Infrared Systems, GSI Lumonics, APA Optics and more.

•  APA Optics, the Minneapolis-based maker of optical communication products, has sold certain equipment from its discontinued manufacturing facility to PNE Incorporated. PNE will sublease a small portion of APA’s Blaine facility for up to one year to conduct manufacturing with the purchased equipment.

•  Planar Systems, the US provider of flat-panel displays, has reported sales of $58.6 m for the quarter ended March 26, 2004 which equates to a 2% drop year-on-year and 7 percent sequentially. “Though the bottom-line results for the remainder of this fiscal year are likely to fall well short of last year, there is no question that the company is well positioned to three promising segments of the rapidly growing flat-panel display market and the long-term picture remains bright,” commented Balaji Krishnamurthy, Planar’s CEO.

•  Cree, the US LED specialist, has reported a 42% rise in net income for its latest quarter compared to the same period a year ago. Revenue and net income for the third quarter of 2004 was $77.1 m and $15.1 m respectively, in comparison with $60.2 m and $10.6 m for the third quarter of 2003. “Our decision to invest aggressively in R&D is paying off as new high brightness products are driving the growth of our business,” said Chuck Swoboda, Cree’s CEO.

•  Axsys Technologies, a US maker of precision opto-mechanical components for military applications, has acquired Telic Optics, a maker of infrared optical assemblies. The purchase price was $14 m with an additional $4.0 m payout over the next 3 years if certain revenue goals are achieved. Telic is based in North Billerica, Massachusetts, US, and employs 32 staff.

•  eMagin, the developer of microdisplays based on organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology, has seen its revenue rise for the 12 months ended 31 December 2003. For fiscal 2003, total revenue reached $2.6 m compared with $2.1 m in 2002. Net loss for 2003 was $4.7 m compared with $14.9 m in 2002. eMagin says that more than 100 OEM customers have now purchased its OLED developer kits, displays and headsets.

•  CEDIP Infrared Systems, the French infrared (IR) imaging specialist, has received a contract to supply an IR camera system to the Joint European Taurus (JET) nuclear fusion reactor. The camera, based on InSb focal plane array technology, will monitor the temperature of reactor’s plasma by taking 200 images a second of its interior.

•  GSI Lumonics has purchased Micro E Systems Corporation of Massachusetts for $55 m. Micro E Systems is a leading manufacturer of position encoders for precision motion control applications in the data storage and electronics markets. Its revenue for the quarter ended 4 April 2004 is estimated at $7.65 m.