Business briefs

18 Jun 2004

Including news from e2v technologies, Bookham Technology, Corning, Lumenis and more.

General company news

•  e2v technologies, UK, has applied to the UK authorities to float on the London Stock Exchange. For the year ended 31 March, the company had sales of £97.6 million and an operating profit of £9.9 million. The flotation is expected to complete by the end of July 2004. e2v manufactures imaging and sensor components for the aerospace, defense, medical, scientific and commercial sectors.

•  China's Ministry of Commerce has accused Corning of selling singlemode optical-fibers in China at an unfairly low price that damaged local producers -- a practice known as dumping. The announcement follows a complaint made by two Chinese fiber manufacturers in July 2003. Corning denies the charge and expects a final ruling on the dispute by the end of the year.

•  Modulight of Finland has teamed up with Contraves Space of Switzerland to supply fiber-pigtailed laser diodes to the European Space Agency (ESA). The diodes will be used on ESA's soil moisture and ocean salinity (SMOS) satellite mission. According to Modulight, its products will be the first diodes emitting at telecoms wavelengths to find space-based applications.

•  Mahi Networks, a US supplier of multi-service metro packet switching, has closed $70 million in new funding. This brings the total capital raised by the company to more than $255 million. This week, Mahi also acquired fellow US firm Photuris for an undisclosed sum. Photuris is a supplier of advanced optical services equipment.

Financial results

•  Lumenis, the Israeli maker of medical laser systems, has reported a first quarter revenue of $65.1 million, compared with $77.4 million in the same period last year. Net loss improved to $4.1 million from $6.9 million in the first quarter of 2003. "The first quarter results are the first full quarter reflecting our new organization," said Lumenis president Avner Raz. "We have implemented the core components of our turnaround plan including the final phase of headcount reductions, closure of several sites and a reduction in management layers."

Contracts

•  Sumitomo Electric Industries (SEI) has selected Bookham Technology of the UK to supply passive optical components for its fiber-to-the-premise broadband systems. "We selected Bookham because of its industry leading thin-film-filter technology, which offers the best technology and cost solution available in the market," said an SEI spokesperson.

•  Alpine Research Optics (ARO), US, has won a $1 million order to supply the National Ignition Facility (NIF) with a range of laser optics. The contract, which runs through to 2007, will see ARO supply components such as lenses, mirrors and partial reflectors for use in NIF?s injection laser system.

•  GSI Lumonics is supplying Elpida Memory of Japan with an undisclosed number of its WaferRepair(TM) M430 memory repair systems. The systems will be used to enhance yield during the production of advanced DRAM devices. A portion of this order is expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2004.