4/20/2003

Sun, Xilinx improve earnings

The Daily Times-Call

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Despite a 10 percent drop in revenue, computer server and software maker Sun Microsystems Inc. posted a $4 million profit for its fiscal third quarter.

For the three months ended March 30, the company said it earned $4 million, essentially break-even per share, on sales of $2.79 billion. That compares with a loss of $37 million, or 1 cent per share, on revenue of $3.1 billion in the same time last year, Sun said last week.

Excluding one-time items, the company would have earned $11 million, compared with a loss of $20 million last year.

Sun’s expensive systems helped power much of the growth of the Internet during the high-tech boom. But the company was hit hard when customers went out of business during the tech downturn.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Programmable chip-maker Xilinx has reported an 8 percent increase in revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2003.

For the quarter ended March 29, the company reported net income of $49.4 million, on revenue of $305.5 million. Earnings per diluted share for the quarter were 14 cents.

During the fourth quarter of the previous fiscal year, Xilinx reported revenue of $273.5 million, but a net loss of $3.4 million, or 1 cent per share.

“Sales in the March quarter exceeded our expectations,” Wim Roelandts, Xilinx’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement announcing the earnings. “International sales now represent a record 55 percent of total Xilinx revenue.”

For the entire fiscal year 2003, Xilinx reported revenue of $1.16 billion, with a net income of $125.7 million. Earnings per diluted share were 36 cents.

In fiscal year 2002, Xilinx had revenue of $1.02 billion, but reported a net loss of $113.6 million, or 34 cents per share.

For the first quarter of fiscal 2004, the company, which employs nearly 300 in Longmont, projects revenues to rise 1 percent to 5 percent, sequentially.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.