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[October 2003]
Ceramics Amongst Early Segment Recovery for KEMET
KEMET Corporation (Greenville, SC, USA) reported financial results for the third quarter of 2003 on 20 October. Net sales were US$100.1 million and there was a net loss for the quarter of US$43.3 million.
"Over the past few quarters, the electronics industry experienced the beginnings of a sustained recovery, with unit volumes increasing and inventory returning to normalized levels," said President and CEO, Dr Jeffrey Graves. "KEMET's total unit shipments were up 31% in the September quarter, after being up 14% in the June quarter. Asia was particularly strong, with September unit shipments to Asia up 54% over the June quarter, which was up 40% over the March quarter.
"Unit shipments in the September quarter were approximately 2.5 times higher than the low point in the industry cycle in the September 2001 quarter. KEMET's overall capacity utilization rose to approximately 65%. Shipments and orders in September were strong and remained strong into October. As world shipments continue to increase, we are seeing extended lead times in innovative products.
"Early segments to recover have been consumer oriented, such as PCs and cell phones, therefore KEMET to date has seen more of an increase in smaller case sizes and ceramic part types. Later in the overall industry recovery, we anticipate an increase in information technology and telecommunications infrastructure, which consumes more large case sizes, which for KEMET includes our more innovative parts, and more tantalum part types, where we lead the world."
On manufacturing and development, he commented: "We continue to make significant product advances in high-capacitance ceramic and organic and wet tantalum capacitors. We are enhancing our internal product development with external acquisitions and investments, including the Sierra-KD and Lamina product lines. With an experienced management team and a strong balance sheet, I remain confident in KEMET's future."
www.kemet.com
ENDS