Business briefs

21 Jul 2006

Including news from: Cascade Technologies, Planar Systems, Clarity Visual Systems, Kopin, e2V Technologies, Atmel Grenoble, CMC Magnetics, Ritek and Prodisc.

• Cascade Technologies, the Stirling, Scotland-based developer of quantum cascade lasers, has secured an additional GBP 2.5 million ($4.6 million) of funding to develop further market opportunities.

Braveheart Ventures led the funding round by investing £1 million, alongside the Scottish Enterprise Scottish Co-investment Fund. Bank of Scotland Corporate's Growth Equity team and Partnerships UK both invested £750,000, with accountants Ernst and Young acting as advisors in the deal.

Cascade developed and patented the world's first real-time technology for the detection of gas, emissions and explosives through its use of quantum cascade lasers. The technology offers previously unprecedented levels of sensitivity and the ability to quickly analyse complex gases.

• Display systems developer Planar Systems has reported sales of $49 million and GAAP net income per diluted share of $0.11 for its Q3, which ended June 30, 2006. Industrial segment sales in the quarter were $13.7 million, down 13% sequentially and up 4% compared to Q3 2005. The Medical segment reported Q3 sales of $17.3 million, up 2% sequentially and approximately flat compared to Q3 a year ago.

Planar also announced some new strategic initiatives including: the acquisition of Clarity Visual Systems; moving the company toward more specialty, value-added display markets that offer higher margins; and the recruitment of new VP of business development, Brad Gleeson, who is a former president of Activelight.

• Flir Systems, Portland, OR, US, has announced that revenue for its second quarter (ended 30 June 2006) increased 6% to $139 million from $131 million for Q2 2005, due to higher revenue from the company's Thermography and Commercial Vision Systems divisions. Earnings from operations decreased 10% to $29 million, or 21% of revenue, compared with $32 million, or 25% of revenue, for Q2 2005.

The company attributed the decline in earnings from operations to lower profitability in Flir's Government Systems division, the impact of stock based compensation expense and higher selling and marketing expenses, particularly in the Thermography and Commercial Vision Systems divisions. Net earnings per fully diluted share totaled $0.28 as compared to net earnings per fully diluted share of $0.31 in the second quarter of 2005.

• Kopin, a developer of microdisplays for consumer and military applications, opened a Hong Kong subsidiary, Kopin (HK) Ltd. Located at the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park, Kopin (HK) will provide technical assistance to video eyewear manufacturers in the Hong Kong-China region and serve as an application development center for video eyewear.

• e2v Technologies, a developer and manufacturer of electronic tube and sensor components and sub-systems, has announced that its subsidiary, e2v technologies S.A.S., is to acquire Atmel Grenoble S.A.S. for $140 million (EUR 111 million).

Atmel Grenoble is a designer, manufacturer and distributor of specialised electronic components and sub-systems including image sensors and cameras, smart RF transceivers, aerospace-qualified microprocessors and broadband data converters.

• On 17 July, the stock prices of CMC Magnetics and Ritek, the top two makers of optical discs in Taiwan, and Prodisc Technology, a leading second-tier maker, hit their lowest levels of NT$8.18 ($0.25), NT$7.20 and NT$2.85, respectively, since their listing on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The falls were attributed to concerns about the increased cost of optical-grade polycarbonate (PC) arising from price hikes of crude oil, according to industry sources.

The global price of optical-grade PC had dropped from a high of US$3.50/kg late last year to US$2.45/kg last quarter, and then rose to the current level of US$2.55/kg because of increases in the price of crude oil, the sources indicated. Investors are concerned that as oil prices may go up further so will PC prices.